(Online Course) Contemporary Issues for IAS Mains 2012: PIB - [E - Panchayat]

E -Panchayat- An Innovative Way For Enhanced Working

It is an accepted position now that Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as units of local self government, are the constitutionally mandated third tier of governance and as per Article 243G of Indian Constitution are required to perform the following functions: Preparation of plans for economic development and social justice; Implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice as may be entrusted to them including those in relation to the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule.

In addition to this the Panchayats are also required to Levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, rolls and fees Manage the grants-in-aid received from Centre and State Governments. Thus Panchayats are becoming increasingly, the nodal points for delivery of crucial social sector schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), Mid day Meal (MDM), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) etc. Being closest to the rural populace, they are the most suitable entities to ascertain the needs of people and execute the social and
development programmes so as to meet their aspirations. To enable them to perform their mandated role effectively, it is essential that PRIs have appropriate capacities. e-panchayat is one of the means of building the required capabilities.

To ascertain the Information and ServiceNeeds (ISNA) of all the stakeholders namely Central Ministries, State Department, Citizens and Panchayats, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj had commissioned a comprehensive study covering all States and UTs. As the next step, Business Processing re-engineering (BPR) required to usher into an ICT era in Panchayats has been worked out in details for all the states. Based on the ISNA and BPR, Detailed project reports (DPRs) for each of the States/UTs have been prepared. State Reports have also been consolidated inNational Reports. The DPRs give the roadmap for operationalsing this MMP. It also includes details such as Change Management strategy; Capacity Buildingand financial implications for rolling out this ambitious project. The total projected cost, spread over 4 years is Rs 6,989 cr. As a result of
this study, 12 Core Common Application (given overleaf) that address all aspects of Panchayats’ functioning; from internal core functions such as Planning, Monitoring, Implementation, Accounting, Social Audit etc to citizen service delivery, have been identified and are under development.

PRI Accounting Software (PRIASOFT) and Plan Plus Software for decentralised planning have already been operationalised. The Ministry is making all efforts to support Panchayats with requisite ICT infrastructure and trained manpower to be able to effectively use these applications and derive benefits. The benefits will accrue to all stakeholders including Central Ministries, State Departments, People and Panchayats themselves. It is evident that epanchayat would ultimately result in induction of mass ICT culture in the country thereby furthering the agenda of “Inclusive Growth”. e-Panchayat MMP will thus provide a whole range of IT based services to Central/State Departments, District/Block Administration, citizens, Pancahayati Raj Institutions themselves and others and in the process, Pancahayati Raj Institutions would become symbols of modernity, transparency & efficiency. 12 Core Common Application addressing all aspects of Panchayats’ functioning

1. Unique Code to Panchayats: Would provide nationwide, standardized unique codes to  all the Panchayats in the country. All the events related to delimitation of Panchayats will also be captured. This directory will be the underlying thread linking all applications of Panchayats.

2. Panchayat Portals: Would generate a web site for each Panchayat in the countryWould integratewith other software applications for Panchayats to act as a single delivery gateway using single sign-on.

3. Panchayat Profiler: Would help maintain details relating to Socio-economic Information Socio-demographic Information Public Infrastructure and Services Geopolitical Information of Panchayats

4. Planning& Budgeting: This software would help the preparation of District plans (bottomup) starting from grass roots level Converge the funds from different programmes/schemes to ensure effective utilization of funds Identify fund inflows&Out flows Sources of funding The output of this software would be Panchayat wise Perspective Plan, Draft Plan, Action Plan and head wise estimates of the budget

5. Accounting: This software would capture the details of receipts and expenditure by PRIs under various account heads and schemes The software will automatically generate the cash book, various registers prescribed by central or state government and Utilization Certificate for various schemes based on the expenditure incurred by the PRIs.

6. Scheme Implementation&Monitoring: This would allow each Panchayat to enter the implementation status of each scheme being implemented on the basis of monitoring parameters defined for the scheme. The schemes may be Central Government Schemes (CSS, ACAs), state government schemes and Panchayat level schemes, if any.

7. Social Audit: This software will capture all events and details relating to social audit conducted by Gram Sabha from time to time, the action taken report etc.

