epri study project information & services need ... the panchayats were held back as the...

Ministry of Panchayati Raj

ePRI Study Project

Information & Services Need Assessment Report

for

Panchayati Raj Institutions

in

State of Jharkhand

By

National Informatics Centre Services Inc.

ePRI Study Project Information & Services Needs Assessment Report - Jharkhand

National Informatics Centre Services Inc. of 153

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.



*The above photos were taken by the Study Team at Village Jainagra



Acknowledgment

The field study was a key component of the Information and Services Needs Assessment as

envisaged at the commencement of the project, and forms the basis of this report. In this

regard, the KPMG team would like to acknowledge the contribution made by key

stakeholders in Jharkhand to facilitate this 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:

1. State Level

• Mr. Vishnu Kumar, Principal Secretary, Department of Panchayati Raj

• Ms. Mridula Sinha, Principal Secretary, Department of Human Resource

Development

• Mr. A. K. Singh, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Sugarcane Development

• Mr. B.C Nigam, Special Secretary

• Mr. Srivastava, Special Secretary, Department of Rural Development

• Mr. Chaudhry, Director, Social Security

• Mr. A.T. Jayaseelan, Director, Jharkhand Space Application Centre (JSAC)

• Mr. M. L. Ram, Deputy Director, Department of Panchayati Raj

2. Palamu District

• Dr. Amitabh Kaushal, Deputy Commissioner

• Mr. Ram Bachan Ram, Deputy Development Commissioner

• Mr. S.P Verma, Assistant Director, Department of Social Welfare & Child

Development

• Dr. Kamendra Singh, Civil Surgeon

• Mr. Ashok Jha, District Superintendent of Education

• Mr. J.P.Tiwari, Assistant Program Officer, DRDA

• Mr Sunil Kumar, District Agriculture Officer

• Mr. J.P.Jha, District Panchayati Raj Officer

• Mr. Bhootnath Manjhi, District Horticulture Officer

• Mr. Jogeshwar Ghasi, District Welfare Officer

• Mr. Neelamber Singh, Assistant Director, Department of Social Security

• Mr Anil Kumar Singh, Accounts Officer, DRDA



The study has been conducted by NICSI empanelled firm KPMG with the support of NIC and

an NGO resource.

The project team consisted of:

• National Informatics Centre (NIC)

� Mr. Shahid Ahmed, SIO, NIC, Jharkhand

� Mr. Lokesh Kumar, NIC, Jharkhand

� Mr. Anil Kumar Singh, DIO, NIC, Palamu

• KPMG

� Mr. Yogesh Shankar

� Mr. Amandeep Singh Gandhi

� Mr. Rahul Jha

• NGO resource

� Mr. Sanjay Pandey



Table of Contents

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………...…………......10

2. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS………………………………………………………………………………......14

3. PROJECT BACKGROUND….………………………………………..………………………………........ 18

4. APPROACH & METHODOLOGY FOR INS STUDY…………………………………………………..... 20

4.1. STUDY METHODOLOG……………………………………………………………………………………….. 21

4.1.1. Stakeholder Consultation………………………………………………………………………….. 21

4.1.2. Identification of interviewee groups……………………………………………………………... 23

4.2. DATA GATHERING TOOLS………………………………………………………………………………………. 23

4.2.1. Interview questionnaires……………………………………………………………………………. 23

4.2.2. Data capturing templates…………………………………………………………………………. 24

4.2.3. Services identification methodology…………..………………………………………………... 24

5. STATUS OF PANCHAYATI RAJ.………………………...…………………………..……………........... 26

5.1. VISION OF STATE PR DEPARTMENT………………………………………………………………………........ 27

5.2. PANCHAYATI RAJ ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE………………………………………………………………… 29

5.2.1. State PR Department……………………………………………………………………………….. 29

5.2.2. Panchayati Raj Institutions…………………………………………………………………………. 29

5.3. DEVOLUTION STATUS…………………………………………………………………………………………… 34

5.3.1. Funds, Functions, Functionaries…………………………………………………………………… 34

5.3.2. Status of Activity Mapping…………………………………………………………………………. 44

5.3.3. Challenges……………………………………………………………………………………………. 45

5.4. PR GOVERNANCE…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 45

5.4.1. G2G Functional Areas………………………………………………………………………………. 45

5.4.1.1. Planning…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 45

5.4.1.2. Monitoring & Implementation………………………………………………………………….. 46

5.4.1.3. Accounting…………………………………………………………………………………………. 47

5.4.2. Extent of PRI involvement in Schemes…………………………………………………………… 48

5.4.3. Participation in Committees……………………………………………………………………….. 48

5.5. BEST PRACTICES & KEY LEARNING RELATED TO PANCHAYATI RAJ GOVERNANCE……………………............. 48



6. INFORMATION AND SERVICES NEEDS………………………........…...………………………........... 50

6.1. I&S NEEDS OF STATE PR DEPARTMENT AND OTHER LINE DEPARTMENTS……..………………………………....... 50

6.2. INFORMATION AND SERVICES NEEDS OF PRI ( ZP/BP/GP)……………..……………………......................... 58

6.3. INFORMATION AND SERVICES NEEDS OF CITIZENS........................................................................................ 58

6.4. SERVICES IDENTIFIED................................................................................................................................ 64

7. E-GOVERNANCE READINESS ………………………...………………………………………………….. 66

7.1. INITIATIVES FOR COMPUTERIZATION OF PRI.................................................................................................. 66

7.2. EXTENT OF INTEGRATION OF NEGP INITIATIVES WITH PRI............................................................................... 67

7.3. ICT INFRASTRUCTURE ASSESSMENT............................................................................................................. 71

7.4. CIVIL WORK ASSESSMENT......................................................................................................................... 72

8. STATE CAPACITY ASSESSMENT……………………………………..…………...…………..….......... 73

8.1. CAPACITIES, SKILLS & CAPABILITIES............................................................................................................ 73

8.2. TRAINING............................................................................................................................................... 74

9. CITIZEN SERVICE DELIVERY…………………………........……...……………………..…………......... 76

9.1. INITIATIVES BY PRIS................................................................................................................................... 76

9.2. INITIATIVES BY STATE IMPACTING SERVICE DELIVERY TO RURAL POPULACE......................................................... 76

10. WAY FORWARD………………………..……………………………………………………….................. 78

11. ANNEXURE……………………………..………………......................................................................... 80

11.1 LIST OF INTERVIEWEES (LEVEL-WISE – STATE PR DEPT, STATE LINE DEPT, ZP, BP, GP).......................................... 80

11.2 MINUTES OF KEY MEETINGS HELD................................................................................................................ 82

11.3 GLOSSARY........................................................................................................................................... 140

11.4 REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................... 142

11.5 BRIEF PROFILE OF PALAMU..................................................................................................................... 142

11.6 DISTRICTWISE NUMBER OF PANCHAYATS IN JHARKHAND……….................................................................. 145

11.7 BLOCK WISE NUMBER OF PANCHAYATS AND VILLAGES IN PALAMU............................................................... 147

11.8 List of G2C and G2G Services selected at the State…................................................................148



List of Tables

S. No. Table Name Table No. Page

1 No. of Districts, Panchayat Samitis &

Gram Panchayats in Jharkhand 5.1 26

2 No. of Blocks, Panchayats & villages

in Palamu 5.2 26

3 Authority for filling petitions by

Panchayat representatives 5.3 27

4 Nomenclature used in the 3 tiers of

Panchayati Raj system 5.4 27

5 No. of Panchayats at each tier in the

state 5.5 27

6 Appointment of Govt. Officials 5.6 33

7 Functions allocated to the Panchayats

and their current status 5.7 35

8 Monitoring by Deputy Commissioner 5.8 46

9 Implementation, operation and

maintenance of schemes 5.9 47

10 Information Needs of the Citizens 6.1 59

11 Services Needs of the Citizens 6.2 62

12 Other Needs of the Citizens 6.3 63

13 List of 20 G2C services to be delivered

through PRIs 6.4 64

14 Group of Panchayati Raj Officials 8.1 73

15 Computer Skills & Capabilities 8.2 73

16 List of 20 G2C services to be delivered

through PRIs 10.1 78

17 List of Interviewees 11.1 80



S. No. Table Name Table No. Page

18 Glossary 11.2 141

19 Palamu at a glance 11.3 146

20 District wise no. of Panchayats in

Jharkhand 11.4 147

21 Block wise no. of Panchayats &

villages in Palamu 11.5 149

List of Images

S. No. Description of Image Page

1 Phases of ePRI Study Project 20

2 Organization Structure of State PR Department 29

3 State Level Workshop, 25th June 2009, Ranchi. 51

4 Various departments who participated in the Workshop 52

5 District Level Workshop, 18th July 2009, Daltongunj 55

6 Citizens of Jainagra Village, 17th July 2009 58

7 Jharkhand SWAN (JHARNET) 69

8 Bhudivir Panchayat Bhawan, Palamu 71

9 Blocks of Palamu 144



1. Executive Summary

Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has initiated the e-PRI Mission Mode Project (MMP),

which is one of the MMPs under NeGP. Under the project, it is proposed to provide ICT

infrastructure with broadband facilities and trained manpower to all Panchayati Raj

Institutions across the country. In this regard, the following preparatory activities are being

undertaken,

• Information & Services Needs Assessments (ISNA) of and from PRIs for better service

delivery through PRIs.

• Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) for the services provided through PRIs.

• Preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for ICT enablement for delivery of services

through PRIs.

The prime objectives of the ePRI MMP project are enabling PRIs to better deliver the

services to the Citizens through ICT; enabling PRIs to use IT as a tool for transparency,

disclosure of services to Citizens and social audit; improving internal management processes

and decision making in Panchayats; enabling PRIs to use IT for electronic tagging and

tracking of funds transferred to PRIs from higher levels of government, including rapid bank

transfer of funds, tracking fund transfers to and expenditures of the PRIs.

Jharkhand came into existence on 15 November 2000 as the 28th State of India. Following

its constitution as a separate State, Jharkhand enacted its Panchayati Raj Act 2001 in

accordance with the provisions of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution and that of the

Panchayat Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act, 1996, as applicable to this State. Elections

to the Panchayats were held back as the provisions were challenged in the Hon’ble Supreme

Court of India and have since been subjudice and process stayed.

A Field Team of consultants comprising of one Principal Consultant, one Senior Consultant

and one Junior Consultant (assisted by the DIO, Palamu and an NGO resource during the

study phase at the District) was formed by KPMG Advisory Services for the Study. The team

started the study at the state capital and assessed the high-level status of Centrally

Sponsored Schemes (CSS), status of activity mapping in the states and the level of

devolution of powers for social sector schemes that included education, health, rural

development, social welfare etc. This assessment was being carried out in the context of the

G2G and G2C services to be identified. The consultants conducted a Workshop at Ranchi

where extensive interaction with State Line departments was carried out and a basket of 45

probable services were identified. The study team was in Ranchi for two weeks.



A study of the elements of the core infrastructure of the state e-Governance Programme -

State Wide Area Network (SWAN), State Data Centre (SDC), Common Service Centre’s

(CSC), E-District - which shall become a part of the design considerations for e-PRI MMP

was also done.

All three levels of PRIs (Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad) have not

been constituted in the State as the elections to the PRIs were stayed by the Supreme Court.

The work allocated to Panchayats as per the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj act is being carried

on by the concerned departments. However, public participation in the conceptualization,

planning, implementation and monitoring of the schemes is not present.

The State Wide Area Network (Jharnet) has connected 7 out of 20 blocks and shall provide

connectivity up to block level only. A total of 276 CSCs were to be installed in Palamu, only

about 120 are installed, as per information provided by the franchisee. They are not

connected to Jharnet and so cannot get eGovernment services through SWAN.

The study team then shifted base to Palamu, the selected district, and conducted study at

District Palamu (HQ Medininagar/Daltonganj), Block Chainpur and Gram Jainagra, by

holding discussions with District / Block / Village level officials, Panchayati Raj department

officials at various levels and the village representatives in focused groups. The team was

assisted by an NGO resource. The discussions with the citizens of the village led to the

selection of 5 services to be delivered by the PRIs.

A district level workshop was conducted by the consultants at Daltonganj, the district

headquarter, to discuss the findings of the study till then, informing the district officials of

citizens’ choices and requesting them to select the final list of 15 more services which the

government thought were important for people.

The State does not have a district sector/ Panchayat Window in its budget. The State

Finance Commission (SFC) or Central Finance Commission Grants are not being given to

Panchayats. The PRIs do not have a budget of their own. No Planned funds flow from State

to PRIs. Under the provision in section 75, 76 and 77 of Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001

the power and functions are to be devolved to the three level of Panchayats. Activity

Mapping has also not been initiated. Therefore no devolution of functions and functionaries

has taken place to PRIs.

The PR department is not a member of any committee for Policy making, planning,

implementing, funding and monitoring of schemes. At district and village level PRIs are



supposed to have representatives in the District and Village Education, Health and Water

and Sanitation committees. However, since the PRIs are non-existent in the State, there is

no representation in the meetings of the committees.

Planning for individual villages is done in the Aam Sabha. These individual village plans, thus

formulated, are consolidated at the Block level. Subsequently, these are further consolidated

at the District level (DRDA) and are inducted in the District Development Plan*. The District

Development Plan is a term used by the Ministry in its GO No.N-11019/833/08-Pol-I, Ministry

of Panchayati Raj, Dated: 29th May ‘09 to differentiate it from the District Plan, which needs

to be prepared by the District Planning Commission. Since the District Planning Commission

has not been constituted yet the development activities are being planned for through the

District Development Plan.

The planning of schemes which depend on BPL list and scores like IAY and IGNOAPS etc.,

are done by departmental officers on basis of approved BPL lists and scores. The lists and

scores are approved by Aam Sabha. For the rest of the schemes the departmental officers

prepare the plans based on guidelines issued by the DRDA. The PRIs do not do any

accounting for any of the Scheme.

Gram Panchayat does not play any role in the implementation of the schemes. The

Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Panchayat also do not play any role in the implementation of the

schemes either. The management of the schemes is done by line department officials except

the Village Education Committee for schools and Village Water and Sanitation Committee in

case of Water and Sanitation Schemes. A Village health committee is also said to be

existing. The consultants were not able to meet and talk with any member.

There is no formal structured system of monitoring of schemes at village and block level. The

Deputy Commissioner though carries out periodic review of schemes on a monthly basis.

There is a gap of 76 Panchayat Bhawan to be financed and built for housing the Panchayats

district Palamu. It is estimated that out of a total of 4559 Panchayats only about 2000 have

premises available to them.

The power situation is also very unsatisfactory and the blocks and villages may not get

power during office hours to complete the work. Though UPS can be installed but they also

need to be recharged for sufficient time. Jharkhand is an insurgency affected area and

therefore the security of the costly equipment is also of vital concern. The Panchayat

Bhawans in effected areas become deserted well before dusk and therefore remain

unprotected for the rest of the day and night. The anti social elements have been known to



target the Panchayat Bhawans. The Plan of Action should therefore take the power and

security aspect into consideration.

The IT preparedness of the Panchayati Raj department both at District and State level is

found to be inadequate at strategic and operation levels for ePRI. Skill development is

required and should be initiated immediately with foundation training of IT followed by

specialized training for running the application software.

The KPMG team envisages that after implementation of ePRI project in Jharkhand the

ownership of the process behind the service shall rest with the concerned line department

ensuring regulatory compliance and the front end shall be operated electronically by the

ePRI.

* The State government prepares plans for each district which are called as District Plans. The District Planning

Committee according to the Jharkhand Panchayati Raj Act section 127(e) is entrusted with preparing blueprints of five

year and annual plans for the district, consolidating the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipal bodies

and assigning the same to the State government for inclusion in the State plan; this is also a District Plan. In order to

differentiate between the two District Plans of two different sources and methods, and in view of clarity, the one to be

prepared by the Panchayats/ Municipalities has been termed as District Development Plan, which is the nomenclature

used by the Ministry in its GO No.N-11019/833/08-Pol-I, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Dated: 29th May ‘09.



2. Summary of Findings

Organization Structure

• Elections to PRIs have been stayed in the State by orders of the Supreme Court.

• The State department of Panchayati Raj’s hierarchy exists spanning the all three levels

where Panchayats are supposed to operate.

• With no elected members the State has also not appointed any officers to meet the needs

of Panchayats with the exception of the CEO ZP (DDC), EO PS (BDO) and Secretary GP

(Panchayat Sewak).

For more details turn to Section 5.2, page no. 28.

Devolution Status

• The State does not have a district sector/ Panchayat Window in its budget.

• The State Finance Commission (SFC) or Central Finance Commission Grants are not

being given to Panchayats.

• Only one SFC has been appointed so far. It is headed by a serving officer (of the rank of

Principal Secretary, (GoJ) of the State government. The SFC, as per available

information, has submitted its report in July 2009.

• No funds have gone to Panchayats accounts.

• No devolution of functions to the three levels of Panchayats has taken place.

• Activity Mapping has not been initiated yet.

• The devolution of functionaries has also not taken place.


PR Governance

• No DPC has been created in the State.

• Plan Plus has not been used in the planning purposes of PRIs.

• Single entry book keeping system is used in the district level accounting.

• Planning for individual villages is done in the Aam Sabha.

• These individual village plans, thus formulated, are consolidated at the Block level.

Subsequently, these are further consolidated at the District level (DRDA) and are

inducted in the District Plan.

• All monitoring and implementation are handled by the line departments or the DRDA.

• There is no formal structured system of monitoring of schemes at village and block level.

• The Deputy Commissioner though carries out monthly review of schemes.



• The Gram Panchayats, the Panchayat Samitis and the Zilla Panchayats do not play any

role in the implementation of the schemes.


Information & Services Needs

• The expectations of all the State Line Departments contacted by the study team include

involvement of PRIs as a single point of contact, for the citizens, for any kind of

information, receipt of application, delivery of artifact or service as well as finding the

status of their application for the same. In effect the departments wish Panchayats to

front end their services.

• The general aspiration across all departments is to have PRIs playing a key role in the

physical and financial monitoring of the implementation of schemes at the ground level.

• The Line Departments also expect the PRIs to act as a data collection resource, which

would help in key decision making processes.

• The main information & services needs of State PR department can be enumerated as:

� Improved delivery systems for services,

� Increasing simplicity and accessibility of systems and procedures to citizens,

� Increased fiscal responsibility and efficiency of expenditures through sound financial

management,

� Giving voice to people and higher levels of accountability and transparency in

governance,

� Reduction of red tape and government to be made sympathetic towards the needs of

the people, and

� Closer physical and fiscal monitoring of the progress of the programs.

• The expectations of the citizens can be summarized as follows.

� Clear and accurate information about each scheme, service and transaction. Citizens

should be able to use the ePRI channel to request and track the progress of their

transactions conveniently from their doorsteps (near home).

� Prompt and timely service.

� Citizen oriented and transparent service delivery process.

� Trust and security of the processes in the delivery of services

For more details turn to Section 6, page no. 48.



e-Governance Readiness

• The study team found that the level and reach of the e-Governance initiatives, in the

State, is inadequate.

• In Jharkhand, a total of 4562 CSCs were to be installed. However, as per information by

JAPIT, only 3006 are installed.

• In Palamu only 120 out of proposed 276 CSCs have been installed and none of them is

providing any G2C services to the citizens.

