Karnataka govt’s GramaOne programme sees one crore beneficiaries

BENGALURU: The number of beneficiaries of GramaOne, the flagship programme of Karnataka government that delivers citizen services at the doorsteps of villagers, has crossed the one-crore mark.
The milestone has been recorded within ten months of the launch of programme, which was intended to help rural residents in availing of multiple government services without having to travel long distances to visit the district headquarters, taluk office and hobli centres to get their official work done.Currently, about 800 services — including G2C (government to citizens), B2C (business to citizens), banking services, and RTI (right to information) queries – are being delivered through the 7,112 GramaOne centres across the state.
GramaOne project director Varaprasad Reddy B N explained: “Ease of obtaining government services is at the core of the programme. GramaOne is envisaged as a single-point assistance centre for all citizen-centric activities at the village level, and as many as 1 crore people have benefited from the programme.” The government is planning to open another 1,600 GramaOne centres in the state in the future. Apart from saving time and cost for village residents the GramaOne centres free citizens from the menace of middlemen, he added.
IAS officer Dileesh Sasi, who has been monitoring the implementation of the programme, said: “This initiative encompasses a variety of communities and franchisees that help run the GramaOne centres, thus providing employment opportunities at the village level. Budding entrepreneurs are fully trained to provide all services to the citizens and become financially independent.
Senior IAS officer and E-governance secretary V Ponnuraj said: “Getting the government closer to the people's doorsteps is the objective of GramaOne. Once the rural people also become equally competent in handling digital systems, the importance of this system will probably come down. But still, it is a long way to go. Till then, whether it is a service delivery or governance system, it should become a one-stop shop, and it should be able to improve the happiness of the citizens.”