8. Unique Codes to Assets &Utilities:  This application will help maintain information relating to the assets& utilities created and maintained by Panchayats. This would evolve into an on-line Panchayat Assets/ Utilities directory.

9. Citizen-Centric Services: This will be a generic Citizen Service delivery module to capture all events and information related to delivery of services to citizens by Panchayats.

10. Grievance Redressal: This will be a generic grievance redressal system wherein the citizen will be able to lodge his/her grievance against any employee of a Panchayat or the functioning of the three tiers of Panchayats and their redressal.

11. Basic GIS Applications: This software would display the maps of Panchayats and integrate with other applications for Panchayats such as Panchayat Profiler, Planning&Budgeting, Asset Directory etc. so that a spatial view of the profile/plan of a Panchayat can be obtained by overlaying various non-spatial data.

12. Capacity Building and Training Management : This would be a portal wherein all information relating to trainings such as schedule, material etc. will be available. Also, the officials who want training on specific topics will be able to register their demand. The portal would also help the training agencies to register themselves as faculty.

On 18 February, 1911 the first commercial civil aviation flight took place in India between Allahabad and Naini, a distance of 6 miles when Henri Piquet carried 6500 mails on a Humber biplane. This is considered to be the world’s first airmail service and the beginning of civil aviation in India.

• In December 1912, the Indian State Air Services in collaboration with UK based Imperial Airways introduced the London -Karachi - Delhi flight, the first International flight to and from India.

• In 1915 Tata Sons Ltd. started regular air mail services between Karachi and Madras and on January 24, 1920 Royal Airforce started regular airmail services between Karachi and Bombay.

• Construction of Civil Airports in India started in 1924. Constructions began in Calcutta at Dum Dum, Allahabad at Bamrauli and in Bombay in Gilbert Hill.

• April 1927 saw the setting up of a separate Department of Civil Aviation to look after all civil aviation matters. That year also saw the establishment of Aero Club of India.

• In February 1929, JRD Tata was awarded the first pilot license by Federation Aeronautique International on behalf of the Aero Club of India and Burma. The same year Aga Khan announced a solo air race between London and Bombay. There were three participants - JRD Tata, Man Mohan Singh and Aspy Merchant . The race was won by Man Mohan Singh.

• Lt.Col. Shelmerdine was appointed firstDirector general of Civil Aviation(DGCA) in 1931 to look after civil aviation regulatory issues.

• In 1932 Tata Airlines came to being as a division of Tata Sons Limited. It started Air Mail services on the Karachi, Ahmedabad, Bombay, Bellary, Madras routes on 15 October. The same year, 1932 also saw the first Indian woman, Urmila K. Parikh get a pilot’s license.

• Between 1933 and 1934 a number of Indian airlines – Indian Trans Continental Airways, Madras Air Taxi Services, Indian National Airways etc., commenced operations.

• The Indian Aircraft Act was promulgated in 1934 and was formulated in 1937.

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL) set up by Walchand Hirachand in association with the then Mysore Government in 1940 at Bangalore.

• India’s first aircraft, the Harlow trainer was rolled out for test flight in July 1941.

• In 1945 the Deccan Airways was founded - jointly owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad and Tatas. Its first flight began in July 1946. In 1946 ‘Air India’ came into being when TataAirlines changed its name to Air India.

• In 1948 Air India signed an agreement with the Government to operate international services under the name Air India International Ltd. On June 8 the same year Air India inaugurated its international services with a weekly flight between Bombay and Londonvia Cairo and Geneva.

• In 1948 Prem Mathur became the first woman commercial pilot and started flying for Deccan Airways. She obtained her commercial pilot’s license in 1947.

• In March 1953 the Indian Parliament passed the Air Corporations Act, and Indian Airlines and Air India International were set up after nationalisation of the entire airline industry. At this time eight formerly independent domestic airlines: Deccan Airways, Airways India, Bharat Airways, Himalyan Aviation, Kalinga Air Lines, Indian National Airways, Air India, Air Services of India were merged.

• 1953 also saw the introduction of India’s Civil Helicopter Services.

• In 1956 Ms. Durba Banerjee was inducted as the first woman pilot of Indian Airlines.

