Background

The Government of Haryana enacted Haryana Panchayati Raj Act (1994) to establish three tier structure wherein Gram Panchayats were given key role in decentralized rural governance as well as in decentralized planning by assigning them all the 29 subjects listed in the 11^th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

In present context, Gram Panchayats are expected to prepare village level plans for development, an active participation in government programs and to act as a unit of self-governance. In Haryana, the Gram Panchayat has not been able to perform their functions efficiently. Reasons for this are many which include capacity building, lack of awareness, rights and responsibilities. One of the main reason has been the absence of adequate supporting staff and a proper office space for the Gram Panchayat.

Therefore, setting-up a proper Administrative Complex is of paramount importance as it would help in the institutionalization of Panchayat to ensure transparency and accountability. Development and Panchayats Department decided to setup Gram Sachivalaya at 2294 clusters in Phase-1, which will become hub of all activities at Village level to bring single window administrative unit.

Objectives for setting up Gram Sachivalaya:

1. To bring Gram Panchayat and Village Level Functionaries of all the departments under one roof for better functioning and coordination.
2. To bring efficiency, transparency and accountability in the working of Gram Panchayat.
3. To facilitate devolution of functions, functionaries and funds to the Gram Panchayats.
4. To help timely redressal of public grievances.
5. To facilitate e-connectivity
6. To enable the Gram Panchayat to effectively perform its monitoring functions.
7. To strengthen the Sub-Committees of the Gram Panchayats.
8. To ensure safe custody of the records.
9. To strengthen the concept of the Gram Sabha.
10. Display of public information.
11. To implement and successful rollout of e-Panchayat MMP in the State of Haryana

In order make Gram Sachvilayas functional in real sense as e-Governance unit, following were the choices in front of Development and Panchayats Department:

It was emphasized that the Gram Sachivalaya would have enough space for housing the office of Panchayat Members and Gram Sachiv. All the activities of Gram Panchayats shall be carried-out from the Gram Sachivalaya. The Meetings of Gram Sabha also to be held in the Gram Sachivalaya. The field functionaries of other line departments such as Patwari (Revenue), ADO (Agriculture), JE (Electricity Board), JE (Public Health), and VLDA (Veterinary) etc. shall be given adequate space in the Gram Sachivalaya, so as to facilitate the inhabitants of the villages to contact them easily under one roof to take advantage of their services and redressal of day to day problems.

Further, it was decided that the Gram Sachivalaya will have a Common Service Centre (CSC) and National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) to fulfil the objective to develop a platform that can enable Government, private and social sector organizations to align their social and commercial goals for the benefit of the rural population. Thus, the CSCs cannot be seen as mere service delivery points in rural India. The CSC is positioned as a Change Agent - that would promote rural entrepreneurship, build rural capacities and livelihoods, enable community participation and collective action for social change - through a bottom-up model with focus on the rural citizen.

In this regard, Development and Panchayats Department signed a MoU on 10^th Dec 2015 with Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (HARTRON), District Information Technology Society (DITS) of 21 districts and Common Service Centre- Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC-SPV). The roles and responsibilities of the involved stakeholders is mentioned below:

Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) are trained in the online web-based applications of the Development and Panchayats (D&P) department and Rural Development (RD) department to make them responsible for data entry in the various applications of D&P and RD department on regular basis. So far, approximately 1785 Gram Sachivalayas have been established in the State. Out of which, 884 VLEs have shifted and operationalized the rural CSC at  Gram Sachivalaya. The detailed report is mentioned below:

To institutionalize the Gram Panchayats, as well as, to bring transparency in their functioning, the Development and Panchayat department had planned during 2015-16 to set-up Gram Sachivalayas for every Gram Panchayat. Keeping in view the sanctioned posts of Gram Sachivs, all the Gram Panchayats have been clubbed into 2294 clusters, having 3-4 GPs in each cluster.
      In the 1st phase of 4 years, the Gram Sachivalayas would be set-up at Cluster level. This task is expected to be completed by 31.3.2019. Thereafter in the 2nd phase, the Gram Sachivalayas would be set-up for the remaining Gram Panchayats. 
    The main objective for launching the scheme of Gram Sachivalaya is to bring Gram Panchayat and Village-level Functionaries of all departments under one roof for better functioning and coordination. It aims to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability in the working of Gram Panchayat and other agencies engaged in the process of rural development. 
    As on date 1783 Gram Sachivalayas have been established in the State. For this purpose, the Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras, Panchayat Ghars or any other suitable community building available in Gram Panchayats will be upgraded and basic IT facilities (infrastructure and hardware) will be provided in order to set up Gram Sachivalayas.