“Gram Manchitra” to encourage the Spatial Planning by the Gram Panchayat

New Delhi, December 05, 2023.

In order to encourage the Spatial Planning by the Gram Panchayat, Ministry of Panchayati Raj had launched the Geographic Information System (GIS) application “Gram Manchitra” (https://grammanchitra.gov.in). This application facilitates and supports Gram Panchayats to perform planning at Gram Panchayat level using geo-spatial technology. It provides a single/ unified Geo Spatial platform to better visualize the various developmental works to be taken up across the different sectors and provide a decision support system for Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP).

Further, Ministry has launched mActionSoft, a mobile based solution to help in capturing photos with Geo-Tags (i.e. GPS Coordinates) for the works which have asset as an output. Geo-tagging of the assets is done in all three stages viz. (i) before start of the work, (ii) during the work and (iii) on completion of work.  This would provide a repository of information on all works and assets related to natural resource management, water harvesting, drought proofing, sanitation, agriculture, check dams and irrigation channels etc. Assets geo-tagged using the m-ActionSoft application is available on Gram Manchitra, enhancing the visualization of various developmental works in the Gram Panchayats.

The assets created under the finance commission funds are geotagged with the photographs of assets by the Panchayats. The GIS data of assets geotagged on the map of Panchayat can be visualized on the Gram Manchitra application. Gram Manchitra provides several planning tools that use GIS technology to help Gram Panchayat officials develop realistic and achievable development plans. These tools provide a decision support system in the preparation of development plans viz. tools for identifying potential sites for development projects, asset tracking, estimating the costs of projects, and assessing the impact of projects.