• Jharnet, the SWAN initiative of the GoJ has reached only 7 blocks in Palamu.

• Jharnet shall only extend up to the Block level and therefore the ePRI initiative shall have

to provision for connecting the Panchayats at village level to the Jharnet at Block level.

• Transport, Treasury and Registration software is available for State use. These software

are being used through Jharnet.

• No other software was found to be available for implementation in the State.

• Despite the website of the State being available the various forms used in the schemes

have not been digitized and made available to citizens through web site.

• Panchayat bhawans have to be built before provisioning for the hardware, software and

other equipment can be installed.

• The problem of security and Power needs to be taken into consideration while preparing

detailed plans.

• It has also been found that there is a shortage of trained manpower at Panchayats to

handle hardware and software at Panchayat level.

• The GoJ has transferred funds to 23 of the districts (all except East Singhbhum) for

purchase of one computer and necessary accessories under Capacity Building for 434

Panchayats out of a total of 4795 Panchayats (ZP,PS and GP). The purchase is in

various stages of completion.

• Palamu has received Rs. 14.5 Lakhs for purchase of computers for Panchayats. 29

computers and accessories are being purchased for the district. Tenders for the same

have been floated.

• In Palamu, 13 computers have been installed at each of the 13 old Blocks and 2

computers at the District level, under NREGA.

For more details turn to Section 7, page no. 59.

Civil Works Assessment

• There are a total of 4559 Gram Panchayats in the State of Jharkhand. Out of these about

2000 are said to have own premises (Panchayat Bhawans).

• Most of the Zilla Panchayats have their own premises.



• In Palamu, a total of 289 Panchayat Bhawans are needed for all the Gram Panchayats to

be accommodated. As of now, only 82 Panchayat Bhawans are fully functional and are

available for immediate use. 41 Panchayat Bhawans are under repair and 90 new

Panchayat Bhawans are under construction.

• 76 Panchayat Bhawans are yet to be designed, approved and constructed.




3. Project Background

Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India are a homegrown effort to decentralize

government to promote greater participation by the ordinary public 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. There are more than 31 lakhs elected

representatives at all three tiers.

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 and IT enablement of government functioning has received a high impetus

with the implementation of the National eGovernance Programme of Government of India

and various states have realized the importance of eGovernance. 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 eGovernance 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 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.

This initiative poses unique challenges, as the coverage of the programme is in itself

unprecedented not only in India but perhaps globally too. The geographic and demographic

coverage of the programme, 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 programme would face significant challenges. This

also leads to related challenges around stake holder’s involvement in the programme.

This project entails carrying out the following three activities:

1. Identification of Information and Services Needs of Stakeholders

2. Process Re-engineering and

3. Preparation of Detailed Project Report for the MMP

The project execution primarily was carried out across the following five tiers:

1. Ministry of Panchayati Raj (or ‘Ministry’) level

2. State level

3. Zilla Panchayat level

4. Block Panchayat level

5. Village Panchayat level



4. Approach & Methodology for INS Study

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:

The Initiation and Planning phase (Phase I) primarily focused on setting the tone for

execution of the project. The key outcomes of this phase were identification of stakeholders,

the consultation mechanism with the stakeholders and formalizing the deliverable templates.

During this phase data gathering tools and templates were also prepared, which were

targeted on focused information capture.

The INS Needs assessment phase (Phase II) involved interaction, including a survey, 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 through PRIs and the services that are expected to be delivered

through PRIs were also identified and studied.

The Process Re-engineering phase (Phase III) 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.



The DPR preparation phase (Phase IV) will be the eventual outcome of the study where

apart from State specific DPR, a national DPR would also prepared. This national DPR

would be shared with the states to enable them to directly undertake implementation of e-

Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions.

The following sections details the approach and methodology adopted during the INS Study.

4.1. Study Methodology

As part of the study methodology stakeholder consultation was done by establishing a core

project team which visited the various central line ministries. In addition the identification of

interview groups was also done during this phase.

4.1.1. Stakeholder Consultation

Establishing Project Core Team

A Project Execution Unit (PEU), comprising of representatives from MoPR, NIC and the

agencies appointed, has been set up as a core team. The PEU is 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. PEU is responsible for the co-ordination of the designated field teams

for each of the states/UTs undertaking the INS Study. The PEU 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 had a National Kick-off chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and

attended by senior officials from various stakeholder line ministries. A group of 12

consultants was formed to conduct this study over a period of 2 weeks. The group was

oriented by the PEU regarding the objectives of the study and the project. The PEU

organized the group into three teams and assigned the CLMs to them. The teams 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.

Field study for identifying INS needs of Citizens

The field teams comprises of the SIO/DIOs of the State/District, the team of consultants and

the domain experts drawn from NGOs, CBOs, retired PR officials. The study was conducted



across all the three tiers of Panchayati Raj administration, namely District / Zilla Panchayat,

Block Panchayat, Gram Panchayat, which led to the Identification of information and services

needs of citizens.

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 Panchayati Raj

Act. Field teams gathered information on various schemes, centrally or state sponsored, that

were being provided to the citizens, using questionnaires and discussions with various State

line departments Rural Development Department, Tribal development department, Women

and Child Welfare department etc.

Field teams also met support departments and agencies such as Department of Information

Technology, Rural Development Agency, Postal Department, SCA handling CSC etc, for the

assessment of the existing technology infrastructure being implemented within the state/UTs.

Field team observed and examined various artifacts such as the department annual report,

citizen charters, status reports for the projects under implementation, accounting and

monitoring reports etc., to support the captured information and discussions. Field team

spent approximately two weeks at the state level to collect required information for the study.

After gathering the relevant information at the State level, field team moved to District level to

continue with a similar exercise of collection of the information on the existing schemes and

services and their delivery modes to the beneficiaries. Key officials met in the district

administration included the District Collector, the District Magistrate, DDC, Additional

Collector (in charge of revenue), DDO, PD-DRDA, and various committees formed under the

State Panchayati Raj Act. Field team, wherever possible, also attended the committee

meetings to understand the ground work being undertaken by the committees. Field team

spent about two weeks at the district level to collect the required information for the study.

At the Block Panchayat and Village Panchayat level the field teams, apart from interacting

with the government officials also undertook interactions with the villagers by organizing a

gram sabha and / or discussions with focused groups. The team attended a minimum of one

Gram Sabha 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 meet 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 PRIs.

Field team also enquired at each level about the existing technology and related

infrastructure such as buildings, electricity availability, network connectivity etc.



4.1.2. Identification of Interviewee Groups

The PEU identified the various interviewee groups. Questionnaires and data gathering

templates for these interviewee groups were also prepared.

The field teams customized this and prepared comprehensive list of interviewees based on

discussions with state level stakeholders including state and district/block administration. The

list included the following key people:

• Panchayat officials and support staff - District Administration officers (District Magistrate,

Asst. District Magistrate), 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, Employment officer,

Animal Husbandry in-charge, Representatives of village co-operative society or leaders of

self-help groups etc.

• Postal Department - A level of interaction with the Postal Department officials for the

services being rendered by the department

• Village Organizations - Wherever applicable, the field teams shall also interact with the

Village Organizations (VOs), including voluntary organizations, to obtain greater clarity on

the information and services needs of the rural citizens.

• Specific focus groups -If required, additional discussions have been conducted with

specific focus groups such as farmers, teachers, youth, women, rural health officer,

SC/ST families, minorities etc.

• Villagers - The study team also interacted with the identified villagers, if required, through

‘Participatory Rural Assessment’ techniques (PRA) facilitated by the Panchayat

members.

4.2. Data Gathering Tools

The data gathering tools included the interview questionnaires and the data capturing

templates which were used by the study team to capture the information of various

stakeholders.

4.2.1. Interview Questionnaires

Exhaustive templates were formulated by the PEU team based on the project scope and the

information required. These templates were then circulated to the field teams. All the

relevant information based on the objective of the template was captured by the field teams

based on their interactions with the identified stakeholders. Field teams observed and

examined various artifacts at various levels to support the information captured during the

INS Study.



4.2.2. Data Capturing Templates

A data capturing template was prepared for capturing the existing ICT infrastructure available

at the State for the PRIs.

4.2.3. Services Identification Methodology

The service identification methodology involves interaction, including a survey, with the

identified stakeholders. These discussions and detailed interviews with the identified

stakeholders resulted in forming an understanding of the needs of the stakeholders and

helped in identification of the services. The project envisaged the study and subsequent re-

engineering of the following 2 broad categories of services:

• G2G Services

• G2C Services (Citizen Centric Sub-services)

As indicated by NIC and MoPR, the G2G services to be identified and subsequently studied

were as follows -

• Planning

• Budgeting

• Panchayat accounting

• Scheme execution & monitoring

• Panchayati Portal

• PRI Profiling

• Base-line surveys

The G2C services to be identified for study and process re-engineering were to be finalized

after extensive interactions with the Ministry and other stakeholders. The following 2-step

approach was proposed for identifying the services to be re-engineered for each state.

Step 1 - Define broad list of services to be studied

A broad list of services, likely to be evolved from identified functional areas, to be re-

engineered was to be arrived at, based on extensive consultations with Ministry

representatives and NIC. This was to serve as the “umbrella” list of functional areas to be re-

engineered.

Step 2 - Define state-specific list of services

The above “umbrella” list of functional areas was then to be refined for each of the identified

state/UT, based on specific requirements of the respective state/UT. The field teams were to

assist the state representatives in selecting functional areas to be studied for their respective

state from this list.



In addition to identifying the existing services for re-engineering, new services to be provided

to rural citizens were also to be identified. This was to be determined mainly on the basis of

the Information and Services needs assessment study at the Panchayat levels.

As the “wish-list” of new services could have been comprehensive and would have differed

from state to state, only up to a maximum of 20 services (including both the existing as well

as new services) were agreed to be identified in each state.



Objective: The section captures the

current assessment of progress of Panchayati

Raj Institutions as institution of local self

governance. This includes vision of State PR

department, status of devolution of powers to

PRIs and PR Governance in terms of planning,

monitoring, implementing and accounting.

Involvement of PRI in functioning of schemes

is also a part of the section.

5. Status of Panchayati Raj

As a part of the larger State of Bihar, the area

presently constituting Jharkhand had seen

elections held regularly since the enactment of

the Panchayati Raj Act after independence up

until 1964. There were only two more instances

of elections in the rest of the period of last

century – once in 1971 and then in 1978;

coincidentally on both instances Late Shri

Karpoori Thakur was the Chief Minister of the

State. Following its constitution as a separate State, Jharkhand had enacted its Panchayati

Raj Act in accordance with the provisions of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution and

that of the Panchayat Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act, 1996 as applicable to this

State. The district wise list of Panchayats is as follows:

Table 5.1 – No. of Districts, Panchayat Samitis & Gram Panchayats in Jharkhand

S. No. Districts Panchayat Samiti’s Gram Panchayat’s

1 24 212 4559

(Details in Annexure)

Table 5.2 – No. of Blocks, Panchayats & villages in Palamu

S.No. No. of Blocks No. Of Panchayats No. of Villages

1 20 289 1910

(Details in Annexure)

In order to strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as per the spirit of the Constitution

and the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001, the Department of Panchayati Raj has under

taken several schemes such as construction of Panchayat Bhawan (Buildings), grants to

Zilla Parishad area, construction of Dak Bungalows, Office buildings, Bus stands in Zilla

Parishad areas, Training to PRIs Officials and Staff, Grants to Gram Sabha etc is also

proposed to be undertaken.



The provision for election petition has been made under section 151 of the Panchayati Raj

Act, whereby following criteria’s have been laid down:

Table 5.3 - Authority for filling petitions by Panchayat representatives

Election to the Before whom the Election Petition Lies

Mukhiya / Member of Gram Panchayat Block Development Officer

Members of Panchayat Samiti DM

Members of Zilla Parishad Commissioner

Election petition shall be investigated or adjudicated by the prescribed procedure as laid

down under the Act.

Table 5.4 - Nomenclature used in the three tiers of Panchayati Raj system

Level of Panchayat Name Used

District Panchayat Zilla Parishads

Intermediate Panchayat Panchayat Samitis

Village Panchayat Gram Panchayats

Table 5.5 - No. of Panchayats at each tier in the State

Panchayat Level Number of Panchayats

Zilla Parishads 24

Panchayat Samitis 212

Gram Panchayats 4559

Total 4795

However, when the announcement for the first election in the new State was announced, it

had to be held back due to legal challenges to the provisions of reservation for the offices of

Presidents for the ST communities. The matter has since been under the consideration of

the Apex Court.

5.1. Vision of State PR Department

The State PR department visualizes Panchayati Raj to be the prime mover of the Poverty

Alleviation Programmes by providing Good Governance. It feels that investing in

development initiatives is, to some extent, about the provisioning of funds, but merely



providing in money without addressing the subject of effective service delivery means there

is tremendous wastage in human and fiscal resources.

The issue is not merely ‘how much’ has been provided for, but ‘how’ it has been spent. The

systems should be efficient, people-friendly and corruption free at the same time providing a

voice to the people so that they can voice their content or discontent and at the same time

participate actively in governance. Very often, states fail to achieve high levels of

performance in human development because the systems lack accountability, are riddled

with red tape and are distanced from the people. Leakage of funds earmarked for human

development into the pockets of contractors, bureaucrats and other vested interest groups

means that funds are not being used for the most vulnerable sections of society. Providing

good governance will ensure that the human development requirements of those who are

most in need will be met efficiently.

Panchayati Raj department’s vision is also about providing an efficient, effective and

sympathetic administration that is committed to improving the quality of life of the people. It is

about what people expect from the administration, and the willingness and capacity of the

administration to fulfill their expectations. The department would like to devolve funds,

functions and functionaries in adequate numbers to meet the vision.



5.2. Panchayati Raj Organization Structure

The structure of the Panchayati Raj Organization in Jharkhand is as follows:

5.2.1. State PR Departments

* Ministerial staff comprises of clerks, typists, assistants etc.

5.2.2. Panchayati Raj Institutions

With Jharkhand attaining statehood in year 2000, the state wanted to give autonomy to the

Panchayats which already had a presence in the Tribal system prevailing since long.

Jharkhand therefore enacted the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001. The procedure for

formation of the Panchayats was laid down under Act, which was passed by the State



assembly and enacted into a law. The Act under Chapter III delineates of the physical

boundaries of the three tier of Panchayats (sections 11 to 13, 32 and 47). In addition, it also

defines the procedure of setting up of the three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions (sections

15, 33, 34, 48 and 49 of the Act) and the Gram Sabha (chapter II).

The Panchayati Raj Institutions in the State and their status was found to be as follows:

Gram Panchayat

As per the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001 the following positions are to be created at

every Gram Panchayat:

• Mukhiya

• Up-mukhiya

• Elected Members

These posts are to be filled by elected members only. The establishment and composition of

the Gram Panchayat is detailed under the Section 15 of the Act which defines it as under,

Constitution of Gram Panchayat

• Every Gram Panchayat shall consist of directly elected members and Mukhiya.

• Every Gram Panchayat constituted under this section shall be notified in the District

Gazette and shall be effective from the appointed date of its first meeting in which there is

a quorum.

The Act therefore defines that the Gram Panchayat can be formed only when there are

elected members and a Mukhiya. It also defines that the Gram Panchayat as constituted

above shall be notified in the District gazette and shall be presumed to be effective from the

date of its first meeting in which the quorum is complete. In the absence of elected members,

due to Supreme Court stay on elections, it is a widely held view of the State that the Gram

Panchayats can not be constituted as per the Act. The third tier of the PRIs is therefore not

constituted in the State.

Panchayat Samiti

As per the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001 following positions are to be created at every

Panchayat Samiti:

1. Pramukh

2. Up-pramukh\

3. MPs, MLAs, Rajya Sabha Members

4. Mukias of territorial area



5. Elected Members

6. Nominee of State

The posts at 1-5 are to be filled by elected members and the one at 6 by a nominee.

Constitution of Panchayat Samiti

Every Panchayat Samiti shall consist of

1. Directly elected members from the Panchayat Samiti's territorial constituencies, as

determined under the Act;

2. Members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the State Legislative Assembly,

representing constituencies which fall wholly or partly within the Panchayat Samiti;

3. Such member of the Rajya Sabha whose name is entered as voter within the

Panchayat Samiti's area.

4. 1/5th of Mukhias of the territorial area comprising the Panchayat Samiti by rotation for

a period of one year as determined by drawing of lots by the prescribed officer

5. An outstanding person of the area of the Panchayat Samiti's jurisdiction, who is

nominated by notification by the State Government.

The Section 33 of the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act defines the setting up of the Panchayat

Samities. The Panchayat Samiti is also constituted by the election of members from the

territorial constituencies. It has Mukhias under its territory of the Gram Panchayats, who in

turn are elected members and whose elections have been stayed, as members apart from

MPs, MLAs and Government nominees. In the absence of the elections to the composition of

the Panchayat Samiti’s, having not taken place, the view is that the second tier of the PRIs is

also not constituted.

Zilla Panchayat

As per the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001 the following positions are to be created at

every Zilla Panchayat:

1. Adhyaksh

2. Up-adhyaksh

3. Pramukhs of all Panchayat Samitis

4. MPs, MLAs, Rajya Sabha Members

5. Elected Members

6. Nominee of State Government

The posts at 1-5 are to be filled by elected members and at 6 is a government nominee.



Constitution of Zila Parishad

Every Zila Parishad shall consist of,

1. The members directly elected from territorial constituencies in the district as

determined under the Act

2. The Pramukhs of all Panchayat Samitis in the district, provided that the Pramukh of a

Panchayat Samiti, who is a member under the Parishad, shall not be a member of the

standing committee

3. Such members of the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assembly who represent

any part or the whole of the district and whose constituency falls within the district

4. The members of the Rajya Sabha who are registered as electors within the district

5. One distinguished person of the Zila Parishad area to be nominated by the State

Government by means of notification

In the absence of directly elected members and Pramukhs of the territorial Panchayat

Samiti’s the constitution of Zilla Parishad has also been nullified in view of the government.

No Zilla Parishad as a government body exists. The first tier of the PRI is also missing in the

State.

It was also investigated that whether it was possible to operate bank accounts of the three

tiers of Panchayats in the absence of elected members. The status as per the Act is as

follows:

1. In the case of a Gram Panchayat, any amount may be withdrawn from the gram

Panchayat fund by joint signature of the Mukhia and the Secretary.

2. Subject to such general control as the Panchayat Samiti may adopt from time to time,

all orders and cheques for payment from the Fund of the Panchayat Samiti shall bear

the signature of the Executive Officer

3. Subject to such general control as the Zila Parishad may adopt from time to time, all

orders and cheques to be paid out of the fund of the Zila Parishad shall bear the

signature of the Executive Officer.

The government may therefore appoint appropriate signatories to operate funds from

Panchayat Samities and Zilla Panchayats; however the operation of accounts from Gram

Panchayats may pose a legal hurdle.

The popularly held view in the State therefore is that the three tiers of Panchayat can only be

legally constituted and operated if the elections are held and elected members join their

respective bodies.



Another view, which is not very favored in the State, is that by demarcating the Panchayat

areas and building corresponding Panchayat bhawans, which has been done in the State,

the territorial jurisdiction of the three tiers of Panchayats has been fixed and it is only the

elected members who are yet to be elected into positions.

