As on September 2010, a total of 97,392 village Panchayats have been broadband enabled. This information was given by Union minister for rural development and panchayati Raj Dr C P Joshi in the Lok Sabha today. The minister informed that connectivity to gram panchayats through broadband network, is included as a component in the Bharat Nirman II programme.  Under Bharat Nirman II programme, the government has envisaged to provide broadband connectivity to all Village Panchayats. Some States are using computers in functioning of Panchayats including for digitising records and files.

The  Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has formulated “e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP)” for implementation of e-governance in Panchayats.

Under this MMP, reports on (1) Information and Service Needs Assessment (2) Business Process Re-engineering and (3) Detailed Project Reports for each State/UT (except Delhi) have been prepared and sent to respective States/UTs for operationalising. For this MMP, MoPR has been allocated Rs.5.5 cr. in 2008-09, Rs.22.07 cr. In 2009-10 and Rs.24 cr. In 2010-11. From this amount, development of software applications to automate core functions of Panchayats has also been taken up. PRIASoft, an accounting software and PLANPlus, software for decentralized planning have already been launched.

The Minister was replying to a question whether the government is considering any proposal to connect Gram Panchayat through broadband network and digitising the Panchayats records and files and the details as well as the status of implementation of e-governance project in all Panchayats in the country and the funds allotted for the purpose.