Atmanirbhar Panchayat Programme:
The Union Minister of Panchayati Raj launched the Atmanirbhar Panchayat Programme and the SAMARTH Panchayat Portal.
- Atmanirbhar Panchayat Programme is a unique initiative of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
- It enables Gram Panchayats and Block Panchayats to identify local assets and opportunities and develop them, with dedicated technical support from the Ministry, into bankable, revenue-generating projects that build sustainable Own Source of Revenue (OSR).
- It is facilitated through Public-Private Partnerships, Corporate Social Responsibility contributions, convergence with other schemes and bank finance, with NABARD and HUDCO as institutional partners.
- A total of 350 projects are to be developed over four years, comprising 50 projects in the first year and 100 in each of the following three years.
- Gram Panchayats with a minimum OSR of 50 lakh and Block Panchayats with a minimum OSR of Rs. 1 crore, each with at least three years of tenure remaining, are eligible to apply, with relaxed thresholds for special category States.
SAMARTH Portal:
- It is a first-of-its-kind digital initiative of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj designed to strengthen the financial capacity of Gram Panchayats through technology-enabled management of OSR.
- It is developed as a unified, configurable national platform which enables Gram Panchayats to digitally manage the complete OSR lifecycle, from taxpayer registration and demand generation to online payments, collection and real-time monitoring.
- Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh have already been onboarded on the portal.
