SmartGram: An Integrated Digital Governance Framework for Gram Panchayat Services

Gram Panchayats keep citizen records, issue certificates, collect local taxes and handle complaints, but these services are usually supported by separate registers, spreadsheets and applications. This paper presents SmartGram, an integrated digital governance framework that organises Gram Panchayat services as modules of one system with a shared backend and database. A review of work published in 2025 and 2026 identifies six gaps: thin outcome evidence, unverifiable complaints, weak payment-to-bill linkage, rural access and equity, security and access control, and office-level workflows. The proposed design uses a React and TypeScript front end, a Node.js and Express backend, Prisma ORM and a MySQL database. It comprises a four-layer architecture, a logical data model with ten core entities, four algorithms for authentication, complaint registration with live photograph and permission-based location capture, tax calculation and payment verification, a status workflow with permitted transitions, and role-based dashboards. The framework is partially implemented; a requirement-to-test traceability table, representative test cases and evaluation metrics are defined so that outcomes can be measured during a pilot deployment.