National Panchayati Raj Day

Facts for Prelims
 

National Panchayati Raj Day
 

News: The Nation celebrates 24th April of every year as National Panchayati Raj Day.
 

Background:
 PM Modi recently launched an integrated e-GramSwaraj-GeM portal, distributed SVAMITVA property cards to select beneficiaries and launch the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Campaign for the theme “Inclusive Development” – “Samaaveshi Vikas”.
 

About:
 24th April marks a defining moment in the history of decentralization of power to the grassroots, with the institutionalization of Panchayati Raj, through the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 which came into force with effect from that day.
 The awards presented on this day include Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar; Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar; Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award; Gram Panchayat Development Plan Award, and e-Panchayat Puraskar (given to States/UTs only)
 

About e-GramSwaraj Portal:
 It was designed to operate as a single window solution for all day-to-day functioning of the Panchayats from Planning to Online Payments.
 As on date eGramSwaraj has almost 100% usage and adoption across the country with more than 2.3 lakh Gram Panchayats and Traditional Local Bodies are already using it for online payments.
 Objective of integrated e-Gramswaraj and GeM portal - To enable the Panchayats to procure their goods and services through GeM leveraging the eGramSwaraj platform.
 

About SVAMITVA scheme:
 It involves mapping rural housing and land holdings via technology including drones.