What : The programme is a unique initiative to strengthen the institutions of governance and planning at the grassroot level.

What is in news : Lok Sabha speaker,  inaugurated a parliamentary outreach programme to empower Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir

Objectives of the Programme

• To create mass awareness or mass participation.
• To create self-confidence and self-respect for the ground level leaders.
• To creation a sense of ownership of the created assets.
• To boost the ambitions for grass root political leaders for democratic values
• To create awareness about several schemes

Editions of the programme

• First Edition: First ever outreach programme was organized at Dehradun, in Uttarakhand on January 8, It was physically attended by 445 Panchayat representatives while 40,000 Panchayat representatives & officials were connected online via web link.
• Second Edition: It was organized at Shillong in February, 2021 for Meghalaya and other North Eastern States. About 115 members of the local bodies of North Eastern States physically.
• Third Edition: it was organized for the grass root level institutions in the Union Territory of Ladakh on August 27, 2021. Representatives from 195 number of Panchayat attended the programme.
• Fourth Edition: Organized in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir on August 31, 2021 at Srinagar, under the theme of “Parliamentary Outreach Programme for the Empowerment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions”.