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Karnataka’s ‘Grama One’ project logs one crore transactions within nine months of launch

Highlights:

• Grama One is the flagship program of the government aimed at delivering citizen services of all the departments to the rural citizens at their own village.
• Grama One is envisaged to be single point assistance center for all citizen centric activities at village level which include G2C services, Banking services, RTI queries etc. It was announced by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka in the budget for FY20-21
• The popularity of this project, on the lines of ‘Bangalore One’ in the city was launched many years ago, has drawn the attention of various states which are exploring the possibility of replicating this service delivery model in rural areas
• ‘Grama One’ offers about 800 services from 79 government departments, including Rural Development, Labour and Health, right from paying premiums of insurance companies, and those relating to ‘Aadhaar’, ‘Ayushman Bharat’, banking and E-stamp.
• These services are offered through ‘Seva Sindhu’ internet-based application, owned and driven by the Karnataka government and being implemented through BLS International in Kalaburagi and Mysuru divisions and CMS Computer in Belagavi and Bengaluru divisions

The envisioned benefits of Grama One centres are

• The Citizens do not need to visit the district, taluk and hobli offices to get government services
• Citizens can save on time and money by availing the services through Grama One centres
• No menace due to middlemen
• Financial inclusion is achieved by allowing each Grama One center to act as a Micro banking institution
• The spirit of Aatma-Nirbhar is upheld as citizens need not depend on anyone to avail the services.
• Socio-Economic development is achieved through timely and quality delivery of services
• The ‘Grama One’ has provided employment to many people, most of whom are women, transgenders and differently-abled people,” at village level