Punjab’s youngest Sarpanch who interacted with PM Modi, wishes for broadband connection and digital revolution

Punjab’s youngest Sarpanch, who recently interacted with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conference on the National Pachayati Raj Day, is full of energy and wants to bring transformational changes in her village through information and communication technology.

Twenty-two year old Pallavi Thakur is the Sarpanch of Hara village of block Dhar Kalan in Pathankot district. Thakur was 21-year-old when she took the oath of the office as Sarpanch on January 11, 2019. She never imagined that she would be chosen for a brief interaction with the PM and get a chance to discuss issues like arrangements of harvest, procurement and transportation of wheat during the lockdown imposed due to coronavirus crisis.

She stresses on the importance of digital revolution and advocates for better digital resources for her village and block so that people need not to go the nearest city Pathankot.

In an interaction with Express Computer, Thakur, a B.SC.(IT) graduate, says that she wants every home in her village to get broadband connection so that people, especially students, can utilise the internet to the optimum.

“Currently, we use mobile internet connection for making video calls or filling any government form as we do not have broadband connectivity in our village, having a population of around 2,200 people,” she says.

She had to use her mobile’s hotspot connection with her laptop to participate in the video conference with the PM, lasting for about five-and-a-half minute, on April 24. Thakur was first approached by the Prime Minister Office (PMO) team who asked her to install certain apps on her laptop for the video conference. Several rehearsals were carried out to check whether she was encountering any technical issue. On the day of the interaction, Thakur got ready at 9.30 am with her laptop on and she finally started talking to the PM at 11 am. She was instructed that no one from her family or friends should remain inside her room to ensure glitch-free conversation with the PM. Thakur says she really admires the PM for his energy and vision for the country and she wants the same level of energy and passion for doing welfare work for the people.

Dhar Kalan block is around 18 kms from Pathankot and for almost all major work, people have to travel to Pathankot to get their work done.

Thakur informs that her Sarpanch office does not have desktop and internet connection and she does all her important official work on her laptop.

On this, Financial Commissioner (rural development and Panchayats), Punjab Government, Seema Jain informs Express Computer that the system has already been installed in the primary school of Gram Panchayat Hara and is yet to be made operational.

When asked about the arrangements made by the state government for the farmers to tackle Covid-19 in her block, Thakur says that Punjab government has set up grain markets or mandis where farmers in small groups can go and sell their produce. Farmers have been issued holograms, having Aadhaar and other key details, to avoid mass gathering and follow social distancing rules at the mandi. The farmers are facing tough times because of crop harvest season during the lockdown. She says the Panchayats are ensuring strict compliance of the Punjab government orders like maintaining social distancing of two metres during harvesting wheat, washing hands regularly with soap, covering nose and avoid using utensils of each other to prevent any chance of getting infected by the coronavirus.

Thakur had informed the Prime Minister that when the lockdown was imposed in her village, barricades were erected so that no one ventures out and no outsider enters into the village, without any valid reason or emergency.

When asked about her vision of digitisation of her village, Thakur responds that she wants to use technology for purposes like education, sanitation, welfare schemes among others.

Seema Jain informs that her department is very quick in the uptake of technology. Under Covid-19 response strategy, all Panchayats have been linked through social media groups for effective communication for the concerned stakeholders, she says.

“Digital Punjab Initiative of the rural development department has been launched and the main pillars of this include implementation of e-Panchayats project in Punjab and total funds position is being uploaded. All Sarpanchs have been given internet dongles to access information. Direct DBT payments to all beneficiaries Under MNREGA is being done through Aadhaar seeded bank accounts of job card holders. Estimates of works on SECURE software, which is an end to end solution from estimation to payments stage,” Jain informs.

She further says that the Finance Commission grants are transferred directly into the bank accounts of over 13,000 Panchayats in Punjab. Smart Village Campaign (SVC) is Government of Punjab’s unique initiative which has been conceptualised for inclusive development of rural areas, in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals. For SVC phase one INR 800 crore have been allocated and for the phase two INR 1,500 crore.

Meetings are done over video conference, with every block, she says.

“We have allowed every Panchayat to get internet connections. In Punjab, there is highest reach of service providers, but in some areas especially in some remote and border area villages, connectivity is poor at the last mile. We are addressing this issue, and 100 per cent coverage shall happen once the Bharatnet project is completed,” Jain states.

Thakur has another wish. She says that online food delivery apps and e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart do not deliver orders at her village and they ask people to come and collect their orders at Chakki area, which is far from her village. She wants online aggregators should start doorstep delivery for the convenience of people in villages.

Thakur wants to study further and contribute to the village’s progress digitally.