It is however argued that the fixing of territorial jurisdictions has been recognized by the Act

as an Executive decision i.e., that of Governor, Commissioner or District Magistrate / Deputy

Commissioner, and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the Act. The physical demarcation of

the boundaries has been done by the appropriate authority in furtherance to the Act. The

PRIs therefore are not duly constituted and they cannot act as government bodies.

Appointment of government officials

The Panchayati Raj act also recommends the appointment of some government officials in

the PRIs. The status as on date is,

Table 5.6 – Appointment of Govt. Officials

S.No Important Appointments by Govt. to Panchayats Status

1

The State Government or the prescribed Authority

may appoint one Secretary for a Gram

Panchayat

Not appointed/

Panchayat Sewak*

looking after

2 The State Government will appoint an Executive

Officer for the Panchayat Samiti

Not appointed/ BDO

looking after

3

The State Government will appoint an Assistant

Secretary through the medium of Panchayat

Directorate for Panchayat Samiti

Not appointed

4 The State Government shall appoint a Chief

Executive Officer for every Zila Parishad Yes appointed in Palamu

5 The government may appoint an Additional Chief

Executive Officer for a Zila Parishad Not appointed

6

The Government shall also appoint a Chief

Planning Officer and a Chief Accounts Officer,

Executive officer for every Zila Parishad;

Not appointed

7 Other District, Block and Village level

functionaries to PRIs. Not appointed

*Panchayat Sewak is an employee of the State Government, Dept. of Panchayati Raj



No matter which view one subscribes to the fact is that the PRIs are ill equipped to meet the

challenges of ePRI and need infusion of capacity building measures in form of manpower,

training and skills up gradation to meet the needs of the project.

5.3. Devolution Status

The devolution of the Funds, Function and Functionaries to PRIs has not yet taken place in

Jharkhand due to the stay on the elections to the PRIs by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of

India. The current status has been explained in the following section.

5.3.1. Funds, Functions, Functionaries

Funds (Finances)

The State does not have a district sector/ Panchayat Window in its budget. However, it is

reported that there is a strong system of traditional Panchayats functioning in some blocks of

Ranchi and Khunti districts in the form of Manki-Munda and the Parha systems. In the year

2005-06, the State Government decided to allot Rs.50, 000/- each to the traditional

Panchayats. In the absence of elected Panchayats, the issue of sending tied as well as

untied funds to the Panchayats does not arise.

The State Finance Commission (SFC) or Central Finance Commission Grants are not being

given to Panchayats.

Only one SFC has been appointed so far. It is headed by a serving officer (of the rank of

Principal Secretary, GoJ) of the State government. The SFC, as per available information,

has submitted its report in July 2009.

Apart from it 16 districts of the State of Jharkhand comes under BRGF. Funds available

under this scheme have been Rs. 720 Crores against which Rs. 615 Crores have been

released.

Functions

Under the provision in section 75, 76 and 77 of Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001 the

power and functions are to be devolved to the three level of Panchayats. In this reference

several meetings have been held in the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary and necessary

guidelines have been given to concerned departments. Activity Mapping has not been

initiated. The Table 5.7 describes the functions allocated to Panchayats and their current

status. The Jharkhand Panchayati Raj Act has legislated for the devolution of these

functions. But none have devolved in absence of PRIs.



Table 5.7 - Functions allocated to Panchayats and their current status

S. No. Functions Sub Functions Status

1. General Functions

i.

Preparation of annual plans for

development of the Panchayat

area

Being done by DRDA for

district

ii.

Organizing voluntary labour and

voluntary contribution for

community works

Being done by Dept. of

Rural Development

iii. Removal of encroachments on

public properties Circle officer revenue

iv. Undertaking relief work during

natural calamities

Being done at District

level by Relief dept State

level

v. Maintenance of essential

statistics of villages.

Being done by

Department of Statistics

and Evaluation

2. Agriculture, including Agriculture Extension.

i.

Execution of plans for

development of agriculture and

horticulture;

Being done by

departmental officers at

district level

ii. Execution of plans for

reclamation of wasteland

Being done at district level

by revenue dept.

iii.

Development and maintenance

of grazing lands and preventing

their unauthorized alienation

and use.


by revenue dept.

3.

Cooperation with Government and the Panchayat

Samiti in land development, land reclamation and land

conservation works.

Not being done

4. Implementation of minor irrigation, water management Being done at the district




and water coverage development plans. level by irrigation

department officers

5. Animal husbandry, dairy farming and poultry

i.

Implementation of schemes for

improvement of breed of cattle,

poultry and other livestock

Being done by the AH

department officers at

district/Block level

ii.

Implementation of the Scheme

for promotion of dairy farming,

poultry and piggery

Being done by the AH

department officers at

district/Block level

6. Fisheries - Implementation of scheme for development

of fisheries in villages

Being done by department

Fishery officers at district

level

7. Social and farm forestry

i.

Plantation and preservation of

trees on the sides of roads and

other public lands under its

control

Being done by the Forest

department

ii. Implementation of social and

farm forestry schemes

Being done by Forest

department

iii.

Plantation for fuel and

implementation of schemes for

fodder development.

Being done by


district level

iv.

Carrying out of programme for

development and promotion of

sericulture.

Being done by


district level

8.

Minor forest

produce

Providing for collection,

processing, storage and

marketing of minor forest

produce

Being done by Forest

department

9. Khadi, Village and cottage industries




i.

Implementation of schemes for

development of village and

cottage industries

Being done by


district level

ii.

Making schemes for

development of agricultural and

commercial industries and

implementing them

Being done by


district level

iii.

Organizing awareness camps,

seminars and training

programmes, agricultural and

industrial exhibitions for benefit

of rural areas

Being done by


district level

10. Rural Housing

i. Implementation of rural housing

schemes Being done by DRDA

ii. Distribution of house - sites

within its jurisdiction

Being done under rules

framed by DRDA

iii.

Maintenance of records relating

to building sites and other

private and public properties


by revenue dept.

11. Drinking water facilities

i.

Construction, repair and

maintenance of public wells,

ponds and hand - pumps for

drinking water, washing clothes

and bathing

Department of Drinking

Water at district and sub

div level/ DRDA and

PHED

ii. Taking measures for prevention

and control of water pollution



div. level

iii. Conducting and maintaining

rural water supply scheme






div. level

iv. Management of water sources

At state level by

department of water

resources

12. Roads, buildings, bridges, culverts, water ways and

other means of communication

i.

Construction and maintenance

of rural roads, drains and

bridges - culverts.

Department of Rural

engineering/ Rural Dev.

at district level

ii.

Maintenance of the building

under its control or transferred

by the Government or any public

authority

Department of Building

Construction at district

level

iii. Maintenance of boats, ferries

and water - ways.

At state level by

department of water

resources

13. Rural Electrification

i.

Provision for and maintenance

of lighting public streets and

other places

Dept. of Power at district

Sub div level

ii. Helping rural electrification

Department of power and

rural Development

department

14. Non - conventional energy source

i.

Promotion and development of

non- conventional energy -

sources

JREDA from State level

ii.

Maintenance of community non -

conventional energy sources

including bio - gas plants





iii.

Propagation and publicity of

improved ovens and other

energy means


15. Poverty alleviation programme

i.

Promotion of public awareness

and participation in poverty

alleviation programmes for full

employment and creation of

productive assets

DRDA through block and

village functionaries

ii.

Selection of beneficiaries under

various programmes through

Gram Sabhas

DRDA through Aam

Sabha and block and


iii.

Ensuring effective

implementation and monitoring

of schemes

DRDA through block and


16.

Education,

including primary

and secondary

schools

i.

Promotion of public awareness

and participation in primary and

secondary education

Village / Block/ District

Education committees

ii.

Ensuring full enrollment and

attendance in primary schools

and their management

Village /Block/ District


iii. Providing for education

guarantee

Village /Block/ District


iv. Management of secondary

schools.

Principals and District

education Officers




17. Adult and non - formal education carrying out of

programmes for promotion of adult literacy

Adult Education

Department

18. Technical training and professional education -

Village arts and selection and training of artisans.

Department of Sports,

Culture and Youth Affairs

19. Establishment and maintenance of libraries and

reading rooms. Not being done

20. Sports and Cultural activities

i.

Encouragement of sports and

cultural activities, and

establishment and maintenance

of village clubs

State level Department of

Arts, Culture, Sports and

Youth Affairs

ii. Arranging cultural seminars.

21. Markets and fairs- Management of fairs (including

cattle fair), markets and haats in Panchayat area.

APMC / Departmental

officers at District/ block

and Village level

22. Hygiene and Sanitation

i. Promotion of village sanitation


Water and Sanitation at

District and Sub division

level

ii. Cleaning of public streets,

ponds, wells and roads

Block/ Village level

functionaries

iii. Construction and maintenance

of public latrines


Water and Sanitation at

District and Sub division

level

iv. Management and control of

bathing and washing ghats

State level by Department

of Water Resources

v. Vaccination Department of Health ME




and FW

vi. Prevention and remedial

measures against epidemics

Department of Health ME

and FW

vii. Maintenance and regulation of

burning and burial grounds Village level functionaries

viii. Disposal of unclaimed corpses

and carcasses Village level functionaries

ix. Preventive measures against

stray animals Village level functionaries

23. Welfare of weaker sections and in particular the

scheduled castes and scheduled tribes

i.

Implementation of specific

programmes for scheduled

castes, scheduled tribes and

weaker sections of the society

District/Block level officers

of Welfare and Social

Welfare and Social

security departments

ii.

Programmes against

exploitation of and injustice to

weaker sections of the society

District/Block level officers

of Welfare and Social

Welfare and social

security departments

24. Health and family welfare

i. Management of health and

family welfare programmes

Civil surgeon through

District and village Health

Committees

ii. Measures for prevention and

control of malnutrition

Dept. Of Soc. Welf.,

Women and Child Dev.

through CDPO/

Anganwadis/ Balwadis

and Education department

through Mid Day Meal

scheme




iii. Encouraging small family norm

Civil surgeon through

District and village Health

Committees

25. Social welfare and social security including women

welfare

i.

Making and implementing

schemes for mentally and

physically handicapped persons

Department of social

welfare through district/

Block and village

functionaries

ii. Provision of pension for the old,

the disabled and the destitute

Department of Social

welfare through district/

Block and village

functionaries

iii.

Specific programmes for social

development of women and

children

Department of social

welfare women and Child

Development through

CDPO

26. Maintenance and preservation of community assets

i.

Specific provision for community

assets created by the

Government, local authority and

other agencies and

arrangements for their proper

use

No specific provision

made

ii. Encouraging people's

participation in this Not being done

27. Public distribution system

i.

Arousing social consciousness

regarding distribution of

essential

Department of Food and

supplies through district/

Block officers




Commodities

ii.

Management of public

distribution system and constant

supervision

for making it efficient and

transparent

Department of Food and

supplies through district/

Block officers

28. Management of Child Development Programme

Department of Social

welfare women and Child

development through

CDPO

29. Enlarging Cooperative activities

i.

Management of cooperative -

based agriculture, dairy,

pisciculture

and forest and environment

programmes

Cooperative Department

officers at district/Block

level

ii.

Encouragement to cooperative -

based handicraft, handloom,

tasar, lac and Malwari

production



level

iii. Development of Cooperative

marketing system



level

30. Encouraging the common people towards saving and

promoting collective saving system State Level

31. Organizing self-help groups and activating villagers

towards a self dependant village

Department of Rural

development through

District/Block officials

32.

Maintenance of records of birth, death, marriage etc.

and arousing awareness in people to register birth and

death

Department of Statistics

and Evaluation through

District and Block officers




33. Others

i.

Substantial provision to meet

unforeseen situation or natural

calamity

Not made

ii.

Provision for casual medical aid

to the poorest and cremation of

the destitute

Not made

iii.

Cooperation in affairs of national

interest such as cooperating in

census, collection of desirable

information

Not being done

Though work in all government programmes was going on the main object of reaching out to

citizen was lost. The government was still working in the feudal philosophy that the public

should come to it rather than reaching out to the citizen. This was also amply clear from the

crowd gathered at the Collectorate and the Block office. The formation of Panchayats shall

go a long way in devolving powers and functions to a place near the citizens’ residence.

Some important tasks, which were thought to be important and be done through PRIs, like

cooperation with Government and the Panchayat Samiti in land development, land

reclamation and land conservation works, establishment and maintenance of libraries and

reading rooms, encouraging people's participation in maintenance and preservation of

community assets and cooperation in affairs of national interest such as cooperating in

census, collection of desirable information, are not being performed.

Functionaries

Since elected Panchayats have not been constituted, Activity Mapping has not been initiated;

the issue of devolution of Functionaries does not arise.

5.3.2. Status of Activity Mapping

Activity Mapping has not been initiated.



5.3.3. Challenges

The Panchayat Elections, of all the three tiers, in Jharkhand have been put on stay by the

Supreme Court of India. This is a major hurdle in terms of devolution of powers as no

devolution of funds, functions and functionaries can take place without the elected

representatives of Panchayat being present.

The other operational challenges in terms of the devolution would surface once the

Panchayat election takes place in Jharkhand.

5.4. PR Governance

The focus of this section is on determining the extent of PRI involvement and the PRI

participation in various committees. A detailed study of various activities in the G2G

functional areas was done which has been detailed below.

5.4.1. G2G Functional Areas

This section focuses on the level of PRI involvement in the G2G functional areas like

planning, implementation, monitoring and accounting.

5.4.1.1. Planning

As no PRI Elections have been conducted in the State of Jharkhand since the year 1978 and

the Supreme Court of India has also put a stay on the same, no elected representatives or

any involvement of PRIs in standing committees, exist at any of the Panchayat Levels

(ZP/BP/GP). Hence, no plans/proposals are being prepared at the ZP/BP/GP level.

• Planning for individual villages is done in the Aam Sabha. These individual village plans,

thus formulated, are consolidated at the Block level. Subsequently, these are further

consolidated at the District level (DRDA) and are inducted in the District Development

Plan.

• The District Planning committee has not been formed and therefore no District Plan is

prepared, yet the development activities are being planned through the District

Development Plan.

• The planning of schemes like IAY and IGNOAPS which depend on BPL list and scores

are done by departmental officers on basis of approved BPL lists and scores. The lists

and scores are approved by the Aam Sabha



• For the rest of the schemes the departmental officers prepare the plans based on

guidelines issued by the DRDA

5.4.1.2. Monitoring & Implementation

As no elected representatives or any involvement of PRIs in standing committees exist at

any of the Panchayat Levels (ZP/BP/GP), there are no systems in place to monitor

expenditure & receipt vouchers till the lowest level by Panchayats. All monitoring and

implementation are handled by the line departments or the DRDA. State RTI rules prevail in

all departments, however, Panchayati Raj Department does not have PRIs and therefore the

implementation of RTI is restricted to Govt. functioning only.

There is no formal structured system of monitoring of schemes at village and block level. The

Deputy Commissioner though carries out periodic review of schemes. The details of which

are as listed below:

Table – 5.8 Monitoring by Deputy Commissioner

S. No. Schemes Participants Frequency

1. SSA & MDM DSE, DEO, BEO Monthly

2. NRHM CS, DC Monthly

3. NREGS, SGSY, IAY, PMGSY DDC, All BDOs Monthly

4. NFSM, RKVY, NHM DAO, DHO, MD (ATMA), DFO,

DAHO Monthly*

5. ICDS DDC, DPO, All CDPOs Monthly

6.

All Welfare Schemes

including Pensions,

Scholarships, etc.

DWO, DPO, ADSS Monthly

* Frequency increased during Drought

Regarding implementation the Gram Panchayat does not play any role in the implementation

of the schemes. The Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Panchayat also do not play any role in the

implementation of the schemes.

Table 5.9 - Implementation, Operation and Maintenance of Schemes



S. No. Society/Committees/Agency Officer Schemes

1. None DDC, DPO BRGF

2. District Health Society/ Village health

committee Civil Surgeon NRHM

3. District Rural Development Agency PD, DRDA SGSY, IAY, PMGSY,

NREGS, IWDP and BRGF

4. National Food Security Mission

Society DAO NFSMP*

5. Agriculture Technology &

Management Agency (ATMA) DAO RKVY

6. None DHO NHM

7. District Education Committee &

Village Education committee DSE, DEO SSA, MDM

8. None DWO, DSWO

Scholarship, Hostel &

grant for weaker section

including STs

9. None AD SS IGNOAPS

10. None DPO ICDS

11. None EE ARWSP, TSC

12. None Addl. Collector NLRMP

*From next year as it is to be implemented then in Palamu. However as per available information other districts are

implementing it.

5.4.1.3. Accounting

Three tiers of classification of Head of Accounts are proposed to be used for Panchayat

Accounts as per GoI regulations governing the Centrally Funded Schemes. However as no

devolution of funds and functionaries has taken place the department of Panchayat follows

the traditional practice of the Govt. of Jharkhand (GoJ).

• The PRIs do not do any accounting for any Scheme

• The department, at government level has a single entry, cash basis accounting and are

under the treasury account head “2515” which is for other rural development schemes.



The department gets its non plan expenditure from this head, under the sub head

demands.

• No taxes are being collected by the Panchayats.

• As no elected representatives of the Panchayats exist, there is no involvement of PRIs in

standing committees at any of the Panchayat Levels (ZP/BP/GP).

5.4.2. Extent of PRI involvement in Schemes

Gram Panchayat does not play any role in the implementation of the schemes. The

Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Panchayat also do not play any role in the implementation of the

schemes either. The management of the schemes is done by line department officials except

the Village Education Committee for schools and Village Water and Sanitation Committee in

case of Water and Sanitation Schemes. A Village health committee is also said to be

existing. The consultants were not able to meet and talk with any member.

5.4.3. Participation in Committees

At State level as per information made available to the team the department is not a member

of any committee for Policy making, planning, implementing, funding and monitoring

schemes. At the District and village levels committees have been formed by the Education,

Health, and Sanitation / Drinking Water Supply departments. The departments expressed

that though these committees have provision to take in a Panchayat Member; no

representatives have registered/attended the meetings, in the absence of PRIs.

5.5. Best Practices & Key Learning related to Panchayati Raj Governance

As there are no Panchayats operating since the formation of Jharkhand as a State, there are

no Best Practices or Key Learnings associated with Panchayati Raj Governance. It is

however reported that there is a strong system of traditional Panchayats functioning in other

areas in the form of Manki-Munda and the Parha systems. Further a couple of activities

which are taking place in all the blocks of Jharkhand are as follows:

NREGA Diwas

Every Wednesday is considered as NREGA work day, at all Panchayat Offices, where all the

Rozgar Sewaks need to be present. The families desiring Job card, fill up an application form

with the details of all the family members along with their photographs which is submitted to

the rozgar sewak (a Gov functionary). After the requisite verification by the Rozgar Sewak,

Job cards are issued to the applicants, if found eligible, within 15 days of the date of

application. Those able bodied adults who desire work must request the Rozgar Sewak to

allot work to them. In case of an ongoing project work, they are allotted work and a written



order is issued to that effect. In case of new project, a group of minimum 20 job seekers is

required to allot work on pre-approved project.

