In a move to further enhance effectiveness of grassroots governance across the country, adoption of Standardised Honorarium under Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), Long term Domestic Training of Panchayat officials, Training of elected representatives in Smart Classrooms, Investment in Gram Panchayat Infrastructure throughout the country with special focus on North Eastern States and UT of Jammu and Kashmir were some of the key decisions taken by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the revamped Centrally-sponsored scheme of RGSA.

The decisions were taken in its 8th meeting under the chairmanship of Vivek Bharadwaj, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, here today.

Standardisation of honorarium rates for Master Trainers, Guest Faculties, and Eminent Resource Persons across States/UTs will ensure equitable compensation, fostering the availability of high-quality trainers, which is critical for improving training delivery at the grassroots level. This is particularly important for States like Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab and West Bengal, which are scaling up their training initiatives.

“Funding for Long-Term Domestic Training Programmes” for up to one year of duration for officials of PRIs and Panchayati Raj Department in the States/UTs under the State component of RGSA has been given a go ahead by the committee. The move aims at ensuring that the officials receive advanced, sector-specific training from Institutes of Excellence which will upgrade their skill set for better service delivery at the grassroots.

To enhance infrastructure, the CEC also approved construction of 3,301 Gram Panchayat Bhawans with Common Service Centre (CSC) co-location and sanctioned 22,164 computers for Gram Panchayats across various States including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, and Telangana. This decision is a boost for the Panchayati Raj system in these States as it directly addresses infrastructure gaps, enabling better administrative functioning and digital governance in rural areas.

In a bid to modernise the Panchayat Resource Centers at the State and District level across the country, computer labs in State Panchayat Resource Centers (SPRCs) in 25 States as well as in District Panchayat Resource Centers (DPRCs) in 395 Districts will be upgraded with more computers of latest specification. At the same time, approval has been given for installing technological Educational Aids in these SPRCs and DPRCs across States/UTs.

Over a period of last few years, a number of decisions to support the infrastructure development for PRIs in the North Eastern States and the UT of Jammu and Kashmir have been taken. In the past years, the Ministry has supported construction of Panchayat Bhawans as well as setting up of Common Service Centres for ease of the residents in these areas. In J&K, the Ministry has supported construction of 970 GP Bhawans and co-location of 1,606 Common Service Centres during 2024-25.

The meeting also approved construction of 400 Panchayat Bhawans-cum-Common Service Centers in Arunachal Pradesh. This is in continuation of MoPR’s support in the past for 939 GP Bhawans with collocated CSCs. Similarly, Panchayat infrastructure has been supported for the other States of North East including Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Assam, Manipur. Overall, 1,633 Gram Panchayat Bhawans and 514 CSCs have been approved for the States of North East.