Grama Sachivalayam (also known as Village Secretariats) are local government facilities set up in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to decentralize the administration by making services and welfare services of all government departments available at one place.[1] Andhra Pradesh was the first Indian state to launch such a program.[2]Government of Andhra Pradesh appointed Village Secretriate Staff on regular basis and Volunteers on outsourcing basis to deliver services.[3] It was launched on Gandhi Jayanti[4] since the scheme was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's concept of Grama Swarajya that promotes villages becoming self-sufficient, autonomous entities.[5]
History
Establishment of village secretariats was one of the promises made by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra.[6] The program was first launched after recruitment for positions was opened in July.[7] The written exam was conducted between 1 September 2019 to 8 September 2019,[8] and the result was declared on 19 September 2019 where a total of 1,98,164 candidates were qualified.[9] Each volunteer looks over 50 households.[10]
As of October 2021, 15,004 village and ward secretariats had been established with 1,26,649 secretriate staff on regular basis and 2,54,832 volunteers on outsourcing basis[11] to serve around 3.2 crore people,[12] including home delivery of pensions and monthly provisions.[13]
In 2022, Tamil Nadu announced its intention to mimic the village secretariat model by building 600 such facilities in the state to provide administrative offices, a conference hall, and other amenities.[14]