Mangal Diwas

Every Tuesday all the Block officers and the Panchayat Sewaks are present for the whole

day at the Block office. The purpose of this day, which is called Mangal Diwas, is to resolve

all the pending issues like issuance of income certificate, caste certificate etc of all the

citizens of the block. As per the BDO Chainpur, it is mandatory for all the officials to be

present at the Block Office every Tuesday and take up all the pending application requests.

This initiative ensures that no issues of the citizens are left unresolved beyond a time frame

of 1 week.

Even after the enforcement of Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001, which laid down the

procedures for the formation and the functioning of the three tiers of Panchayats, the PRIs

are yet to be recognized as government bodies in the State. They are ill-equipped in terms

of manpower, devolution of powers and other capacity building requirements like training,

skills up-gradation, etc. The major hurdle, for the PRIs, in achieving a government status, is

the PRI Elections which have been stayed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

Conclusion



Objective: This section covers in depth assessment of information and service needs

of state PR department, line departments, PRI

and citizens. The expectations of various

stakeholders from ePRI project, identified on

basis of interactions with various

stakeholders at state and district level, have

also been discussed.

6. Information and Services Needs

This section deals with the information and

services needs of the State and citizens. As no

PRIs exist the study team cannot map the

information and services needs of the PRIs. The

needs are classified into common needs of all the

stakeholders and the needs individual

departments had expressed themselves.

In order to assess the needs of the stakeholders the study team had detailed discussions

with stakeholders at all levels. At State level the Study team met the Department of

Panchayati raj and all the departments involved in the implementation of the 29 schemes

where PRI involvement had been conceived (list in annexure). The vision and expectations

of the State PR department were also sought along with their suggestion and

recommendations for making ePRI a success.

6.1. I&S Needs of State PR Department and other Line Departments

The information and services needs of the State PR department, the common needs of all

the line departments and also their need individually have been discussed in detail in the

following section.

State PR Department

The main information & services needs of State PR department can be enumerated as:

• Improved delivery systems for services,

• Increasing simplicity and accessibility of systems and procedures to citizens,

• Increased fiscal responsibility and efficiency of expenditures through sound financial

management,

• Giving voice to people and higher levels of accountability and transparency in

governance,

• Reduction of red tape.

• Government to be made sympathetic towards the needs of the people, and

• Closer physical and fiscal monitoring of the progress of the programs.



Panchayati Raj expectations from ePRI are that it enables a citizen-friendly, citizen-caring

and responsive administration, and in the process, results in the exercise of public authority

for the common good.

State Line Departments

The aspirations of various State Line Departments

were expressed by the officials of the departments

during the State Workshop held on 25th June 2009

and subsequent interviews with individual

departments. The objective was to understand how

the schemes were being planned, implemented,

reports generated and the monitoring done to make

the schemes successful. Another objective was to

understand how far IT is being currently used to

assist in the planning, implementation and monitoring

of the schemes at different levels and is any State

level initiative planned to implement IT in planning, implementing and monitoring of schemes

centrally or individually.

At district level the study team discussed these issues with DC, DDC, DIO and validated

what had been gathered at the State level. The study team also discussed any fresh

challenges the district officials may have, which have hereto not been addressed.

The officials showed a positive response towards the ePRI and expressed that the ICT

enablement of PRIs would lead to better planning, implementation, accounting and

monitoring of the respective schemes of each of the departments. They further explained

about the various schemes being implemented by their departments and how ePRI would

help in delivering the same in a more efficient and transparent way.

The various departments who participated in the workshop and with whom the study team

had extensive interaction are shown below.



The common expectations of all the participating departments were as follows:

Planning

1. Problem of Data Collection and compilation: Planning any scheme calls from data

from various departments. Individual departments follow their own methods of data

collection and use different formats, coding systems and even may follow different time

measurements (crop season like Rabi, Kharif etc.). The data thus collected may be of

little use to other departments who may also need same or similar data. The data thus

collected by each of the departments individually which leads to redundancy, waste of

effort, and wastage of manpower and non uniformity of data.

Expectation from PRIs: With PRIs acting as a nodal point for data the line departments

would be able to focus on their core development work rather than ancillary issues like

collecting data every time a senior officer call for a meeting or demands information.

2. Authenticity of Data: Currently the data is collected and collated at village and block

level by manpower whose skill set is not very high. The staff does not have enough

training & experience of handling and verification of data before it is sent up in the

Health, Medical Education

& Family Welfare

Art, Culture, Sports

& Youth Affairs

Labor, Employment

& Training

PHED

(Drinking Water & Sanitation)

Planning &

Development

Agriculture &

Sugarcane Development

Welfare

Department

Rural

Development

Human Resource

Development

Department

of

Panchayati Raj

Information Technology

Land Reforms Revenue Social Welfare, Women

and Child Development

Tribal Welfare



hierarchy. A lot of time is wasted at the senior management level in assessing the

authenticity of data and information which can be used.

Expectation from PRIs: The digitization of data at the PRIs would eliminate this problem as data would be subject to checks (like range and consistency etc.) and thus increase authenticity. Also if the data is captured at the PRIs by trained manpower then authenticity of data can be maintained at a higher degree.

3. Non Availability of Data: Another problem widely faced by the officials is the non

availability of data at the desired time. A lot of time and effort is wasted in finding out

where and why the data is not available.

Expectation from PRIs: With PRIs collecting the data centrally the officials at the state

would be able to easily identify the schemes and geographies where the data is not

available and the reasons for the same. Remedial measures can also be focused then.

Implementation

4. Transparency: The issue of transparency is always critical in public schemes. Manual

data is always suspected and is susceptible to manipulations. If the data is captured and

processed in digital format and is made publicly accessible, the scope of data

manipulation would be minimized to a substantial extent.

Expectation from PRIs: The computerization of PRIs would lead to a higher

transparency in the execution of the schemes. It would also help in keeping a tab on how

much and where the funds are being spent and the commensurate physical performance.

5. Shortage of Skilled Manpower: Currently no skilled manpower is available at Block and

village levels to provide reliable data.

Expectation from PRIs: With the proposal of providing trained manpower at each of the

Panchayats through the ePRI, the planning implementation and monitoring of the

schemes would be done more effectively.

6. Lot of Paperwork: A lot of paperwork is involved in the various processes of the

schemes being implemented by the departments and all this work is done manually. The

departments expressed their keenness towards reduction in paper in. planning,

implementation and monitoring of their schemes.

Expectation from PRIs: Digitization of data, on line portals and other IT enabled

services like eTendering, electronic accounting, eMIS etc are solutions to the problems of

the lower levels of governance.



Monitoring

7. Delayed Reporting: The monitoring reports for all the schemes are at present generated

manually. This report generation process takes up a lot of time and effort of the staff

involvd. The accuracy of such manual reports is at best debatable and the checking and

rechecking consumes further more time. Delayed reporting makes any monitoring futile

as timely corrective measures cannot be taken.

Expectation from PRIs With the computerization of all the data of each of the

departments concerned, centrally at the PRI level the reports would be generated

electronically reducing time and effort.

8. Problems in Analysis of information: the generation of information in any government

system is enormous. Each report has numerous heads and monthly, Year to date and

last years data added on the reports assume large proportions. The manual reports

sometimes become so bulky that no analysis is virtually possible on them. The results

are that generation of informative and action oriented reports and trend analyses are

almost impossible to generate.

Expectation from PRIs: Electronic format of these reports would lead to an easier

method of analysis using tools like SPSS as also exception reporting of parameters

which do not conform to norms.

Accounting

9. Reliability: Manual Accounting procedures and that to single entry on cash basis makes

accounts susceptible to manipulations misappropriations, and modifications to meet

individual requirements.

Expectation from PRIs: ICT enablement of PRIs would lead to an efficient accounting of

the schemes. The accounts would be maintained and updated at each of the Panchayats

at regular intervals which would on real time basis be updated at the state line

departments. This would lead to a clear audit trail and any misuse of funds would be

easily traced.

The various Line Departments during the subsequent discussions revalidated that in addition

to the above, they would also require the following assistance from the ePRI project specific

to their department.



Department of Rural Development

• The department would like the help of ePRI project in preparing and updating the BPL

list of families and its scoring.

• The department would also like the

processing of wages under NREGA and

its payments through the financial

institutions.

• The department also expressed its

desire to operationalise registration and

verification of beneficiaries, issue of job

card to the beneficiaries, application for

allotment of work and allotment of work

to the beneficiaries through the ePRI

system, to bring about total transparency

in the program.

• The department would like application

for allotment/repair of houses under Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) to be received through

the ePRI system.

• The department was also of the view that ePRI project would help in the

universalisation of the Self Help Groups (SHGs) engaged in Swarn Jayanti Gram

Sawarozgar Yojna (SJGSY) and knowledge sharing betweens the SHG’s.

Department of Welfare

• The department was interested in involving the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in

physically and financially monitoring the progress of the projects undertaken by the

department in the field. They were keen on PRIs monitoring the grants made to NGOs

and the construction work undertaken by NGOs and other agencies for building

schools, hostels etc.

• The department wanted ePRI project to extend services like admission to Ashram

schools, application for caste certificates & status of availability, registration for

admission to Hostels for ST’s to citizens.

Department of Agriculture & Sugarcane Development

• The department was interested in the physical and financial monitoring of NGOs who

undertake a major part of work under National Horticulture Mission (NHM) and

National Agriculture Development Program (NADP).

• The department was interested in extending G2C services like registration of seed

sellers, fertilizer dealers and pesticide dealers to the citizens through ePRI.



• They would also like ePRI to receive application for Soil Testing through electronic

mode.

Department of Health, Medical Education & Family Welfare

• The department desired that the data entry on Health Information Management

System (HIMS) of GoI be directly done from the Panchayats which can be aggregated

on Block, District & State level. This would help in accurate and timely reporting.

• The department wanted the monitoring of ANM’s monthly visit program to different

villages in their beat through ePRI.

• The department expressed their desire to have the ePRIs as the data entry point for

information about the National Disease Control Program and National Vector Borne

Disease Program.

• The department wanted to provide training to Sahayas /ASHA Workers through the

PRIs.

• The department wanted the PRIs to assist in preparing list of eligible couples,

pregnant women for extending family welfare services and children for immunization.

• The department wanted ePRIs to provide information to the citizens about the

distance of hospitals from the particular Panchayat and the type of doctors available

in those hospitals.

Department of Art, Culture, Sports & Youth Affairs

• The department desired that a list of all the Kreeda Shri shall be displayed at the PRIs

from where the youth can get this information.

Department of Social Welfare, Women & Child Development

• The department desired to provide all G2C services from Panchayat which as of now

are being handled at the block.

• They would also like work flow to be initiated in their program so that the application

received at the Panchayat can travel through different level of approvals and the

service subsequently be delivered at Panchayat level.

• The department wished to extend the following G2C services through the ePRI,

• Application for pension under Swami Vivekananda Nishakt Swarvalamban Yojana.

• Application for issue of Disability Certificate.

• Application for payment of cash support under Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana.

• Registration / Application for scholarships for disabled students.

• Registration / Applications for free aids and applications for Viklang.



Department of Labor, Employment & Training

The department wished to extend the following G2C services through the ePRI,

• Application / Registration for Old Age pension, Handicap Pension and Widow

Pension.

• Registration of Job Seekers (Employment Exchange Registration).

Department of Public Health Engineering (Drinking Water & Sanitation)

The department desired to extend the following G2C services through the ePRI,

• Registration for household for personal connection as well as for School/Anganwadi

centers for institutional connections.

• List of approved private connections as well as approved households for subsidy.

• Status of complaints registered.

• Identification of safe and unsafe drinking water areas/sources.

• Registration of private and institutional toilets.

Department of Human Resource Development

• The department desired to prepare a child tracking system by which all children at the

school going age can be tracked for admission to schools, with the help of ePRI.

• The department also wanted the ePRI to facilitate data entry for DAIS data,

monitoring of school attendance and monitoring of physical and financial progress of

the schools.

Department of Planning & Development

The department desired to extend the following G2C services through ePRI,

• Data entry for Panchayat registers.

• Birth & death registrations.

• Data collection and entry for state income (economic census).

Department of Panchayati Raj

The department desired to extend the following G2C services through ePRI,

• Application for making available copy of GP/PS/ZP documents.

• Application for issue of Ration Card.

• Application for issue of duplicate Ration Card/Modification of Ration Card.

In addition to the above mentioned issues, all the departments were of the opinion that the

ePRI channel should also be used to create awareness amongst the rural citizens about the



various schemes and services being provided by the departments. They also expressed their

interest in ePRI playing a pivotal role as the data entry point for various schemes. Further,

they also desired that the ePRIs should help in physical & financial monitoring and

accounting of all the schemes.

District Administration

The Palamu District Administration had the following information and services needs out of the

ePRI MMP project:

• The District Administration believed that the functions should be appropriately

devolved to the Panchayats which would result in a better delivery of services to the

citizens. As on date the citizens need to come all the way to the District/Block for

some of the services which is a very costly, time consuming and a tiresome process

for them.

• The administration also revalidated the point made at the State Level, which was that

the Panchayats should act as a communication medium to inform the citizens about

the various services available to them under the various schemes.

• The administration firmly believed that with ePRI coming into action, the level of

Transparency in the functions, their funding, monitoring and accounting would be

enhanced tremendously.

6.2. Information and Services Needs of PRI (ZP/BP/GP)

At present the constitution of PRIs has not occurred in the State, hence their needs could not be captured. However, it is expected that the needs of PRIs would emerge from the needs of the citizens, under their jurisdiction. The needs of the citizens have been elaborated in the following section.

6.3. Information and Services Needs of

Citizens

The information & services needs of the citizens were

recorded by the study team during various interactions

and focused group interviews with the citizens. The

opinion of Block and Village level officials and that of

the line department officers were also taken into

consideration. The needs of the citizens which broadly

emerged are classified according to the focused group

discussions held with them.



The citizens currently are unaware about various schemes and services available to them as

there is no strong communication medium in place. Most of the information reached them

either through the Aam Sabhas, word of mouth or loud speakers etc. If they miss onto the

information then there is no way they get it at a later point in time and hence are unaware

about a lot of developments. They want the Panchayats to act as an information centre

where they can get to know about the schemes & services available to them, and whether or

not they are eligible for the same.

In addition, the senior citizens also faced a major challenge about not getting the old age

pension as they were not even aware of where to apply/register for the same. Some of them

did not even know about the eligibility criteria for receiving old age pension. The senior

citizens voiced out in unison that they wanted a hassle free, timely and transparent

processing of their pension.

During the focused group interviews, the women pointed out that they wanted timely

information for the allotment/repair of houses under the IAY. Currently, they keep on waiting

endlessly (and also keep visiting the Block Office) for grants under IAY to be released for

them without knowing their current position in the IAY waitlist and application. They wanted

the Panchayat to provide them with accurate information about their rank on the BPL list and

till what rank the allotments have been made. The women also brought forward a request for

better and enhanced Anganwadi Services. Another important point which came forward from

this focused group was the inadequate number of teachers in the school. The group wanted

adequate number of teachers to be deployed in the schools.

The tribal’s faced a problem in the allotment of work under NREGA because of not having

the job cards and not knowing where and how to apply for work. They wanted that the

Panchayats should disseminate information about the procedure of applying for a job card

and availability of work. They also wished that the Panchayats should act as a single point of

contact for applying for job card and allotment of work.

The following table also suggests the opportunity for the information & service needs of the

citizens.

Table 6.1 – Information Needs of the Citizens

Stakeholder Challenges / Issues Information Needs

Citizens of

Jainagra Gram

1 Lack of awareness about various

schemes and the benefits available to

them through these schemes.

2 No information available to citizens about

1 Information to be made

available at the Panchayat

Bhawan about the various

schemes, the benefits




the procedures and the documents

required for applying for benefits under

the various schemes.

3 Lack of information to the citizens about

the officials to whom they may approach

in case they need any assistance

regarding schemes, associated benefits,

procedures for applying to these

schemes etc.

4 Citizens did not know have any

information about their BPL ranking, till

what ranks have the houses been allotted

and till when they can expect the houses

to be allotted to them.

5 The citizens were unaware about the

number of hours of work which they are

entitled to, how much minimum wage

they must get and what to do in case of

work not being made available to them.

6 Citizens have to make (or keeping

making on their own) numerous visits to

the Block Office to get information about

the current status of the applications for

various schemes they have applied for.

This involves a lot of time, money and

effort of the citizen and also a lot of

inconvenience for the Block Officials who

keep getting these information requests

time and again.

associated with the

schemes, eligibility criteria,

and the documents required

for applying to the schemes.

2 There should be certain

officials present at the

Panchayat Bhawan to whom

the citizens can approach in

case they need any help

regarding any of the above

mentioned points.

3 Information should be made


Bhawan about the current

status of issue of houses

under IAY, and how much

time would a citizen have to

wait as per his/her rank in

the BPL list.

4 Regular workshops should

be arranged during the

NREGA Diwas* to educate

the citizens about NREGA in

detail.

5 The status of any kind of

application for which the

citizens have applied for

should be made available to

them at the Panchayat

Bhawan.

Focus Group –

Senior Citizens

1 The senior citizens were unaware about

the eligibility age of applying for the Old

Age Pension.

1 The information about

various pension schemes

available to the senior

citizens and the eligibility for

the same should be made


Bhawan.

Focus Group –

Women &

Children

1 The women were unaware about the

procedures and the documents required

for applying for widow pension.

2 The group was of the opinion that the

1 The information about

various pension schemes

available to the women and

the eligibility for the same




Anganwadi workers are not making

efforts to make people aware of the

facilities available to them, they are

offered to only those who personally visit

the centre.

should be made available at

the Panchayat Bhawan.

2 Aanganwadi workers should

be more pro-active in

providing information to the

citizens.

The Table 6.1 discusses the challenges faced by the citizens, while applying for any

schemes or services, due to lack of appropriate information available to them. These have

been further segregated into the challenges faced by the various focus groups. The various

information needs of the citizens, thus inferred, have also been included in the table. These

information needs of the citizens need to be addressed, in order to ensure that the citizens

are well informed of their rights and get the maximum benefits from the various schemes and

services.



Table 6.2 – Service Needs of the Citizens

Stakeholder Challenges / Issues Services Needs

Citizens of Jainagra

Gram

1 The citizens have to go to the District to

buy the application forms for various

services.

2 The citizens have to go to the

District/Block to submit the application.

3 As the PRIs do not exist in Jharkhand,

none of the services is currently being

provided through the Gram Panchayats,

hence making citizen’s travel to

District/Block to avail them.

1 Application for selection,

listing and scores of BPL

families.

2 Application, allotment, repair

and Status of Indira Awas

Yojana.

3 Registration & Verification of

beneficiaries, Job card for

beneficiaries, Application for

work demand, allocation of

work and other schemes.

4 Application / Registration for

Old Age pension, Handicap

Pension, Widow Pension.

5 Application for Registration of

Birth / Death and issuance of

Birth / Death Certificate.

6 Issue of copy of ROR.

7 Issue of copy of Cadastral

Maps.

8 Application for issue of

income / domicile certificate.

9 Application for issue of Caste

Certificates.

10 Application for Soil Testing

and display of Soil Test

Results by Laboratories.

11 Application for obtaining

license and registration of

pesticide / fertilizer and seed

sellers.

12 Application for pension under

Swami Vivekananda Nishakt

Swavalamban Yojna.

13 Application for issue of

Disability Certificate for

disability pension.