• In 1960 India entered the jet age with the introduction of Boeing 707-437 into the fleet of Air India and USA was connected to India for the first time by an Indian airline flight.

• In 1972 the International Airports Authority of India (IAAI) was constituted and Vayudoot airlines (a government owned airline company) started operation in the year 1981.

• In 1984 Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma of Indian Air Force becomes the first Indian cosmonaut and the 138th man in space spending 8 days in space abroad Salyut 7.

• In 1985 Captain Saudamini Deshmukh commanded the first all women crew flight on an Indian Airlines Fokker friendship F-27 on the Calcutta-Silchar route. She also commanded the first Boeing all-women crew flight on September 1989 on the Mumbai- Goa sector.

• 1985 also saw the establishment of Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited(PHHL) and the establishment of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy (IGRUA) in Fursatganj, RaiBareli in Uttar Pradesh for training of pilots.

• 1985 was also a very traumatic year for Indian aviation when Air India flight AI 182 between Montreal and Delhi was blown up by terrorists over the Atlantic Ocean. Following this, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security was established in 1987.

• The National Airports Authority was constituted in 1986.?In 1989 Indian Airlines became one of the earliest airline of the world to induct A320s type of aircraft from the Airbus company.

• 1990-91 saw the entry of private airlines after the de-regulation of the civil aviation sector. Private airlineswere given permission to operate charter and non-scheduled services under the ‘Air Taxi’ Scheme. The East West Airlines was the first national level private airline to operate in the country after almost 37 years.

• In 1990 Captain Nivedita Bhasin of Indian Airlines at 26 became the youngest pilot in civil aviation history to command a jet aircraft. She also became the first woman check pilot on an Airbus A300 aircraft.

• 1990 was also a land-mark year for Indian civil aviation and Air India when Air India entered the Guinness Book of World Records for largest evacuation effort by a single civilian airline when it flew over1,11,000 people from Amman to Mumbai in 59 days operating 488 flights just before the Gulf war began.

• In 1994, following the repeal of the Air Corporation Act private airlines were permitted to operate scheduled services and a number of private players including Jet Airways, Air Sahara, Modiluft, Damania Airways, NEPC Airlines and East West Airlines commenced domestic operations.

• In 1995 India’s six private airlines accounted for more than 10% of domestic traffic. Many foreign airlines started providing international services. In 1995, 42 airlines operated air services to, from, and through India.

• In 1995 Airport Authority of India (AAI) was constituted after the merging of the International Airport Authority of India with National Airports Authority.

• In 1998 Dr. Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian-born woman to fly to space as part of a NASA team. 1998 also saw the first Private Airport come up in the country in Cochin,Kerala.

• 1999 was another tragic year in the history of Indian civil aviation when the IC 814 flight of Indian Airlines was hijacked to Kandahar.?2003 saw the ushering in all the ‘Low Cost Carriers’ in the country when Air Deccan started its services.

• In 2004 Government approved setting up of private airports at Hyderabad and Banglore.

• In the December of 2004 Indian Scheduled carriers with aminimumof 5 years of continuous operations and a minimum fleet size of 20 aircraft, were permitted to operate scheduled services to international destinations.

• 2005 sawthe rebranding of Indian Airlines as Indian. It also sawthe entry of the Kingfisher Airlines. This year the Government designated Air India, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara to operate international services.

• In 2006 the Government approved the restructuring and modernization of Mumbai andDelhi Airport through Public Private Partnership.

• 2007 saw the Regional Airlines Policy being announced wherein licenses were given for operation of airlines within a particular region.

• In 2008 the path breaking Greenfield Airports Policy of the Government was announced.

• To regulate the economic aspects of airports, the Parliament passed the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) Bill and the AERA was set up in 2009.

• The brand new integrated terminal T-3 was inaugurated in New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in July 2010 and in December 2010 Pawan Hans started its Sea Plane Services Jal Hans.

• At present India is the 9th largest aviation market in the world with 82 operational airports, 735 aircraft, 12 operational scheduled airlines and 121 non-scheduled operators. The number of air passengers travelling in India is expected to cross 50 million this year. (PIB Features)

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