The Hindu Business Line : Oracle to link Orissa panchayats

THE Panchayati Raj Department of the Government of Orissa has engaged Oracle India to build an integrated IT infrastructure to connect 314 blocks and 30 District Rural development Agencies in the State. The idea is to cover all the 6,234 gram panchayats in the State within the next 2-3 years, according to Mr Damodar Rout, Orissa's Minister for Panchayati Raj and Culture.

Speaking to newspersons here, Mr Rout said the Panchayati Raj Department has chosen Oracle database and Oracle application server to build the infrastructure with the help of end-user Panchayat accounting and monitoring software and payroll applications built by Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, and Orissa computer Application Centre.

The three-tiered Web-based infrastructure will enable the Panchayat Raj Department interface on a real-time basis with its employees at the block and gram panchayat levels.

Mr Rout said the initiative would facilitate transparency and the e-Panchayat measures of the State Government as well as ensure better utilisation of funds. The knowledge-based decision support system would also facilitate empowerment of citizens and Web-based monitoring of various development schemes under implementation.

At present, 68 Central and State-sponsored schemes are under various stages of implementation in the State. According to him, ``this is a first step towards a citizen-centric integrated IT infrastructure that will help our citizens residing in the rural areas of Orissa interface better with the government.'' He said funds were not a constraint with the State Government when it came to implementation of panchayat-level initiatives. He added, however, in this regard that the State Government was expecting ``better funding'' from the 12th Finance Commission. ``After all, all these steps are aimed at all-round socio-economic development of the state,'' he said.

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