14 Application for payment of

cash support under Mukhya



Stakeholder Challenges / Issues Services Needs

Mantri Kanyadan Yojna.

15 Registration / Application for

scholarships for disabled

students.

16 Registration / Applications for

free aids and applications for

Viklang.

17 Registration of Job Seekers

(Employment Exchange

Registration).

18 Identification of safe and

unsafe drinking water areas /

sources.

19 Registration for Private and

Institutional toilets.

20 Application for issue of Ration

Card, Issue of Duplicate /

Modification of Ration Card.

The Table 6.2 discusses the various issues and challenges faced by the citizens, while

applying for any schemes or services, on the basis of accessibility and the resources

available to them. The various service needs of the citizens have also been included in the

table. These service needs are expected to be delivered through the PRIs, in order to

enhance the accessibility for the citizens.

Table 6.3 – Other Needs of the Citizens

Stakeholder Challenges / Issues Other Needs

Citizens of Jainagra

Gram

1 Lack of infrastructure like roads,

electricity, colonies, and houses.

2 Lacking of medical facilities.

3 Lack of infrastructure of school. Currently

only 1 room available which

accommodates Classes from 1-5.

4 Teacher to Student ratio is extremely low.

Only 1 teacher available for all the 5

classes.

1 Basic infrastructure

like roads, electricity

at least for a few

hours everyday

should be provided.

2 Medical camps shall

be organized by the

District Hospital on

regular basis.

3 Adequate no. of

teachers and rooms



Stakeholder Challenges / Issues Other Needs

to be made available

for different classes

in schools.

The Table 6.3 refers to the other basic needs of the citizens, like infrastructure and medical

needs. These challenges are faced by the citizens on a daily basis and are critical in the

upliftment of the society as a whole.

The above information & service needs of the citizens are centered on the PRIs being the

delivery channel for the respective schemes and services. However, the execution of these

schemes will happen from the specific line departments handling those schemes.

6.4. Services Identified

During the consultations with the project stakeholders, at the State Level Workshop, on the

25th June’09 and subsequent discussions with line department officials, an umbrella list of

proposed 45 G2C services were identified, which were considered suitable to be delivered at

the Panchayat level. The citizen interaction also pinpointed a list of six services which were

desired by the citizens. Considering the citizen identified services as sacrosanct these

identified services were further refined, during the detailed interviews with the officials of the

identified Line departments and during the District Level Workshop, on the 18th July’09, to a

list of 20 most relevant G2C services to be delivered to the Rural Citizens of Jharkhand

through the PRIs. These services were identified as the ones which could benefit both the

citizens and the government and its delivery system, if devolved to village (Panchayat) level,

in the ePRI project. The selected services are as listed below:

Table 6.4 – List of 20 G2C Services to be delivered through PRIs

S.No. Identified Services for PRIs in State

1 Application for selection, listing and scores of BPL families.

2 Application, allotment, repair and Status of Indira Awas Yojana.

3 Registration & Verification of beneficiaries, Job card for beneficiaries, Application for work

demand, allocation of work and other schemes.

4 Application / Registration for Old Age pension, Handicap Pension, Widow Pension.

5 Application for Registration of Birth / Death and issuance of Birth / Death Certificate.





7 Issue of copy of Cadastral Maps.

8 Application for issue of income / domicile certificate.

9 Application for issue of Caste Certificates.

10 Application for Soil Testing and display of Soil Test Results by Laboratories.

11 Application for obtaining license and registration of pesticide retailers / fertilizer retailers /

seed sellers.

12 Application for pension under Swami Vivekananda Nishakt Swavalamban Yojna.

13 Application for issue of Disability Certificate for disability pension.

14 Application for payment of cash support under Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojna.

15 Registration / Application for scholarships for disabled students.

16 Registration / Applications for free aids and applications for Viklang.

17 Registration of Job Seekers (Employment Exchang e Registration).

18 Identification of safe and unsafe drinking water areas / sources.

19 Registration for Private and Institutional toilets.

20 Application for issue of Ration Card, Issue of Duplicate Ration Card / Modification of Ration

Card.

Services selected by citizens of village Jainagra, block Chainpur

The Line department officials as well as the citizens have huge expectations

from the PRIs. The Line department officials were convinced that ICT enabled

PRIs would indeed serve as an efficient delivery point, for the various services

currently being delivered by them. The citizens expect to save their time, effort

and money, if the services and their other information requirements could be

delivered at the PRIs, without them having to visit the block or district for the

same.

Conclusion



Objective: This section highlights the e Governance readiness of PRIs based on

parameters such as level of

computerization of PRI, extent of

integration of NeGP initiatives with PRI

and availability of ICT infrastructure at

PRIs in the state.

7. e-Governance Readiness

e-Governance is a way for governments to use

new technologies to provide people with more

convenient access to government information, to

improve the quality of the services and to provide

greater opportunities to participate in democratic

institutions and processes. The study team

discussed and recorded the current status of

NeGP initiatives like CSCs and SWAN to find out the possibility of integrating the same with

the ePRI initiative so that the e-Governance initiatives already in place may form a vital part

of the ePRI. Initiatives for computerization of PRI

7.1. Initiatives for Computerization of PRI

This study was done to determine the initiatives which were taken up for the computerization

of the PRIs both at the state level and at the PRI level (Gram Panchayat, Block Panchayat

and Zilla Panchayat)

7.1.1. State Sponsored Initiatives

Following its constitution as a separate State, Jharkhand had enacted its Panchayati Raj Act

in accordance with the provisions of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution and that of the

Panchayat Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act, 1996 as applicable to this State. However,

when the announcement for the first election in the new State was announced, it had to be

held back due to legal challenges to the provisions of reservation for the offices of Presidents

for the ST communities. The matter has since been under the consideration of the Apex

Court.

With the stay ordered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court to PRI elections the State Government

was handicapped in developing the Panchayati Raj System as an effective tool of

governance. As a result no funds from GoI or the State budget were allocated to the

Panchayati Raj System for development work. The Panchayats do not have any manpower –

Technical or administrative, apart from court appointed DC as Adhyaksh for ZP and DDC as

CEO, BDO to act as Executive Officer of the Panchayat Samiti and Panchayat Sewak for

Gram Panchayats. No computerization of any kind has therefore taken place in the

Panchayati Raj Institutions in Jharkhand.



Funds were made available under the BRGF scheme by GOI. GoI has sanctioned Rs. 720

crore against which Rs. 615 crore have been released. The GoJ has transferred funds to 23

of the districts (all except East Singhbhum) for purchase of one computer and necessary

accessories under Capacity

Building for 434 Panchayats out of a total of 4797 Panchayats (ZP, BP and GP). The

purchase is in various stages of completion.

In addition to the above, The Department of Information Technology has initiated SWAN

project under NeGP, whereby all important government offices and institutions will be

provided with connectivity including Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samities with the provision

to connect Panchayat in near future.

This will help not only in planning, implementation, monitoring, and supervision of schemes

but it will also provide access to information to the general public. The process of making

customized software is yet to begin. The department is also making a Geographical

Information System (GIS) for the entire State, which will include the information pertaining to

Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Samities, Gram Panchayats and Wards. This will be helpful in

providing access to the maps up to the level of wards and their population statistics. The

Jharkhand Space Application Center has been entrusted for doing this work.

The state government is implementing Natural Resource Information System Project (NRIS),

which will be integrated with the MIS for planning, programs formulations, and its

implementation especially for sustainable development. State Panchayati Raj Department

has started uploading content as the national Panchayat portal. There is no computer in

most of the blocks. Also, there are no Panchayat buildings/ offices in majority of the blocks.

7.1.2. Local initiatives by ZP/BP/GP

No initiative has been taken by the ZP/BP/GP level.

7.2. Extent of integration of NeGP initiatives with PRI

The various NeGP initiatives like CSCs and SDCs and their extent of integration with the

PRIs is explained below.

Common Service Centers (CSCs)

A network of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) enabled access points

(Common Service Centers) in rural and semi-urban areas is being established within the

State through NeGP. The Government envisages the use of these Common Service Centers



(CSC) for delivery of Government services and will encourage other value added benefits

such as banking, micro-credits, telemedicine, e-education, automated etc., for both urban

and rural citizens to be also delivered through the CSCs. The primary reason for setting up

the Common Service Centers is for delivery of e-governance services as well as Business to

Client services resulting from use of digital technology.

Government of Jharkhand (GoJ) designated Jharkhand Agency for Promotion of IT (JAP-IT)

as the nodal agency for the implementation of the Common Service Center (CSC) Scheme

in the State of Jharkhand. JAP-IT would facilitate the implementation as well as provide

policy, G2C services, and revenue support to the SCAs. IL&FS is the National level

Consultant and NLSA (National Level Service Agency) for the CSC Scheme. The Common

Services Centers are designed as ICT-enabled Kiosks, manned by trained entrepreneurs,

and having PCs along with basic support equipments like Printer, Scanner, UPS, riding on

SWAN (JharNet) and wireless Connectivity as the backbone.

The CSC Scheme is to be implemented on a public-private partnership (Build own operate-

BOO) model wherein the private entity is selected to participate as a Service Centre Agency

(SCA) responsible for developing and managing effective and sustainable business model.

The DIT, Govt. of India would provide financial support to SCA through JAP-IT, in the form of

revenue support sought as direct fund transfer and through additional central assistance

(ACA).

A total of 4,562 Common Service Centers (CSCs) christened Pragya Kendra’s are being

opened in each of the Panchayats of the State in first phase of this project. The CSC

initiative is already under implementation, and the progress of the franchisee model is as

follows:

• In Jharkhand, a total of 4562 CSCs were to be installed. However, as per information

by JAPIT, only 3006 are functional.

• In Palamu, a total of 276 CSCs were to be installed. However, as per information from

the franchisee Alternatives for India Development (AID), only 120 are installed.

• Out of the 120 installed centres, 4 have broadband connection while others use

internet data card, WLL, etc.

• The services which are being provided through these CSCs are private in nature. A

few services for which the CSC is being used currently are listed below:

� Photography

� Downloading Ring tones

� Selling Employment Forms

� Selling Tata Sky connections

� Opening PNB Accounts



� Cyber Cafe, etc

• The State Panchayati Raj Department envisages CSCs to be the delivery mechanism

for the services it proposes to start.

• Integration of Gram Panchayat with CSCs has not taken place.

State Wide Area Network (SWAN)

Source: JAPIT Brochure

A secure and robust network is one of the necessary prerequisites for delivery of all e-

Governance applications. The network must also support voice, video and data and be a

reliable telecommunication infrastructure with a high band-width to be more useful. This

infrastructure should be open and interoperable i.e. should be able to connect other

networks. Further, it should also be scalable so that new nodes and even new networks may

be added to it in future.

Jharkhand State Wide Area Network (SWAN) christened Jharnet was initiated with a vision

to connect State headquarters down to Block level in order to provide secure, reliable and

seamless information flow to all the offices under the government and also to the citizens.



This is expected to provide cost -effective, reliable, secure and high bandwidth connectivity

of 2 Mbps to all offices.

All the government departments, their offices and the agencies till the Block level are

proposed to be connected to this network. The implementation of the network has been done

in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model and the operator was selected through an open

and competitive bidding process. All the connected nodes have Internet Protocol (IP)

telephones, which provide a secure and reliable voice communication among all offices. The

network also enables Video Conferencing facilities to government offices in all the districts.

• SWAN points of presence (POPs) are proposed to be installed at all 24 Districts, 35

Sub Divisional Headquarters and 212 Blocks. As per current information about 150-

170 POPs are operational in the Palamu district.

• All Zilla Panchayats and a few Block Panchayats have been connected through

SWAN (Jharnet).

• In Palamu, 7 out of 20 Block Panchayats and the Zilla Panchayat are connected by

SWAN.

• As the Jharnet is not expected to cover the Villages (Panchayats) it can be integrated

up to the Panchayat Samiti Level with the ePRI. The ePRI shall have to rely on

Broadband Connectivity for its Gram Panchayats.

• Treasury, Transport, Registry office and NREGA (GoI reporting) applications are

running on the Jharnet

• TPA for Jharnet has been awarded to Wipro.

• The ZPs and the BPs can use this network for their applications.

State Data Centre’s (SDC)

State Data Centre (SDC) has been identified as one of the important element of the core

infrastructure for supporting e-Governance initiatives of National eGovernance Plan (NeGP).

Under NeGP, it is proposed to create State Data Centre for Jharkhand to consolidate

services, applications and infrastructure to provide efficient electronic delivery of G2G, G2C

and G2B services. These services can be rendered by the States through common delivery

platform seamlessly supported by core Connectivity Infrastructure such as State Wide Area

Network (SWAN) and Common Service Centre (CSC) connectivity extended up to village

level. State Data Centre would provide many functionalities and some of the key

functionalities are Central Repository of the State, Secure Data Storage, Online Delivery of

Services, Citizen Information/Services Portal, State Intranet Portal, Disaster Recovery,

Remote Management and Service Integration etc. SDC would also provide better operation



& management control and minimize overall cost of Data Management, IT Resource

Management, Deployment and other costs.

Department of Information Technology (DIT) has formulated the Guidelines to provide

Technical and Financial assistance to the States for setting up State Data Centre. These

Guidelines also include the implementation options that can be exercised by the State to

establish the SDC. Jharkhand had with the help of a consultant prepared the proposal for

setting up a State Data centre in Ranchi. The proposal was approved and the consultants

have now prepared the RFP for inviting proposal for an implementing agency (Data Center

Operator) who shall erect, commission and operate the data center on behalf of the State

Government. The RFP is under consideration of the State/ Central government.

7.3. ICT Infrastructure Assessment

The ICT infrastructure at the Panchayat Level is very poor. Most of the Panchayats in

Jharkhand / Palamu to whom the BRGF funds have been allotted have still not got any

computing resources. The power situation is also very alarming and the blocks and villages

may not get power during office hours to

complete the work. Though UPS can be installed

but they also need to be recharged for sufficient

time. Jharkhand is insurgency infected area and

therefore the security of the costly equipment is

also of vital concern. The Panchayat Bhawans in

effected areas become deserted well before dusk

and therefore remain unprotected for the rest of

the day and night. The anti social elements have

been known to target the Panchayat Bhawans.

The Plan of Action should therefore take the

power and security aspect into consideration.

• Network Connectivity – The connectivity is being provided by Jharnet, a SWAN initiative

of the Jharkhand Government, at the District and the Block levels only. Jharnet has no

programme to connect Panchayats.

• ICT infrastructure at all levels of PRIs – Funds for purchase of 1 computer and a printer

along with required workstation and chair have been transferred to Palamu for 29 out of

289 Panchayats and for all levels of Panchayats. The implementation and commissioning

is at various stages of progress.

• In Palamu, 13 computers have been installed at each of the 13 old Blocks and 2

computers at the District level, under NREGA.



• Capacity Building – Computer literate manpower is available at District and Block level.

These people are proficient in basic use of computer, internet, printing, scanning etc. No

trained manpower is available at GP level.

7.4. Civil work Assessment

• There are 4559 Gram Panchayats in the State of Jharkhand. Out of these about 2000 are

said to have own premises (Panchayat Bhawans). Most of the Zilla Panchayats also have

their own premises.

• In Palamu, a total of 289 Panchayat Bhawans are needed for all the Gram Panchayats to

be accommodated.

• As of now, only 82 Panchayat Bhawans are fully functional and are available for

immediate use.

• 41 Panchayat Bhawans are under repair and 90 new Panchayat Bhawans are under

construction.

• 76 Panchayat Bhawans are yet to be designed, approved and constructed.

• All operative Panchayat Bhawans have required furniture and fixtures.

The study team found that the level and reach of these e-Governance initiatives is not

adequate at present. In Palamu only 120 out of proposed 276 CSCs have been installed and

none of them is providing any IT related services as on date. Jharnet, the SWAN initiative of

the GoJ has reached only 7 blocks in Palamu. Jharnet shall only extend up to the Block level

and therefore the ePRI initiative shall have to provision for connecting the Panchayats at

village level to the Jharnet at Block level. The state is currently using software’s for only

Transport, Treasury and Registration. No other software was found to be available for

implementation in the State. Despite the website of the State being available the various

forms used in the schemes have not been digitized and made available to citizens through

website. Panchayat bhawans have to be built before provisioning for the hardware, software

and other equipment can be installed. The problem of security and Power needs to be taken

into consideration while preparing detailed plans. It has also been found that there is a

shortage of trained manpower at Panchayats to handle hardware and software at Panchayat

level.

The current status of e-Governance initiatives in Jharkhand can be termed as

inadequate. Although funds have been made available by the GOI for ICT

enablement, the process is still underway. The e-Governance initiatives need to be

aptly complemented by capacity building measures, like providing trained staff,

adequate power supply, security of equipments, etc.

Conclusion



Objective: This section outlines both the availability and requirement of manpower at

PRI and our assessment of their capabilities

in terms of basic computer knowledge.

Details of various training institutes and

modules being used for capability

enhancement of PRI members have been

included. Training requirements of PRI

personnel have also been discussed.

8. State Capacity Assessment

The KPMG Team through their interactions with

various administrative staff, line department

officials, Block & Village level officers & IT Staff

assessed their computer skills & capabilities.

The idea was to understand the current

capabilities and skill set of the staff and to

analyze the training requirements of the staff.

The computer skills are listed below.

8.1. Capacities, Skills & Capabilities

Table 8.1 - Group of Panchayati Raj Officials

Administrative

Principal Secretary, Secretary, Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, Deputy

Secretary, Head of the Department, Director, Additional Director, Deputy

Director, Joint Director, Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Deputy

Development Commissioner etc.

Scheme/Engineerin

g PHED officials

District Panchayati Raj Officer, District Agriculture Officer, District

Horticulture Officer, District Welfare Officer, District Social Welfare Officer,

District Social Security Officer, Chief Engineer, Executive Engineer, etc

Field Staff Block level officers, Village level officers

Computer Staff Clerical staff trained in basic computer usage and MS office operation

attached to departments at State and District Level

Ministerial Clerks, typists, assistants, File handlers etc.

Table 8.2 - Computer Skills & Capabilities

Name of

Department /

District

Employee

Group

Basic

Computer

Skills

Current Usage of IT System

Administrative Medium Very Low- Limited to basic MS

office operations and e-mail

Ministerial Low Negligible usage

Secretariat/

Directorate

Computer

Support Medium

Medium- Limited to MS Office

operations and email



Name of

Department /

District

Employee

Group

Basic

Computer

Skills

Current Usage of IT System

Multipurpose

(Class IV) Low Negligible usage

Administrative Medium Low- Limited to basic MS office

operations and e-mail

Ministerial Low

Negligible usage despite

computers being provided in

departments

Scheme/Engine

ering PHED Low

Low - Reporting using State/

central Government site

Field Level Low Negligible usage

District

Computer

Support Medium

Medium - Limited to MS Office

operations and Reporting using

State/ central Government site.

8.2. Training

Use of satellite facility for training has been proposed under BRGF Capacity building

framework and has been sent to Government of India. State Government is also planning of

special training programs for the women, SC/ST representatives, as well as first time

entrants in to the Panchayat system within three month of their entry.

