Meri Panchayat App Wins WSIS Champion Award 2025 for Digital Governance

India’s Meri Panchayat mobile application has earned global recognition by winning the WSIS Prizes 2025 Champion Award under the category Cultural Diversity and Identity, Linguistic Diversity, and Local Content. Developed by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the app is a vital step in strengthening grassroots governance and digital participation in rural India. The award was conferred at the WSIS+20 High-Level Event 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Background

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a global platform launched to promote inclusive and people-centered information societies. The 2025 event marked 20 years since WSIS’s inception and aimed to review digital progress. The Meri Panchayat App was chosen as a Champion Project among global digital innovations that support inclusivity and local empowerment.

Significance

The app’s recognition at a global forum highlights India’s commitment to digital transformation at the grassroots level. It strengthens decentralized governance, enhances transparency, and promotes participatory democracy by enabling real-time citizen engagement in panchayat affairs.

Key Features

The app covers 2.65 lakh Gram Panchayats, empowering over 25 lakh elected representatives and serving nearly 950 million rural citizens. Key features include,

• Real-time access to budgets, payments, and development plans
• Display of public assets, elected member details, and civic services
• Access to Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs)
• Grievance redressal through geo-tagged and geo-fenced tracking
• Multilingual support in 12 Indian languages
• Tools for social audits, project ratings, and Gram Sabha participation

Impact

The app has significantly improved transparency, citizen involvement, and accountability in rural governance. It ensures better fund utilization and enables villagers to participate in planning and monitoring of local development projects.