e-Panchayat
           e-Panchayat was identified as one of the 27 Mission Mode Projects under the National e-
      Governance Plan (NeGP) formulated in 2006.
      Recommendations of Fourteenth Finance Commission
           Under the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) award for the period 2015—2020 grants
      to the tune of ₹ 2,00,292.20 crore are being devolved to gram panchayats in the country
      constituted under Part IX of the Constitution constituting an assistance of ₹ 488 per capita per
      annum at an aggregate level for 26 states to ensure stable flow of resources at regular intervals
      which will augment resources available with them to discharge their statutorily assigned
      functions. The FFC has not recommended grants to Non-Part IX areas under Schedule VI in
      Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Assam, the areas in the hill districts of Manipur, rural areas of
      Nagaland and Mizoram.
      Drinking Water and Sanitation
           The Department of Drinking Water Supply (DDWS) was created in the Ministry of Rural
      Development in 1999, which was subsequently renamed as the Department of Drinking Water
      and Sanitation in 2010. Keeping in view the significance of rural water supply and sanitation, the
      Government of India created and notified the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation as a
      separate Ministry in 2011. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is the nodal Ministry
      for the overall policy, planning, funding and coordination of the flagship programmes of the
      Government of India viz., the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) for rural
      drinking water supply and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) [SBM(G)] for sanitation in the
      country.
      Relevant Website: www.mdws.gov.in
      Swachh Bharat Mission
      Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in 2014. The concept of Swachh Bharat Mission is to
      provide access for every person to sanitation facilities including toilets, solid and liquid waste
      disposal systems and village cleanliness. The programme is implemented by the Ministry of
      Drinking Water and Sanitation. An Action Plan has been drawn up for Swachh Bharat to become
      a reality by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Mission aims to increase
      the access to sanitation from 39 per cent in 2014 to 100 per cent by October, 2019. The Action
      Plan calls for an Open Defecation Free (ODF) India in five years. To begin with, as part of
      Swachh Bharat, priority was given to build toilets for boys and girls in all schools of the country.
      This was completed within one year. To strengthen delivery mechanism in sanitation in rural
      areas some important measures have been taken up: (a) signing MoU with states, on water and
      sanitation for implementation of both water and sanitation, with interchangeability of funds
      between water and sanitation so that idle funds do not lie in states and targets are not starved of
      funds in either of the two sectors; (b) release to states with ‘Just in Time’ concept, to be adopted
      by centre to avoid extra cost of funds to Government of India; (c) enable a system of small loans
      through agencies like NABARD, SIDBI (or banks through priority sector lending without
      collateral) to those households for the construction of toilets which are eligible for incentives or
      need funds to construct better toilets maybe with bathing space; (d) identifying a Swachhagrahi
      (motivator) for each village equipping him with skills on sanitation and giving him performance