There is a tie-up of State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) and IGNOU, and IGNOU

has established a local center in the campus of SIRD to facilitate the training. Apart from

SIRD, Government of Jharkhand is having two Panchayat training institutes one at Ranchi

and another at Deoghar with full facility of residential training program for the member of

Panchayat. There are excellent facilities at State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) and

regional centers for training. The SIRD has not formulated any training programmes which

they wish to conduct. In addition, no training programs can be conducted since no elections

have been held. Each district has been given Rs.5.00 Lakh for training of Panchayat officials,

and district commissioners have been entrusted to this work.

The IT preparedness of the Panchayati Raj department both at district and State level is

found to be less than required at strategic and operation levels for successfully implementing

and operating a project such as ePRI. Skill development is required and should be initiated



immediately with foundation training of IT followed by specialized training for running the

application software. The change management can be brought in with the help of middle

level management under the guidance of and motivation from Principal Secretary.

Department of Panchayati Raj has the ability to appreciate the use

of technology for improving the performance of the department. This lays down foundation

for successful implementation of change management program in ePRI project as a whole.

The major hurdle in the capacity building measures is the PRI Elections which have

been stayed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Although there are excellent

facilities for training of officials, there are no training programmes conducted, as

there is no staff elected in the PRIs. Capacity building measures would play a

decisive role during the implementation of the ePRI project.

Conclusion



Objective: This section illustrates various

citizen service delivery mechanisms, PPP

models and initiatives undertaken by the PRIs

at their own and overall at the state level. The

analysis is based on information collected on

the field through interaction with PRI members

and most importantly citizens.

9. Citizen Service Delivery

The focus of this study was to understand the

citizen service delivery process in the State. The

major area of discussion in this section are the

initiatives taken by the state, which are impacting

the service delivery to the rural populace, as PRIs

have not been formed and hence no initiatives have

been taken by them. The initiatives explored by the

study team have been discussed below in detail.

9.1. Initiatives by PRIs

As the elections to the PRIs are on hold, they have not been formed. Hence, no initiatives

have been taken by the PRIs.

9.2. Initiatives by State Impacting Service Delivery to Rural Populace

The initiatives started by the state have been elaborated below:

Process of issuing Birth/Death Certificate

Earlier, the citizens had to visit the block office to get a birth/death certificate issued to them.

Visiting the block office was a time consuming and costly affair for them. Now, the process

has been simplified and the Anganwadi Sewika fills in the details of all new births or death, in

a specified format, in case of birth/death, within the catchment area of the Anganwadi

Center. This form is submitted to the Panchayat Sewak/Registrar and the Birth/Death

certificate is issued immediately and is handed over to the Anganwadi Sewika, who in turn

gives it to the family of the newly born/Deceased. This initiative of using the services of

Anganwadi Sewika and making the Panchayati Officer/Sewak the Registrar of Births/Deaths

has helped the citizens immensely.

Child Tracking System

As per the State MIS expert, there is Child Tracking System which the state is developing on

the lines of a similar System already in place in West Bengal. Records of about 90,000

students have already been updated in the system. The system starts tracking the child

when he/she is born and continues to do so till he attains an age beyond schooling age or

enters a profession. In this way it tracks the children of schooling age, dropouts, migrants



and those in school going age that need to be brought in the fold of schooling. This system

also provides complete tracking about all the education related information of each and every

child whose record has been updated.

Process of issue of Income & Caste Certificates

According to the BDO, Chainpur, he also performs the duty of a Sub Divisional Officer

(anchaladhikari or SDO) for issue of income and caste certificates. This reduces the

redundancy in the process on one hand and time and effort of the citizens as they get the

certificates at the block itself, on the other.

The above mentioned initiatives are currently being taken up individually by the respective

line departments/Block Official. The expectation is to eventually converge all the best

practices like the ones mentioned above and to duplicate them across all the other districts

and blocks, through ePRI.

Currently, since the services are being delivered by the respective Line

departments, the citizens have to spend a substantial amount of time, effort and

money to avail them. The ICT enablement of PRIs would indeed help in making the

PRIs an efficient delivery point of information and services, for the citizens.

Conclusion



10. Way Forward

As discussed in the section 2 and 3, the ePRI project has a phased approach with the following phases:

Phase I – Initiation & Planning

Phase II - Information & Services Needs Assessment Study

Phase III – Process Re-engineering for identified services

Phase IV – Preparation of Detailed project report for the project

The objective of the Information and Services Needs Assessment (ISNA) phase (Phase II)

was to identify and prioritize the information and services requirements of the PRIs.

Key activities performed at the State & District level are:

• Process As-Is Assessment - to understand the current process of service delivery

• Needs Assessment – to understand the requirements and what is being provided to the

PRIs

• Capacity Assessment – to understand the current gaps in capability building of the PRIs

• IT Infrastructure Assessment - to understand the current purpose and the utilization of

the current IT infrastructure

This report “Information and Services Needs Assessment” (ISNA) marks the completion of

the phase II. As discussed, this report gave an insight of the present state of the Panchayati

Raj system in Jharkhand and identified the needs of the various stakeholders of the project.

Subsequently, all ISNA reports from across the country will be consolidated to arrive at a

national snapshot leading to the preparation of a National ISNA report. Also, during the state

ISNA phase 20 services have been identified. These services will be analyzed and based on

the gaps and improvement opportunities identified the To-Be scenario would be defined.

The team would cover the following in the phase:

• Study selected services portfolio and study As-Is status

Table 10.1 – List of 20 G2C Services to be delivered through PRIs


1 Application for selection, listing and scores of BPL families.

2 Application, allotment, repair and Status of Indira Awas Yojana.

3 Registration & Verification of beneficiaries, Job card for beneficiaries, Application




for work demand, allocation of work and other schemes.

4 Application / Registration for Old Age pension, Handicap Pension, Widow Pension.

5 Application for Registration of Birth / Death and issuance of Birth / Death

Certificate.


7 Issue of copy of Cadastral Maps.

8 Application for issue of income / domicile certificate.

9 Application for issue of Caste Certificates.

10 Application for Soil Testing and display of Soil Test Results by Laboratories.

11 Application for obtaining license and registration of pesticide retailers / fertilizer

retailers / seed sellers.

12 Application for pension under Swami Vivekananda Nishakt Swavalamban Yojna.

13 Application for issue of Disability Certificate for disability pension.

14 Application for payment of cash support under Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojna.

15 Registration / Application for scholarships for disabled students.

16 Registration / Applications for free aids and applications for Viklang.

17 Registration of Job Seekers (Employment Exchang e Registration).

18 Identification of safe and unsafe drinking water areas / sources.

19 Registration for Private and Institutional toilets.

20 Application for issue of Ration Card, Issue of Duplicate Ration Card / Modification

of Ration Card.

Services selected by citizens of village Jainagra, block Chainpur

• Engineer and/or Reengineer selected processes to meet ePRI needs of electronic

delivery

• Create To-Be process maps for the 20 new services based on ISNA needs

assessment report

• Training to be imparted to the State, District & field functionaries in basic computer

usage so that they become more sensitive to ePRI project when it is rolled out.

• Physical Infrastructure required for the ePRI roll out should be completed through the

BRGF funds.



11. Annexure

11.1. List of Interviewees

Table 11.1 – List of Interviewees

State Panchayati Raj

Department

1. Principal Secretary

2. Director

3. Deputy Director

State Line Departments

1. Principal Secretary, Department of Human Resource

Development.

2. Secretary, Department Agriculture & Sugarcane

Development.

3. Special Secretary, Department of Welfare.

4. Special Secretary, Department of Rural

Development.

5. Joint Secretary, Department of Labor, Employment &

Training.

6. State Informatics Officer, NIC, Ranchi.

7. Technical Director, NIC, Ranchi.

8. District Informatics Officer, Palamu.

9. Director, Department of Social Security.

10. Director, Department of Art, Culture, Sports & Youth

Affairs.

11. Director, Department of Rural Development.

12. Director, Jharkhand Space Application Centre.

13. Director, Department of Social Welfare, Women &

Child Development.

14. Chief Engineer, Department of Public Health

Engineering (Drinking Water & Sanitation)

15. Deputy Director, Department of Planning &

Development.

16. Assistant Director, Department of Social Welfare,

Women & Child Development.

17. State Program Manager, Department of Health,

Medical Education & Family Welfare.

18. Project Manager, Dept. of IT and Electronics.



19. OSD, NREGA.

District Level

1. Deputy Commissioner, Palamu

2. Deputy Development Commissioner, Palamu

District (Palamu) Line

Departments

1. Civil Surgeon

2. Deputy Director, Department of Social Security

3. District Superintendent of Education

4. Additional Collector, Department of Revenue & Land

Reforms

5. District Agriculture Officer

6. District Horticulture Officer

7. District Superintendent of Education

8. District Education Officer

9. District Program Officer

10. District Panchayati Raj Officer

11. Deputy Agriculture Officer

12. Executive Engineer, PHED

13. Assistant Director, Department of Social Security

14. APO, DRDA

15. Accounts Officer, DRDA

Block Level

1. Block Development Officer, Chainpur

2. Block Panchayati Raj Officer, Chainpur

Village Level

1. Panchayat Sewak

2. Aanganwadi Sewika

3. Group of Women and children

4. Group of Senior citizen

5. Group of Tribals

6. Disabled citizen

7. Village Opinion Leaders



11.2. Minutes of Key Meetings Held

Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Ranchi.

Objective: To discuss about the ePRI MMP project study and to send out the invites to all the

Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and officials of various departments concerned with the

ePRI Project.

Date: 23 June 2009 Location: Project Building, Ranchi

Scheduled Time Actual Time

Start Stop Total Hours Start Stop Total Time

2:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj.

• SIO, Ranchi.

• Principal Consultant, KPMG

• Senior Consultant, KPMG

• Consultant, KPMG

Handouts/ Documentation Shared

Principal Secretary shared a copy of invitation letter he sent out to all the departments.

Discussed Items

1 Discussed in detail the objectives and modalities of the ePRI project.

2 Discussed about the current scenario of Panchayati Raj in the state.

3 Gathered valuable insights about the whole project from the Principal Secretary.

4 Invite letters were made and dispatched to all invitees.

5 Telephonically sent invites to all the stakeholders for the state of Jharkhand.

Based on the discussion the following line of action has been decided:-

Action Items Owner Due Date Requirement

1 State Workshop fixed for 25th June 2009.



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with SIO, NIC, Ranchi.

Objective: To initiate the discussions about the ePRI project study and to fix an appointment

with the Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj.

Date: 23 June 2009 Location: NIC, Ranchi



10:00 10:00 AM 1:00 PM 3 Hours

Attendees

• SIO, Ranchi





KPMG Team shared the letter sent by MoPR to all the States.

Discussed Items

1 Basic Structure of the Panchayats in Jharkhand, Key People involved and current level of

atomization.

2 What are the key portals being run by the state of Jharkhand, i.e. www.jharkhand.gov.in

3 Discussed the e-Governance initiatives of the Govt. of Jharkhand.

4

Discussed in detail any services being offered through NIC software or servers to citizens

in the State. SIO categorically stated that no services using IT are being delivered to

citizens currently.



1 Meeting with Principal Secretary arranged the same day at 2:00 PM.



Minutes of the Meeting of ePRI State Workshop.

Objective: To kick-off the project initiation with a state wide conference of all the ministry line

officials and the Panchayati Raj department.

Date: 25 June 2009 Location: Project Office, Ranchi



10:30 AM 10:30 AM 4:30 PM 6 Hours

Attendees

• Chair – Principal Secretary, Panchayati

Raj, GoJ.

• Secretary, Agriculture, GoJ.

• Special Secretary, Welfare, GoJ.

• Special Secretary, Rural Development,

GoJ.

• Director, Rural Development, GoJ.

• Director, Social Welfare.

• Assistant Director, Social Welfare.

• Chief Engineer, PHED.

• Director, Sports.

• Project Manager, Dept. of IT and

Electronics.

• Director, Panchayati Raj.

• Consultant, KPMG.

• Deputy Director, Panchayati Raj.

• Deputy Secretary, Panchayati Raj.

• SIO, NIC, Ranchi.

• Sr. Technical Director, NIC, Ranchi.

• Technical Director, NIC, Ranchi.

• State Program Manager, Medical Health

& Family Welfare.

• OSD, NREGA.

• Director, JSAC.

• DIO, Palamau.

• Deputy Director, Planning & Development

• Director, Social Security.

• Joint Secretary, Labor.

• Principal Consultant, KPMG.

• Senior Consultant, KPMG.




List of 80 Tentative Services shared by KPMG with all the officials.

Presentation shared by Mr. Rajan Kumar, State Project Manager of Health Department.

Presentation shared by Mr. N.N. Das, OSD, NREGA.

Discussed Items

1

Shri Vishnu Kumar, P. Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Govt. of Jharkhand chaired the session

and started the proceeding by introducing the subject and introduced the KPMG Team to

all the participants.

2 KPMG gave an introductory presentation about the What, How and the Why of the

Project.

3 Each of the State Line Ministry officials spoke about the aspirations of their department

regarding the schemes and linkages with the Panchayati Raj.

4

They also identified some services which could be hosted by the Panchayati Raj on their

behalf for the benefit of the citizens (G2C services) and for the government (G2G

services).



1

It was mutually decided that subsequent meeting would be held between KPMG and

ministry line departments and the Panchayati Raj department to follow up the initial

discussions with more detailed round ups and the data collection for various short listed

services.

Owner : KPMG Jharkhand Team

Due Date : 3rd July 2009



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Assistant Director, Social Welfare, Women &

Child Development.

Objective: To discuss in detail and validate the details of various schemes and identify the

services being provided (or aspiring to provide) by the department to the citizens through the

Panchayat.

Date: 26 June 2009 Location: Secretariat, Ranchi



10:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Assistant Director, Social Welfare, Women & Child Development.





AD shared the Progress Report (2004-05) & Work Plan (2005-06) for the department.

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes specially Handicap Pension Scheme, Mukhya Mantri

Kanyadan Yojna, Scholarship for Disabled Students, Distribution of free aids and

appliances for disabled and the services which are/can be launched to the benefit of the

citizens.

2 Discussed about the various funds allotted to each of the schemes and the functions and

functionaries involved

3 Discussed the flow of funds to district by GoI/State.

4 Discussed the aspirations of the people as understood by the department



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Director, Panchayati Raj.



Panchayat.




11:30 PM 11:30 AM 12:30 PM 1 Hour

Attendees






None

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the Status of Panchayats in the State

2 Discussed various schemes and the services which are/can be launched to the benefit of

the citizens through Panchayati Raj and the reasons for not doing so.

3 Discussed about the various funds allotted to each of the Panchayats and the functions

and functionaries devolved.



6 Discussed the IT infrastructure in place at ZP, PS (Panchayat Samiti- Block level) and

GP.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Director, Panchayati Raj.



Panchayat.




11:30 PM 11:30 AM 12:30 PM 1 Hour

Attendees






None

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the Status of Panchayats in the State


the citizens through Panchayati Raj and the reasons for not doing so..

3 Discussed about the various funds allotted to each of the Panchayats and the functions

and functionaries devolved.



6 Discussed the IT infrastructure in place at ZP, PS (Panchayat Samiti- Block level) and

GP.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with OSD, Labour & Employment Department.



Panchayat.




12:30 PM 12:45 PM 1:45 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Officer on Special Duty, Labour and Employment





None

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes specially Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira

Gandhi National Handicap Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Widows Pension

Scheme, Employment Exchange and the services which are/can be launched to the

benefit of the citizens.







1 None




Objective: To apprise the SIO about the progress of the project so far.




4:00 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 30 Minutes

Attendees






None

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the progress of the project and the happenings of the various meetings till

date.

2 Discussed the work plan for further meetings.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with State Project Manager, NHRM.



Panchayat.




2:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• State Project Manager, NHRM.





None

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes especially National Rural Health Mission and Jharkhand’s

progress in implementing this scheme and the services which are/can be launched to the

benefit of the citizens.







1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Chief Engineer, Drinking Water & Sanitation.



Panchayat.




1:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Chief Engineer, Drinking Water & Sanitation.





Chief Engineer shared a 4 day training module with the KPMG Team.

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes specially, Accelerated Rural Water Supply Program –

National Rural Drinking Water Program, Total Sanitation Program and the services which

are/can be launched to the benefit of the citizens.







1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Principal Secretary, Education.



Panchayat.




10:00 AM 10:00 AM 10:15 AM 15 Minutes

Attendees

• Principal Secretary, Human Resource Development (Education), Jharkhand.





None

Discussed Items

1 Introduced the Principal Secretary to the ePRI Project.

2 Got the macro level picture of the Panchayati Raj HR coordination and cooperation at the

State level.



1 Principal Secretary asked the KPMG Team to meet the State MIS Expert.




Objective: To apprise the SIO about the progress of the project so far.




4:00 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 30 Minutes

Attendees






None

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the progress of the project and the happenings of the various meetings till

date.

2 Discussed the work plan for further meetings.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Special Secretary, Rural Development.



Panchayats




11:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Special Secretary, Rural Development.

• Officer on Special Duty, NREGA.





None

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes specially Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna, Indira Awas

Yojna, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the services which are/can be

launched to the benefit of the citizens.







1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with State MIS Expert, SSA.



Panchayat.




2:30 PM 2:30 PM 3:30 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• State MIS Expert, SSA.





MIS Expert shared a handout about the Basic Educational Data for Jharkhand with the KPMG

Team.

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes specially Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the progress of the

scheme in Jharkhand and the services which are/can be launched to the benefit of the

citizens.


functionaries involved.


4 Discussed the aspirations of the people as understood by the department.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Assistant Director, Panchayati Raj.



Panchayat.




2:30 PM 2:30 PM 3:30 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Assistant Director, Panchayati Raj.





Assistant Director shared the following documents with the KPMG Team:

• Establishment of Computers under BRGF Capacity Building Plan, 2007-08.

• Release of Funds by Govt. of India under BRGF in 2008-09.

• Sanction of Panchayat Resource Centers under BRGF Capacity Building Plan, 2008-09.

Discussed Items


the citizens.







1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Project Manager, Information Technology.



Panchayat.




1:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Project Manager, Information Technology.





Project Manager shared the e-Governance roadmap for State of Jharkhand.

Discussed Items

1

Discussed the progress of eGovernance projects in the state specially, Common Service

Center (CSC), State Data Center (SDC), SWAN. Also discussed the various schemes

and the services which are/can be launched to the benefit of the citizens.

2 Discussed the state eGovernance Road Map and the State’s priorities.

3 Discussed the funding of eGovernance projects in the state especially in reference to

State funds.




1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Assistant Director, Planning & Development.



Panchayat.

Date: 1 July 2009 Location: Secretariat, Ranchi



11:30 AM 11:30 AM 12:30 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Assistant Director, Planning & Development.





None

Discussed Items


the citizens.







1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Director, JSAC & Revenue & Land Reforms



Panchayat.




1:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Director, JSAC & Revenue & Land Reforms.





None

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes specially, National Land Records Management Program and

Jharkhand’s progress in computerizing land records and the services which are/can be

launched to the benefit of the citizens.







1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with OSD, Welfare



Panchayat.




10:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Officer on Special Duty, Welfare.





None

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes specially, Ashram School for SC, Hostels for SC/ST, Grant in

Aid to Voluntary Organizations and Jharkhand’s performance on the same, as well as the

services which are/can be launched to the benefit of the citizens.







1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Secretary, Agriculture & Sugarcane

Department



Panchayat.




2:30 PM 2:30 PM 3:30 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Secretary, Agriculture & Sugarcane Development.





