Meri Panchayat App

Meri Panchayat App : Recently, India’s Meri Panchayat mobile application was honoured with the prestigious WSIS Champion Prize 2025 at the WSIS+20 High-Level Event held in Geneva, Switzerland.

o The award, conferred under the Action Line Category: Cultural Diversity, Linguistic Identity & Local Content, signifies a major global recognition of India’s model for rural digital empowerment.

• About Meri Panchayat App : Launched by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

o A mobile governance (m-Governance) platform developed to digitally empower India's rural local bodies and citizens.

o Key highlights: Designed to digitally empower 2.65 lakh Gram Panchayats across India.

- Aims to benefit 25 lakh elected representatives and over 950 million rural citizens.

- Promotes transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement in local governance.

- Serves as a scalable digital governance model, decentralizing information and enhancing access to Panchayat-level services.

- Provides Panchayat-level weather data for better local planning.

- Citizens can submit project ideas, rate works, and view Gram Sabha outcomes.

- Enables bottom-up governance by placing information directly in the hands of rural citizens.

• Global Recognition at WSIS 2025: The WSIS Forum 2025 was co-hosted by major global institutions including ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, UNCTAD, and the Swiss Confederation.

o The forum marked 20 years of global efforts to create inclusive and equitable information societies.

o It celebrated digital innovations that address cultural, linguistic, and accessibility divides.

o This recognition highlights India’s commitment to rural digital empowerment and participatory local governance.