CHANDIGARH: Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision on promoting the use of artificial intelligence (AI), a former sarpanch of Bibipur village in Haryana’s Jind district has launched a campaign to leverage this technology to improve governance, transparency and accountability in rural areas.
The campaign, called ‘AI-friendly panchayat’, seeks to create awareness about the benefits of AI-powered panchayats and encourage village councils to adopt the technology for better governance. “Every gram panchayat has to make a development plan (DP) to get its funds from the government.
It has to send this proposal and upload it online to get the fund. Due to workload at times proposals lack details, hence panchayats do not get the proper funds they need. By using AI this issue can be solved,” said Jaglan who transformed his village Bibipur into a model one with innovative initiatives.
“Also under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) gram panchayats can get funds but many a time they do not get it as they have to send proposals online. Many panchayats are unable to send proposals online, so fail to get funds under CSR initiatives of companies,’’ he said.
The former sarpanch said AI-powered panchayats can bring about a revolutionary change in rural governance. “AI-powered panchayats will improve the quality of life for rural people and make village councils more accountable and transparent,” Jaglan added.
As part of the campaign, Jaglan will be conducting workshops and training sessions for panchayat members and officials to educate them about the benefits of AI-powered governance. “In the last three months, I have given training to sarpanches, panches, panchayat members and panchayat secretaries of 120 panchayats of many states on how to use AI. Of these 27 panchayats were from Haryana,” he said.
Jaglan said, “When we gave training to sarpanches, most of them told us they have never sent an e-mail to officials as they do not know what to write. Hence we gave them training on how to use AI in writing and then send a mail.’’
The Union panchayati raj ministry has been using its portal eGramSwaraj to make maximum use of AI, making it available in 22 Indian languages.
Branding gram panchayats over social media
Jaglan said that AI tools can also facilitate branding of panchayats, especially over social media whose potential is largely unexplored due to lack of awareness. Jaglan believes that AI-powered panchayats can bring revolutionary change in rural governance. “I am confident that AI-powered panchayats will improve the quality of life for rural citizens and make village councils more accountable and transparent,” he said.