In the scheme being implemented for digital transformation of Gram Panchayats in the country, out of the total 2.69 lakh Gram Panchayats in the country, 2.18 lakh Gram Panchayats are in the ready category with broadband connectivity. Out of these, there are 75002 Panchayats in the country which are working digitally. Out of which there are 11465 Panchayats in Gujarat whose work has started in digital form. According to a report, Punjab is in second place in the country and Rajasthan is in third place where digital work has started in the Panchayats. According to the report of research agency Serviceat Now, there are more than 57 thousand Panchayats in Uttar Pradesh, out of which 47 thousand Panchayats are in the ready category. Information about these figures was given by the government in the Rajya Sabha. According to government figures, Gujarat is at the forefront of adopting the e-Gram Swaraj scheme to make a digital transformation of Panchayats in the country.  

E-Gram Panchayat Gujarat at the forefront
According to the report, under the e-Gram Swaraj Yojana, Gujarat is at the first place in e-Gram Panchayat, where there are 14621 Gram Panchayats, out of which online payment facility is available in 9653 Panchayats. If we talk about government figures, 3877 Panchayats in Maharashtra, 1651 in Chhattisgarh, and 2754 in Madhya Pradesh are ready to function. The report says that the number of e-Gram Panchayats is still less in bigger states. The major reason for this is the problem of extending broadband connectivity to the rural areas of these states. Availability of broadband connectivity is less in bigger states as compared to smaller states.

Recently, the state government of Madhya Pradesh has started the exercise of digitizing the village panchayats. For this, the Panchayat and Rural Development Department has started work to establish e-panchayat. For which work has started to supply basic facilities.

According to government data, Gujarat is in the first position among the top five states where e-gram panchayats are functioning. There are a total of 14621-gram panchayats here, out of which 14559-gram panchayats are ready to provide services. Out of these, approximately 11465 panchayats are operational. Punjab is in the second position where there are a total of 13238 gram panchayats and approximately 12807 are ready to provide services, out of which 9432 panchayats are operational. Rajasthan is in the third position in this list where there are 11208-gram panchayats and out of these 8997 panchayats are ready to provide services, but currently only 6421 panchayats are operational. Telangana is at the fourth position where the total number of gram panchayats is 12771, out of which 10915 are ready for services, but currently, only 5812 panchayats are providing services. Andhra Pradesh is in the fifth place where there are a total of 13326 Panchayats and out of them 12967 are ready but only 5559 Panchayats are providing services.

The number of e-panchayats
is less in big states. According to government data, Chhattisgarh has a total of 11645 Gram Panchayats out of which 9759 are ready to provide services but only 1651 of these Panchayats are working. In this list, out of the total 23011 Gram Panchayats in Madhya Pradesh, 18105 are ready to provide services but only 2754 are working. Tamil Nadu has a total of 12525 Gram Panchayats out of which 9882 are ready but only 3449 are providing services. After this, Maharashtra has a total of 27911 Gram Panchayats, out of which 24597 are ready for services and 3877 are operational. Uttar Pradesh has a total of 57691 Gram Panchayats out of which 47341 are ready to provide services but only 3921 of these are providing e-Gram Panchayat services.  

What is e-Gram Swaraj Yojana?
Under the Digital India program, rural areas will be connected to Digital India. The government has started the e-panchayat scheme in the e-gram swaraj scheme for the development of villages and to provide facilities to the villagers. Which information about all the schemes of the Panchayat and the government will be available sitting at home and there will be transparency in the work.

What are the challenges?
Experts say that the government is making full efforts but there is still a lack of digital infrastructure facilities in rural areas. There are fewer facilities for electricity, broadband network connectivity, and banks. The problem is arising due to a lack of digital literacy among the people. If we look at the government figures, the number of e-panchayats is less in big states. There are some states where emphasis is being given to digital literacy in rural areas, which include Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Telangana.