News Analysis India

Tag: Gram Panchayats

  • 3,195 gram panchayats to be provided with internet connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Set to roll out e-governance at the grass root level in Jammu and Kashmir, the administration will provide internet connectivity to 3,195 additional gram panchayats under Bharat Broadband Scheme (BBS), according to officials.

    Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on Thursday held a meeting to review the progress of projects related to the Tawi River front development and implementation of the Bharat net scheme in Jammu and Kashmir, a release said.

    While reviewing the implementation of the Bharat broadband scheme in Jammu and Kashmir in rural areas, the chief secretary was informed that 408 gram panchayats and 14 block headquarters have been provided with internet connection through optical fiber cable while 658 gram panchayats have been VSAT enabled for internet connectivity, officials said.

    As many as 3,195 additional gram panchayats will be provided with internet connectivity in phase II of the project, they said.

    Underscoring the importance of digital inclusion in rural areas, Mehta impressed upon the Rural Development Department (RDD) to ensure that net enabled gram panchayats function properly, so that they could be used as hubs to connect youth clubs, anganwadi centres and other important public sector installations for awareness campaigns and for promoting government schemes and programmes.

    Mehta directed the planning development and monitoring department to verify the functionality and efficiency of the internet facilities already established in 1081 gram panchayats by holding interactions with the officers either through video conferences or google meet.

  • Preparations in check for Gram Panchayat polls in Maharashtra on January 15

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Over 14,000 Gram Panchayats in 34 districts of Maharashtra will go to polls on January 15, with state election commissioner UPS Madan saying all preparations are in place for the elections.

    There are 27,920 Gram Panchayats in Maharashtra and the polls will cover 34 districts, barring Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban.

    Polling will take place between 7.30 am and 5.30 pm, except in four tehsils of Gadchiroli and Gondia districts, where voting will end at 3 pm.

    “All preparations have been made and the teams are in place,” Madan said.

    There 20,000-odd seats in the state where members have been elected unopposed, the official said.

    Apart from this, 14 villages have boycotted the Gram Panchayat elections to press for their demand to be a part of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, a Thane district official said on Thursday.

    With 14 villages boycotting the elections, five Gram Panchayats in the district will not go to polls on Friday, the official said.

    The State Election Commission had on Wednesday said that those suffering from coronavirus infection or people who are quarantined can cast their vote half an hour before the polling ends.

    The body temperature of voters who are not suffering from COVID-19, but are living in containment zones will be checked twice, it was stated.

    Voters whose body temperature is higher than the prescribed limit will be given tokens, and they can cast vote half an hour before the polling ends, the Commission had said.

    All the polling centres and material/equipment have been sanitised in view of the elections, the Commission said.

    The Commission also announced on Wednesday that the poll process has been cancelled for Umrane and Khondamali Gram Panchayats in Nashik and Nandurbar districts respectively, after it received evidence of public auctioning of the posts of sarpanch and members of the local governing bodies.

    The Gram Panchayat polls will be held in the wake of the MVA’s victory in the Legislative Council elections for the graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies that took place last year.

    The MVA had won four out of six seats, while two others were bagged by an Independent candidate and the BJP.

    According to political observers, the Gram Panchayat election is being seen as a barometer to gauge the public mood in rural areas as well as the strength of the parties.

    However, the Gram Panchayat politics is not always in sync with that at the state level, they feel.

    The district-wise tally of Gram Panchayats going to polls are as follows: Thane (158), Palghar (3), Raigad (88), Ratnagiri (479), Sindhudurg (70), Nashik (620), Dhule (218), Jalgaon (783), Ahmednagar (767), Nandurbar (86), Pune (748), Solapur (658), Satara (879), Sangli (152), Kolhapur (433), Aurangabad (618), Beed (129), Nanded (1,015), Osmanabad (428), Parbhani (566), Jalna (475), Latur (408), Hingoli (495), Amravati (553), Akola (225), Yavatmal (980), Washim (152), Buldhana (527), Nagpur (130), Wardha (50), Chandrapur (629), Bhandara (148), Gondia (189) and Gadchiroli (362).

    Counting of votes will take place on January 18.

  • Strike by Secretary and Employment Assistants impacting MNREGA and other work in Gram Panchayats

    In Bhopalpatnam block of the district, the strike of the secretaries regarding regularization continues for the tenth day. The same Employment Assistants are also sitting in strike on the sixth day regarding their regularization and fixation of pay scales. Many women secretaries and employment assistants were also seen to play their part in the striking employees and were very angry with the government’s indifferent attitude. Panchayat secretaries said that since the posting, we have been sitting on the dream of governmentalization and many employees of other departments were successful in getting the demands from the government, including their regularization, in front of us, but after the BJP government, the secretaries in the Congress government also The attitude of the government has been indifferent and not even one demand has been fulfilled till date. But this time we will not back down and will come back to work only after fulfilling our demands from the government.