None

Discussed Items

1

Discussed various schemes specially, National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and

National Horticulture Mission (NHM) and the progress of Jharkhand about these schemes

and the services which are/can be launched to the benefit of the citizens.







1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the Jharkhand ePRI Team

Objective: To gather the details of the list of interviewees to be interviewed during the

subsequent weeks.

Date: 7 July 2009 Location: NIC, Palamau



11:30 AM 11:30 AM 2:30 PM 3 Hours

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.





A list of contact details of the interviewees shared by the DIO, Palamau.

Discussed Items

1 Collected and consolidated the Line department officials’ designations contact & address

details for the interviews.



1 Start meeting the Line Department Officials to understand the various schemes and

services being provided by them to the citizens.



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with DC, Palamau

Objective: Identification of devolution of power requirements at District level and the

Identification of Block and Village to be visited / studied.

Date: 8 July 2009 Location: DC Office, Palamau



3:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 1.0 Hour

Attendees

• DC, Palamau.





Proposed List of Schemes and associated G2C Services to be delivered through the Panchayat

as Identified during the Workshop on 25th June 2009 and Validated by the various

Departments of the Jharkhand Government, was shared by the KPMG team.

Discussed Items

1

The KPMG Team briefed the DC about the ePRI MMP project and apprised him of the

progress till date. The Team also apprised him of the work to be done at District, Block

and Village level for Information and Service Needs Assessment.

2

Discussed the devolution of powers to Panchayat at DP/BP/GP level. The DC reiterated

that due to Supreme Court Stay on elections formal constitution of PRIs has not taken

place, therefore, no activity mapping, devolution of funds, and functionaries has taken

place. He also expressed that the planning process is being done through the constitution

of the Aam Sabha (a Temporary body comprising representatives of 4 - 5 villages falling

within a Panchayat). The DRDA is currently supervising and monitoring the

implementation of all the schemes apart from the line departments like Agriculture,

Horticulture etc who implement their own schemes and monitor them.

3 Discussed the implementation of CSS Schemes in the District.



4

Obtained his views on involvement of Panchayats in delivery of services and his vision for

the same. The DC was of the opinion that once constituted the Panchayats shall form a

strong body for planning, implementing and monitoring of all welfare and development

schemes of the district.

5

The KPMG team requested the DC for a suitable date and time for the District level

workshop to be conducted for ePRI. They also requested the DC to finalize the Block and

Village to be studied / visited by the Team.

6 DC assured the KPMG Team that they would be informed of the selected block and

village and a date and time for the Workshop shortly.



1 Follow up with DIO to finalize the Block and Village to be visited.

2 Start meeting the District, Block and Village Level Officials.



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with DIO, Palamau

Objective: To get the status of eGovernance in the district and facilitate interviews with the

district functionaries.




10:30 AM 10:30 AM 2:30 PM 4 Hours

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.





None

Discussed Items

1 Status of eGovernance in the district and facilitate interviews with the district

functionaries.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with APO, DRDA

Objective: To discuss the individual schemes, their process, funding, and monitoring in detail.

Date: 9 July 2009 Location: DRDA, Palamau



03:00 PM 03:00 PM 05:00 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• APO, DRDA, Palamau.





1 Proposed List of Schemes and associated G2C Services to be delivered through the

Panchayat as Identified during the Workshop on 25th June 2009 and Validated by the

various Departments of the Jharkhand Government, was shared by the KPMG team.

2 Registration/Issue of Job Card application forms shared by the APO with the KPMG Team.

Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the APO about the ePRI MMP Project.

2

The APO explained that in the absence of Panchayats a shelf of schemes for individual

villages was prepared by the administration and got approved through an adhoc Gram

Samiti constituted for that purpose. Once requests are received for allotment of work to

the Job Card holders they are allotted work in approved schemes in batches of minimum

20 workers.

3

Explaining the process of registration the APO explained that able bodied adult villagers

who seek labor employment are required to apply to the BDO for registration under the

NREGA Scheme. If found suitable, they are issued job cards. The villagers have then to

apply for work allotment.

4 He also explained that NREGA work has to be handled by the DRDA in absence of the

Panchayat. The monitoring of the scheme is also done by the DRDA.



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with CEO-ZP

Objective: Identification of devolution of power requirements at District level, Implementation

of CSS Schemes and assessment of the current and proposed District-wide initiatives under

the proposed e-PRI MMP.

Date: 9 July 2009 Location: DDC Office, DRDA, Palamau



1:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• DDC (CEO – ZP), Palamau.

• Principal Consultant







Discussed Items

1

The KPMG Team briefed the CEO-ZP about the ePRI MMP project and apprised him of

the progress till date. The Team also apprised him of the work to be done at District,

Block and Village level for Information and Service Needs Assessment.

2

Discussed the devolution of powers to Panchayat at DP/BP/GP level. The CEO-ZP

reiterated that due to Supreme Court Stay on elections formal constitution of Panchayats

has not taken place, therefore, no activity mapping, devolution of funds, and functionaries

has taken place. The CEO-ZP expressed that the DRDA is currently supervising and

monitoring the implementation of all the schemes apart from the line departments like

Agriculture, Horticulture, PHED etc who implement their own schemes and monitor them.

3 Discussed the implementation of CSS Schemes in the District.



4

Obtained his views on involvement of Panchayats in delivery of services and his vision for

the same. The CEO-ZP was also of the same opinion that once constituted the

Panchayats shall form a strong body for planning, implementing and monitoring of all

welfare and development schemes of the district.

5 The KPMG team requested the CEO-ZP for a suitable date and time for the District level

workshop to be conducted for ePRI.



1 The CEO-ZP directed the KPMG Team to the relevant Line Officials to discuss the

schemes in detail.




Objective: To discuss the eGovernance initiatives in the state and the progress of SWAN and

CSC program.




10:30 AM 10:30 AM 12:30 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.





None

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the eGovernance initiatives in the state and the progress of SWAN and CSC

program.

2 The District Level questionnaire was discussed and the KPMG Team requested for ICT

related information at the District level from the DIO.



1 Discussion partially completed and will carry on in the next meeting.



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with APO, DRDA





1:00 PM 01:00 PM 5:00 PM 4 Hours

Attendees

• APO, DRDA, Palamau.





The APO shared the various application formats.

Discussed Items

1 Discussed IAY, MMKDY, SGSY, and PMGSY in detail.

2

The APO informed the KPMG Team about the implementation of the Indira Awas Yojna.

As per the scheme, a list of BPL families is prepared and scoring is done based on

certain parameters like Annual Household income, Number of members of the family etc.

The scoring is done to identify the poorest of the poor and the final list is approved by the

Aam Sabha. A citizen seeking a house under the IAY scheme applies for the same to the

BDO and a list is wait list is then prepared of all the citizens who applied. Based on the

funds received by a block, total number of beneficiaries is decided by dividing the total

amount by Rs 35000 (cost of construction of 1 house). Then the money is sanctioned and

paid to the beneficiary in 2 installments. The second installment is paid only when

significant progress has been done. Funds for this scheme are received by the DRDA

from the State Government.

3

As per the Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojna, an application is submitted by the family of

the to be bride to the BDO. After neccassary verificagtion goods (including some

household items like utensils, bed, mattress, etc) and cash totaling to Rs. 10,000 is

granted and handed over to the bride by the BDO on the wedding day. Funds for this

scheme are received by the Welfare Department from the State Government.



4

As per the Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna, a group of atleast 10 citizens make an

application to the BDO for grant of funds. The group is asked to conduct meetings to

develop coordination within themselves and to form a common objective of the work they

want to do for the next 6 months. After 6 months a First grading is done by a committee

chaired by the BDO and including DRDA, Bank and NABARD representatives and a Lead

Development Officer (LDO). On successful conclusion of the First Grading a Revolving

Fund Rs. 25,000 is given to the group to start their project. Second Grading is conducted

after 6 months and if the group has been successful further loans are sanctioned. Funds

for this scheme are received by the DRDA from the State Government. Implementation is

also done through the DRDA.

5

The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna is being planned and implemented by the Rural

Engineering Organization (REO). The funds flow from the State to the DRDA and DRDA

in turn transfers the funds to the REO.



1 None




Objective: To discuss the eGovernance initiatives in the state and the progress of SWAN and

CSC program.




10:30 AM 10:30 AM 12:00 PM 1.5 Hours

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.





A List containing details of 63 offices connected through the IP Phone at the district shared by

the DIO with the KPMG Team.

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the eGovernance initiatives in the state and the progress of SWAN and CSC

program.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Accounts Officer, DRDA

Objective: To understand the planning and accounting procedures of DRDA.




12:30 PM 12:30 PM 02:30 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• Accounts Officer, DRDA, Palamau.

• NGO Resource, Sanjay Pandey.





Proposed List of Schemes and associated G2C Services to be delivered through the

Panchayat as Identified during the Workshop on 25th June 2009 and Validated by the various


Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team briefed the officer about the ePRI MMP project and apprised him of the

progress till date.

2 Discussed and understood the planning and accounting procedures for all the schemes

being implemented through the DRDA.



1 None




Objective: To discuss the ICT infrastructure in the district.




10:30 AM 10:30 AM 12:30 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.






The DIO shared the list of ICT Infrastructure deployed under the NREGA Scheme at different

blocks of the district.

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the level of deployment of ICT infrastructure, the number of computers,

printers etc given at each level of the PRI in the district.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with DPO, Palamau


Date: 11 July 2009 Location: DPO Office, Palamau



03:00 PM 03:00 PM 05:00 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• DPO, Palamau.









Discussed Items

1

Discussed ICDS in detail. There are 11 ICDS Blocks in the District which cover all the 24

blocks. 4 CDPO’s look after the these 11 ICDS blocks. This program is implemented

through the CDPO’s. The beneficiaries under this program are pregnant women, lactating

mothers, children between the age group of 6 months to 6 years and adolescent girls.

The services being provided under this program are supplementary nutrition, pre school

education, nutritional and health education, health check up and immunization.

2

Mid Day Meal Scheme is being implemented through the Anganwadi Centres.

The funds for this scheme flow from State to the District Program Officer who in turn

transfers them to Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) at Block Level.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with DPRO, Palamau

Objective: To discuss schemes, processes, funding and monitoring of schemes being

implemented by Panchayati Raj Department.

Date: 13 July 2009 Location: DPRO Office, Palamau



01:00 PM 01:00 PM 02:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• DPRO, Palamau.









Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the DPRO about the ePRI MMP and also informed about the

work done till date.

2

The DPRO informed the KPMG team that due to the Supreme Court Orders on the

elections of the Panchayats, no Panchayats have been constituted. Hence no schemes

are being implemented through the Panchayati Raj Department.

3 The Department receives only Non Plan funds for salaries and wages of the employees.

No other funds are received by the department.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Executive Engineer, PHED, Palamau


Date: 13 July 2009 Location: PHED, Palamau



03:00 PM 03:00 PM 05:00 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• Executive Engineer, PHED, Palamau.







as Identified during the Workshop on 25th June 2009 and Validated by the various Departments

of the Jharkhand Government, was shared by the KPMG team.

Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the DPRO about the ePRI MMP and also informed about the


2 Discussed ARWP/National Rural Drinking Water Program & TSC in detail.

3

Both the schemes are being implemented through the PHED. The funds are received from

the State Line Department based on proposals prepared and submitted by the District

PHED. These proposals are prepared in the basis of survey conducted in 2003. The

program which was to end in 2008 has been extended to 2012 and the population to be

served has also been divided over the years.

4

Each year the PHED prepares plans for both the schemes for the numbers which have to

be served during the year. The schemes are to be approved by the Aam Sabha and

aggregated over the District and State. After approval of the State Project Sanctioning

Committee they are sent to Govt. of India for approval and sanction. Accounting is done

by the PHED sub division in charge of implementing the schemes.




Objective: To discuss and fill up the ICT Capacity Assessment Questionnaire for DP/BP/GP.




10:30 AM 10:30 AM 2:30 PM 4 Hours

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.






None

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the ICT Capacity Assessment Questionnaire for DP/BP/GP.




1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Civil Surgeon


Date: 15 July 2009 Location: Sadar Hospital, Palamau



12:00 PM 12:00 PM 02:00 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• Civil Surgeon, Palamau.









Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the Civil Surgeon about the ePRI MMP and also informed

about the work done till date.

2

Discussed National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in detail. The NRHM is being

implemented through the District and the Block Health Society. The fund flow happens

from the State Govt. to the District Health Society and in turn to the Block Health Society

which is chaired by the BDO. Implementation is done through the CHC/PHC, Block RCH

Officers and ANM.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with DAO, Palamau

Objective: To discuss the NFSM, NADP etc., schemes, their process, funding, and monitoring

in detail.

Date: 15 July 2009 Location: DAO Office, Palamau



03:00 PM 03:00 PM 05:00 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• District Agriculture Officer, Palamau.









Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the DAO about the ePRI MMP and also informed about the


2 The National Food Security Mission is not being implemented in the District.

3

The DAO explained the components of the National Agriculture Development Program

and its implementation. The plan for NADP is prepared by the District Agriculture Officer

on allocation basis and is sent to the state after approval by the Deputy Collector. As

Palamau is a drought hit area not much progress has been achieved in this Area.

4 The funds are transferred by the State line department to the District Agriculture

Department.



1 None








10:30 AM 10:30 AM 11:30 AM 1 Hour

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.






None

Discussed Items

1 Discussed the ICT Capacity Assessment Questionnaire for DP/BP/GP.




1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Deputy Director, Social Security


Date: 16 July 2009 Location: DD Social Security Office,

Palamau



12:00 PM 12:00 PM 2:00 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Assistant Director, Social Security, Palamau.






1 Proposed List of Schemes and associated G2C Services to be delivered through the

Panchayat as Identified during the Workshop on 25th June 2009 and Validated by the

various Departments of the Jharkhand Government, was shared by the KPMG team.

2 The Deputy Director shared the various application form format with the KPMG Team.

Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the DAO about the ePRI MMP and also informed about the


2 The only scheme under full operation in the state is the Indira Gandhi National Old Age

Pension Scheme and the State Social Security Pension Scheme.

3

Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and the Indira Gandhi National Disability

Pension Scheme are yet to be initiated as the survey of villages was being done. Once the

survey is complete the selection of beneficiaries shall be done through Aam Sabha. The

beneficiaries have to open accounts at Banks/Post offices to receive the pension.

4 The Deputy Director also explained the process of receiving and processing the

applications.

5 The funds are received from the State by the Social Security Department and are

transferred to the beneficiaries.



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with District Horticulture Officer, Palamau


Date: 16 July 2009 Location: DHO Office, Palamau



03:00 PM 03:00 PM 05:00 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• District Horticulture Officer, Palamau.









Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the DHO about the ePRI MMP and also informed about the


2

The NHM is being implemented by the NGOs is the District. The applications for

plantation under NHM are received from NGOs at the block which are checked and if

found according to the specified guidelines are sent to the district along with the

recommendations of the BAO. The DAO forwards the same to DRDA which then

approves the NGO’s. The funds are received directly by the NGO from the State

Government.

3 The monitoring of the scheme is done at the District Level by a District Level Committee

headed by the DC.



1 None








10:30 AM 10:30 AM 11:30 AM 1 Hour

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.






None

Discussed Items

1 ICT Capacity Assessment Questionnaire for DP/BP/GP completed.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with BDO, Chainpur

Objective: To apprise the BDO about the ePRI MMP project and to know the status of

schemes and services being delivered through the Block and the PRIs.

Date: 17 July 2009 Location: Block Office, Chainpur, Palamau



10:30 AM 10:30 AM 11:30 AM 1 Hours

Attendees

• BDO, Chainpur.

• DIO, Palamau.









Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the BDO about the ePRI MMP and also informed about the


2

The BDO shared his vision about the ePRI and how can it help in efficient functioning of

the PRIs. The BDO also informed the KPMG Team about the current schemes and

affiliated services being delivered to the citizens at the block.

3 The BDO also visited the village Jainagra along with the KPMG Team.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Panchayat Officer, Chainpur

Objective: To know the details of the services being provided to the citizens by the PRIs

Date: 17 July 2009 Location: Block Office, Chainpur, Palamau



11:30 AM 11:30 AM 12:30 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Panchayat Officer.

• DIO, Palamau.






None

Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the Panchayat Officer about the ePRI MMP and also informed

about the work done till date.

2

The Panchayat Officer explained that as per Supreme Court Orders the BDO has been

given the charge of Chairman, Panchayat Samiti. His job is to assist the BDO in various

Developmental works. He explained that he maintains the minute’s register of the Aam

Sabha and acts as a Secretary to the Sabha. A supervisory level officer is also deputed by

the BDO whenever a Sabha is convened. The acting head of the Sabha, the supervisory

officer and He sign the minutes.

3

The Panchayat Officer said that he supervises the construction work being done under

NREGA and assists the BDO in obtaining applications, verification, and issue of job cards

and allotment of work to beneficiaries. He also assists the BDO in preparation and scoring

of BLP list, receiving applications, verification and allotment/repair of Indira Awas.

4 He also informed the Team that he also acts as the Registrar of Births and Deaths and

also explained the procedure.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the Village Jainagra Visit

Objective: To interact with the Citizens of the village Jainagra and understand their needs.

Date: 17 July 2009 Location: Jainagra Village, Bhudivir

Panchayat, Chainpur Block.



1:00 PM 1:0 PM 5:00 PM 4 Hours

Attendees

• DIO, Palamau.

• BDO, Chainpur.

• Panchayat Sewak, Bhudivir.

• Citizens of Village Jainagra and adjoining villages.






None

Discussed Items

1 The KPMG team conducted focused group (Women & Children, Senior Citizens, Tribal’s,

Handicapped and General) interviews with the citizens of Jainagra.

2 The citizens voiced out their opinion and expectations from the services they were

receiving through the PRIs.

3 The citizens also discussed about the difficulties they faced for getting any of the

services.

4 The list of interviewed citizens is attached below.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting District Superintendent of Education.


Date: 18th July 2009 Location: SSA Office, Palamau



1:00 PM 1:00 PM 3:00 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• District Superintendent of Education, Palamau.









Discussed Items

1 The KPMG Team apprised the DSC about the ePRI MMP and also informed about the


2

The Education Officer informed the KPMG Team that the RMSA scheme is not currently

being implemented in the State. He further added that the RMSA would come into action

on term completion of the SSA Scheme which is due March 2010. He said that the RMSA

scheme once in action will be on the same pattern as the SSA scheme.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the District Level Workshop for ePRI MMP, Palamau.

Objective: To give a presentation on the ePRI MMP and prioritize and select 20 services

(15+5) to be delivered through the Panchayats in Jharkhand.

Date: 18th July 2009 Location: Meeting Hall, DRDA, Palamau



3:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:00 PM 1.30 Hours

Attendees

• DDC, Palamau

• Additional Collector, Palamau

• Civil Surgeon, Palamau

• DIO, NIC, Palamau

• District Agriculture Officer, Palamau

• Executive Engineer, PHED

• Block Development Officer, Chainpur

• District Superintendent of Education

• District Cooperatives Officer

• District Horticulture Officer

• District Planning Officer

• District Fisheries Officer

• Mr. Arun Kumar Singh

• NGO Resource, KPMG





KPMG Team presented the District Level Presentation. The team also gave handouts of the

proposed list of services for short listing by the officers present.

