PM to interact with village panchayats via video link on Friday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address village panchayats across the country on Friday to mark the National Panchayati Raj Day. Due to coronavirus-induced lockdown, he will interact with the participants through video-conference, according to an official release issued on Wednesday.

To mark the occasion, the prime minister will launch a unified e-GramSwaraj portal and a mobile app. The unified portal is a new initiative of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to provide the village panchayats with a single interface to prepare and implement their gram panchayat development plan (GPDP).

PM Modi will also launch the Swamitva Scheme on the occasion, the statement said. The scheme provides for an integrated property validation solution for rural India.?Demarcation of inhabited land in rural areas would be done by the use of latest surveying methods -- drone technology with the collaborated efforts of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Department, State Revenue Department and the Survey of India.

The Swamitva Scheme would add momentum to the efforts to alleviate poverty in rural areas, the prime minister later said in a tweet while referring to the April 24 event he would address.

"I look forward to this interaction," he wrote. To mark the occasion, every year the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been awarding the best-performing panchayats, states and Union Territories under the Incentivisation of Panchayats in recognition of their good work for improving delivery of services and public goods.

This year, three such awards --? Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar (NDRGGSP), Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award (CFGPA) and Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) Award have been finalised, the statement said.