Centre for Information and Communication Technology (CICT)

Centre for Information and Communication Technology (CICT)

Centre for Information and Communication Technology (CICT)

SIRDPR, Tamil Nadu established the Centre for Information and Communication Technology (CICT) to concentrate exclusively on the latest technological developments in the Information Technology, e-Governance, etc., and its utilization in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department in Tamil Nadu. CICTs main working areas would be special focus for the training and research in e-GramSwaraj, Planplus, Data Security, Public Financial Management System(PFMS), Awaas Soft, Nrega Soft, Training Planning & Management System (TPMS) and TNRD&PR. The trainings are sub divided for the specific participants as Technical Management and Orientation training for IT experts/Computer Programmers, Assistant Directors/Block Development Officers and Elected Representatives respectively. All the trainings are planned based on the need of the hour for latest and smart technologies used and suggested by Government of India and Government of Tamil Nadu. The centre is expected to strengthen the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj functionaries in terms of utilizing the latest and smart technologies for the transparent and accountable governance and service delivery to the citizens.

Centre Activity:

To conduct training programmes on ICTs and its applications to the three tier panchayat functionaries/officials of Rural Development and panchayat raj
To provide ICT solutions and state-of-the-art infrastructure (hardware and software) at SIRD&PR
To provide access to internet and online information, benefiting all the Centres, departments, wings and end-users
To facilitate automation of training, research and all other activities to bring in greater efficiency in its operations

Annual Action Plan (2020 - 2021):

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PFMS

The Rural Local Bodies undertake various functions to provide and maintain basic amenities and infrastructural development works for the benefit of the rural community from own source of revenue and also from the grants received from both Central and State government. The Government of Tamil Nadu has evolved efficient financial management systems and procedures for PRIs and has issued detailed guidelines for budgeting, accounting, book keeping, transactions, audit, etc. There is a need to effectively monitor the transactions and the expenditure of PRI accounts on a real time basis so as to improve efficient fund utilization. Therefore all accounts maintained by Village Panchayats and all Grant and Own Source Revenue accounts of the Block Panchayats and District Panchayats have been brought under Public Financial Management System (PFMS).

PFMS is a common electronic platform for complete tracking of fund flows from the Government to large number of programme implementing agencies until it reaches the final intended beneficiaries or vendors. In this regard, Governement has issued orders vide G.O.(Ms) No. 104 Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (PR-1) department, dated: 26.07.2018 and G.O.(Ms) No. 133 Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (PR-1) department, dated: 18.09.2018 for effective implementation of PFMS in RLBs. The Directorate of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj is designated as State Level Scheme Manager under PFMS and Agency approval shall be done by the Finance Department of the Government / State Project Management Unit of PFMS, Tamil Nadu. 31 District Panchayats, 385 Block Panchayats, 12524 Village Panchayats are treated as individual agency and registered in the PFMS Platform at State, District, Block and Village Panchayat level.

Capacity Building towards Public Financial Management System (PFMS)

SIRD&PR has conducted PFMS training to the officials of RD&PR Department covering 19,659 participants in 492 batches at a cost of Rs.2.32 crores for Financial Year 2018-19. The training programme has been conducted in cascading method in SIRD&PR and Engineering Colleges in District with hands on session.

Panchayat Enterprise Suite

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has undertaken e-Panchayat, a Mission Mode Projects (MMP) under Digital India Programme that seeks to completely transform the functioning of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), making them more transparent, accountable and effective as last mile cutting edge units of decentralized local self-governments. Under e-Panchayat, a suite of Core Common Software Applications (Panchayat Enterprise Suite) has been developed to address various aspects of Panchayats’ functioning including planning, budgeting, implementation, accounting, monitoring, social audit and delivery of citizen services like issue of certificates, licences, etc. Besides, some States have also developed their own State-specific applications for similar purpose. MoPR has developed following 11 applications under PES:

S.No	Application	Description
1	Local Government Directory http://lgdirectory.gov.in/	Captures all details of local governments and assigns unique code. Also maps Panchayats with Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies.
2	Area Profiler http://areaprofiler.gov.in./	Captures geographic, demographic, infrastructural, socio-economic and natural resources profile of a village/panchayat. Universal database for planning of all sectoral programmes and also provides details of Elected Representatives, etc.
3	PlanPlus http://planningonline.gov.in/	Helps Panchayats, Urban Local Bodies and line departments in preparing Perspective, Annual and Action Plans.
4	PRIASoft https://accountingonline.gov.in/	Captures receipt & expenditure details through voucher entries and automatically generates cash book, registers, etc.
5	ActionSoft http://reportingonline.gov.in/	Facilitates monitoring of physical & financial outcomes/outputs under various programmes.
6	National Asset Directory (NAD) http://assetdirectory.gov.in/	Captures details of assets created/maintained; helps avoid duplication of works.
7	ServicePlus http://serviceonline.gov.in./	A dynamic metadata-based service delivery portal to help in providing electronic delivery of all services in all States. The functionality of the erstwhile Grievance Redressal Application has also been subsumed into this Application.
8	Gram Manchitra https://grammanchitra.gov.in/	Geo Spatial based decision support system for panchayats
9	Training Management http://trainingonline.gov.in/	Portal to address training needs of stakeholders including citizens, their feedback, training materials etc.
10	National Panchayat Portal (NPP) http://panchayatportals.gov.in/	Dynamic Web site for each Panchayat to share information in public domain.
11	Audit Online http://auditonline.gov.in/	Audit Online aims to facilitate audit of Government Institutions online.

Research Topics	In coordination with
Effective usage of IT platform by PRIs during in Disaster Management	IT Wing of Anna University