Discussed Items

1 DDC introduced the subject and requested the officers to contribute in the selection of the

schemes and services which are important for citizens.

2

The KPMG team gave a presentation on the ePRI MMP and informed the members about

the results of the survey conducted at Block Chainpur, Panchayat Bhudivir, Village

Jainagra.



3

Executive Engineer PHED suggested that as there are no pipe water schemes in

Palamau rural areas, therefore application for private connection is redundant as only

hand pumps are installed in public land. He also said that for Anganwadi and Balwadi the

water supply has become a part of the ICDS program and hence no separate applications

are required. It was therefore decided to delete them from the proposed list.

4 Civil Surgeon suggested that for disability certificates one does not require registration as

there are days fixed for obtaining them.

5 After discussion 20 services were agreed to by the members as discussed in this report

earlier.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with BDO, Chainpur

Objective: To reconfirm the Block and Panchayat Samiti level processes.

Date: 21st July, 2009 Location: Block Office, Chainpur, Palamau



2:30 PM 2:30 PM 3:30 PM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Block Development Officer, Chainpur






None

Discussed Items

1 The BDO reconfirmed the KPMG team about all the processes of the services being

delivered to the citizens through the PRIs.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Deputy Agriculture Officer, Palamau

Objective: To reconfirm the processes involved in registration of seed sellers/fertilizer and

pesticide dealers and soil testing.

Date: 21st July 2009 Location: Block Office, Chainpur, Palamau



10:30 AM 10:30 AM 11:30 AM 1 Hour

Attendees

• Deputy Agriculture Officer.






Application form for Registration of Seed Seller/Fertilizer & Pesticide Dealer shared by the

DyAO with the KPMG Team.

Discussed Items

1

The Deputy Agriculture Officer explained the process of obtaining license for the

dealership of selling seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. He also explained the process of

soil testing.

2 The DyAO also informed the KPMG Team about the license fee for various registrations.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Panchayat Officer, Chainpur

Objective: To reconfirm the processes involved in implementation of different schemes

through PRI.

Date: 21st July 2009 Location: Block Office, Chainpur, Palamau



3:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 2 Hours

Attendees

• Panchayat Officer.






Birth & Death Certificate application and certificate formats shared by the Panchayat Officer.

Discussed Items

1 The Panchayat Officer explained the complete process of Birth/Death registration. He

also explained the various stage of the process.

2 The officer also explained about the processes involved in issue of Job Card,

Domicile/Caste/Income Certificates.



1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the meeting with Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj.

Objective: To discuss in detail Vision and expectations of the State PR department and the

views of the Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Govt. of Jharkhand.

Date: 10th August 2009 Location: Project Office, Secretariat, Ranchi



11:30 AM 12:00 PM 3:30 PM 3.5 Hours

Attendees

• Principal Secretary, Department of Panchayati Raj, Government of Jharkhand.





1 Proposed List of Schemes and associated G2C Services to be delivered through the Panchayat as

Identified during the Workshop on 25th June 2009 and Validated by the various Departments of the

Jharkhand Government - List of 45 services.

2 Final List of Schemes and associated Services to be delivered through the Panchayat as Identified

during the District Level Workshop on 18/07/09- 20 services.



Discussed Items

1

Discussion started with the Vision of the Panchayati Raj Department and its expectations

from the EPRI project. The Principal Secretary delved in detail about the objective of the

Panchayati Raj System which is to remove poverty, Promotion of Participatory Decision

making, Improved Delivery systems for governance and bringing the governance to the

doorstep of the citizen. He emphasized that mere pumping in money for projects do not

bring about the desired results. His expectation from the ePRI project in short were -

(i) Improved delivery systems for services,

(ii) Increasing simplicity and accessibility of systems and procedures to citizens,

(iii)Increased fiscal responsibility and efficiency of expenditures through sound financial

management,

(iv) Giving voice to people and higher levels of accountability and transparency in

governance,

(v) Reduction of red tape and government to be made sympathetic towards the needs of

the people, and

(vi) Closer physical and fiscal monitoring of the progress of the programs.

2

Discussed the status of the PRI as on date. He reiterated the view that the PRIs cannot

be constituted in the desired form as the elections have not been held, which according to

him is the fundamental qualification for the formation of the Three tier PRI.

3

Discussed about the possibility of the Supreme Court stay being vacated in the near

future. He was of the view that it cannot be predicted, though the government is doing all

it can to get relief.

4

Discussed alternative methods of implementing the ePRI in absence of the three tier

Panchayat Institutions. He was of the opinion that as the roll out of the ePRI would take

place after 3-6 months; the Principal Secretary who shall be heading the department at

that time would have to take the decision. He was however of the opinion that, by

investing in human development - putting in more manpower from government’s side and

providing them with adequate training and development, the State can implement the

ePRI project till such time the PRIs are constituted as per the Act.

5 Discussed the flow of funds in absence of the PRIs. He was of the opinion that this could

also be done as it is being done for BRGF funds.

6 The Principal Secretary meticulously went through the selected services after the District

workshop and expressed his satisfaction at the selection.





1 None



Minutes of the Meeting of the District Level Workshop for ePRI MMP, Palamu.

Objective: To give a presentation about the findings of the field study done by the KPMG

team at Palamu.

Date: 18th August 2009 Location: Meeting Hall, DRDA, Palamu



4:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:30 PM 1.30 Hours

Attendees

• DDC, Palamu

• Assistant Deputy Commissioner & IAS

Probationer, Palamu

• DIO, NIC, Palamu

• District Agriculture Officer,

• District Planning Officer

• District Education Officer

• District Horticulture Officer

• Executive Engineer, PHED

• District Fisheries Officer

• District Industries Officer

• NGO Resource, KPMG




KPMG Team presented the findings of the District Field Study.

Discussed Items

1

The KPMG Team apprised the attendees about the findings of the field study conducted

during the study period in Palamu. Planning, Implementation, Monitoring and Accounting

of various schemes was informed to the attendees.

2 The KPMG team presented the facts including current state of PRIs in Palamu, ICT and

capacity assessment, the status of Civil works in Palamu.

3 The team also highlighted the findings regarding security issues in the district of Palamu.

4 The KPMG team listed the final 20 G2C services being taken forward for BPR to the

attendees of the meeting.

5 The District officials agreed with the findings and the selection of services.



6

The study team was informed that the district officials are already considering some

issues highlighted in the report and are in the process of initiating changes like digitization

of forms for citizens to download from the district web site.

7 The meeting ended with a vote of thanks.



1 None



11.3. Glossary

Table 11.2 - Glossary

Acronyms Name in Full

PRI Panchayati Raj Institutions

MMP Mission Mode Project

LSG Local Self Government (e.g. Municipal corporations, Zilla

Panchayats, Gram Panchayats)

DPC District Planning Committee

SFC State Finance Commission

ICT Information and Communication Technology

MIS Management and Information Systems

ISNA Information and Services Needs Assessment

SoPR State of Panchayat Reports

CSS Centrally Sponsored Schemes

CLM Central Line Ministries

PHED Public Health Engineering Department

DC Deputy Commissioner

DDC Deputy Development Commissioner

BDO Block Development Officer

APO Assistant Project Officer DRDA

CDPO Child Development Project Officer

MoTA Ministry of Tribal Affairs

MoPR Ministry of Panchayati Raj

MoRD Ministry of Rural Development

DoSEL Department of School Education and Literacy

MoSJE Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

MoSPI Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation

MoWCD Ministry of Women and Child Development

MoYAS Ministry of Youth Affairs and sports

MoA Ministry of Agriculture

MoHRD Ministry of Human Resource Development

MoH&FW Ministry of Health and Family Welfare



NIC National Informatics Centre

PEU Project Execution Unit

73rd Amendment act – provides constitutional status to PRIs. (Creation of 3 levels of

Panchayat hierarchy)

74th Amendment Act – Envisages the establishment of municipalities in urban areas

(provides basic framework of decentralization of power). Creation of the District Planning

Commission.

Schemes

NREGA National rural employment guarantee act (MoRD - DRD)

SGSY Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (MoRD – DRD)

PMGSY Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (MoRD –DRD)

IAY Indira Awaas Yojana (MoRD – DRD)

IGNOAPS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (MoRD –

DRD)

ARWSP Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (MoRD – DDWS)

TSC Total Sanitation Campaign (MoRD – DDWS)

IWDP Integrated Watershed Development Programme (MoRD –

DoLR)

NLRMP National land resource management programme/ National Land

Records Modernization Programme (MoRD – DoLR)

BRGF Backward Regions Grant Fund (MoPR)

RKVY Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (MoA)

NHM National Horticulture Mission (MoA)

NFSM National Food Security Mission (MoA)

NRHM National Rural Health Mission (MoHFW)

ICDS Integrated Child Development Services (MoWCD)

PYKKA Panchayat Yuva Krida aur Khel Abhiyan (MoYAS)

SSA Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (DoSEL)

RMSA Rastriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (DoSEL)

CSC Common Service Centre (DIT)

SDC State Data Centre (DIT)

SWAN State Wide Area Network

BSLLD Basic Statistics for Local Level Development (MoSPI)



11.4. References

Documents

• Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001

• The State of Panchayats Report: An Independent Assessment” (SoPR, 2007-08)

• National Panchayat Directory, MoPR GoI.

Web

• Panchayat.nic.in

• www.jharkhand.gov.in

• www.jharkhand.nic.in

• www.palamu.nic.in

11.5. Brief Profile of Palamu District

Blocks of Palamu



The District of Palamu lies between 23 degree 50’ and 24 degree 8’ north latitude and

between 83 degree 55’ and 84 degree 30’ east longitude. It contains an area of 5043.8

square Km. The administrative head quarter is Daltonganj (Medininagar) situated on Koel

River in 24 degree 3’ north and 84 degree 4’ east. Daltonganj has taken its name after

Colonel “Dalton”, the Commissioner of Chhotangapur in the year 1861. The distance

between Daltonganj (Medininagar) and Ranchi, the State Capital, is 165 Km. Old Palamu

District is divided in three Districts.

• Palamau

• Garhwa

• Latehar

Origin of name

The Origin of the name “Palamu” is doubtful. According to an account, it is derived from the

Hindi word palana, to lee and means “a place of refuse”. Another suggestion is that the name

is combination of “Pala” meaning “frost” and “mu”, the patois is root for “dead” the whole

word meaning “dead from frost”, parts of the District being liable, during the winter months, to

severe frosts. Both these explanations however must be regarded as purely speculative.

Another suggestion is that Palamau is a Dravidian name, that it may be a corruption of Pall–

amm –u. Pall meaning “tooth “ amm (which when combined with another main assumes the

form am) meaning “water”. While a is kind of genitive or possessive case meaning “village”, “

Country “ ,”fortress “etc. In support of this theory, it may be mentioned that the name is spelt

Palamau is the vernacular and was originally applied to the village which was the seat of the

chero chiefs, and in which their forts were built.

Early History

The early history of PALAMU is not authentic but we have legends about it. It is, however

certain that kharwars, oraons and cheros, the three aboriginal races practically ruled over the

tract. The kharwars claim to be suryavanshi Kshatriyas. They trace their decent from

Ajanagara or Ayodhya. Karusa was the sixth son of Manu Vaivasata and he was assigned

the eastern territory. The descendants of Karusa were called Karusas who subsequently

came to be known as Karwars or kharwars. According to tradition they were the rulers of

Rohtasgarh. The kharawars point to the days of the Pratapadhaval, one of the line of chiefs

who ruled there in the twelfth century A.D., during the time of their greatest prosperity.

The cheros have been spoken in very high terms in the Aitareya Aranyaka along with the

Vangas and Magadhas. They did not observe the Vedic sacrifices and still they are termed



as revered cheros ‘cheropadas. There is not much evidence to show that the Cheros came

to this region from Kumaun as some think.

The Mandas claim decent from Karusas. The Ramayana records their flight to the south.

Some say that these aboriginals played the band at the time of Rama’s coronation at

Ayodhya and they were assigned this region in lieu of their meritorious services. The

Pandawas killed Jarasandha – an ally of the Mand . Naturally in the Mahabharat war the

Mandas sided with the kauravas and were in the army of Bhisma. Sanjaya says that on the

left wing of Bhisma are the Karusas with the Mandas, Vikunja and Kundivarsa Satyiki

compares the Mandas with the demons and boasts that he would put an end them just as

Indra ended the demons . Arjuna is said to have married a Naga princess from this region

and Babhruvahana was born of this lady.

Boundaries

The district is bounded in the north by the river Son which separates it from the districts of

Rohtas, and by the district Aurangabad (Bihar), on the east by the district of Chatra and

Hazaribagh; on the south by the district Latehar on the west by the district Garhwa and

Chhattisgarh state.

Table 11.3 – Palamu at a glance

Palamu at a glance

Total Area 1137710.40 Acre or 5043.80 Sq. Km.

Total Population 1533173

Total Population (Male) 794880

Total Population (Female) 738293

Rural Population 1434504

Urban Population 98669

Population Density (per sq. km.) 240

Sex Ratio (Females per 1000 Male) 937

Percentage Decadal Growth Rate

(Males)(1991-2001) 26.80

Total Literate 583791

Total Literate (Male) 395735

Total Literate (Female) 188056

Literacy Rate 45.67

Literacy Rate (Male) 59.76



Literacy Rate (Female) 30.50

No. Of Block 12

No. of Panchayat 289

No. of Villages 1910

Cultivable 173073.66 Acre

Non Cultivable 63745.00 Acre

Forest Area 419621.50 Acre

Total Irrigated Area 92782.39 Acre

Total Primary School 821

Total Middle School 222

Total High School 49

11.6. District-wise Number of Panchayats in Jharkhand

Table 11.4 – District wise number of Panchayats in Jharkhand

S. No. District No. of Panchayat

Samiti’s

No. of Gram

Panchayat’s

1 Palamu 20* 289

2 Latehar 7 115

3 Garhwa 14 196

4 Jamtada 4 118

5 Dumka 10 206

6 Deogarh 8 201

7 Godda 8 200

8 Sahebganj 9 166

9 Pakud 6 128

10 East Singhbhum 9 230

11 West Singhbhum 15 216



S. No. District No. of Panchayat

Samiti’s

No. of Gram

Panchayat’s

12 Saraikela-Kharsawan 8 135

13 Lohardaga 5 66

14 Gumla 11 159

15 Simdega 7 94

16 Ranchi 14 298

17 Hazaribagh 11 257

18 Kodarma 5 109

19 Giridih 12 357

20 Bokaro 8 248

21 Chatra 10 159

22 Dhanbad 8 383

23 Khunti 6 86

24 Ramgarh 4 143

TOTAL 212 4559

*7 new blocks have been notified but work is still being done from the 13 old blocks.



11.7. Block-wise number of Panchayats and villages in Palamu

Table 11.5 – Bock wise number of Panchayats and villages in Palamu

S.No. Block No. Of Panchayats No. of Villages

1 Bishrampur 26 153

2 Chainpur 35 183

3 Chatarpur 35 240

4 Daltonganj 18 114

5 Hariharganj 18 184

6 Hussainabad 22 183

7 Lesliganj 16 119

8 Manatu 20 190

9 Pandu 14 71

10 Panki 25 200

11 Patan 30 186

12 Satbarwa 10 58

13 Haidernagar 20 100

TOTAL 289 1910

11.8. List of G2C & G2G services selected at the State Level

S. No. Department Schemes G2C Services G2G Services

Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar

Yojna (SJSY) 1. Universalisation of SHG.

Indira Awas Yojna (IAY)

1. Listing of BPL families.

2. Application for allotment/repair of house under

IAY.

2. Preparation of BPL List.

1 Rural

Development

National Rural Employment

Guarantee Assurance

(NREGA)

3. Registration and Verification of beneficiaries.

4. Job card for beneficiaries.

5. Application for work demand.

3. Payment of wages processing

through financial institutions.

2 Revenue & Land

Reforms

6. Copy of ROR.

7. Copy of Cadastral Maps.

8. Application for issue of income certificate.

9. Application for issue of residence certificate.

10. Application for modification of revenue citation.

4. Socio-economic database –

Panchayat Level

Ashram School for SC Yojna 11. Admission to Ashram Schools.

12. Application for Caste Certificates.

Hostels for SC,ST 13. Availability / Registration for admission to

Hostels for ST.

3 Welfare (Tribal

Welfare)

Grant-In-Aid to Voluntary

Organizations

5. Monitoring Physical & Financial status

of Voluntary Organizations.

4

Agriculture &

Sugarcane

Development

14. Application for Soil Testing.

15. Display of Soil Test Results by Laboratories.

16. Application for obtaining license and

registration of pesticide retailers.

6. Monitoring of NGO’s





registration of retailers and wholesalers of

fertilizers.


registration of seed sellers at the state level.

5

Health, Medical

Education &

Family Welfare

National Rural Health

Management (NRHM)

19. Application for Medical Certificate and

appointment at PHC/CHC.

7. HMS data entry at Panchayat level.

8. Training of SAHYAS.

9. Preparation of list of Pregnant

Women.

10. Preparation of list of children for

immunization.

11. Data entry for National Vector Borne

Disease program.

12. Data entry for village health and

education day report.

6

Art, Culture,

Sports & Youth

Affairs

20. List of Kreedashri Program.

Handicap Pension Scheme

21. Application for pension under Swami

Vivekananda Nishakt Swarvalamban Yojna.

22. Application for issue of Disability Certificate.

7

Social Welfare,

Women & Child

Development

Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan

Yojna (MMKY)

23. Application for payment of cash support under

Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojna.




Scholarship for Disabled

Students

24. Registration / Application for scholarships for

disabled students.

Distribution of Free Aids and

Appliances for Disabled

25. Registration / Applications for free aids and

applications for Viklang.

Indira Gandhi Old Age

Pension Scheme 26. Application for Old Age pension.

Indira Gandhi National

Handicap Pension Scheme

27. Application / Registration for Handicap

Pension.

Indira Gandhi National

Widows Pension Scheme 28. Application for Widow pension. 8

Labour,

Employment &

Training

Employment Exchange

29. Registration of Job Seekers (Employment

Exchange Registration).

30. Application for Issue of Unemployment

Certificate.

31. Registration for getting training at ITI.



Accelerated Rural Water

Supply Program – National

Rural Drinking Water Program

32. Registration for Household for Personal

connection.

33. Registration for School / Anganwadi centres for

institutional connection.

34. List of approved private connections.

35. List of approved households for subsidy.

36. Status of complaints registered.

37. Identification of safe and unsafe drinking water

areas / sources.

9

Drinking Water

and Sanitation

Total Sanitation Program 38. Registration for Private toilets.

39. Registration for Institutional toilets.

10

Human

Resources

Development

Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

Programme

40. Application/Registration for admission to

schools.

13. Identification and listing of school

going children.

14. Identification of drop outs.

15. Data entry for DISE data.

16. Monitoring of school attendance.

17. Physical and financial progress

monitoring.

11 Planning &

Development

18. Data entry for Panchayat registers.

19. Data collection and entry for State

Income (Economic Census).



12 Panchayati Raj

41. Application for Registration of Birth and

issuance of Birth Certificate.

42. Application for Registration of Death and

issuance of Death Certificate.

43. Application for making available copy of

GP/PS/ZP documents.

44. Application for issue of Ration Card.

45. Issue of Duplicate/Modification of Ration Card.