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Govt announces high-tech measures for efficiency in MNREGA Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the creation of a biometric database of all workers covered under its flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme and to use it to authenticate work applications, work-site attendance and wage payments. He made the announcement
at a function held to mark five years of the launch of MNREGA. The step is being taken with an aim to decrease the malpractices in the scheme including bogus I-cards, delayed payments and fake payments as was rightly put by the PM, “We hope it will substantially reduce instances of discrimination in work allocation,
biometric cards
egov contract
Andhra Pradesh bags international contracts in e-Governance
Andhra becomes the first state to get biometric authentication cards Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy launched the Aadhar-based smart cards in Maheswaram Mandal, which is about 24 km from Hyderabad. Maheswaram became the first revenue division in the country to use the biometric authentication cards. The CM stated that around 11,000 households in the area are being aimed to be provided with ration on the basis of these cards and it will also be helpful in availing
a number of other welfare schemes and services of the government. According to the State Civil Supplies Minister, D Sridhar Babu, 11,000 households had been identified and brought under the Aadhar smart card scheme. “The biometrics of these families have been captured and these people will be given the cards which will be
Punjab kickstarts UID preparations
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egov / www.egovonline.net / February 2011
Punjab intends to kickstart its massive publicity campaign in the second week of February to join the league of first few states to feed biometrics of its citizens into the server of Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification
useful not only for drawing ration but for arogya sri (health insurance scheme), scholarships (for backward class students) and various other schemes. The government hopes to distribute the cards in the entire state within six to eight months,” D Sridhar Babu said.
Authority of India (UIDAI) by September this year — ahead of the Assembly polls due early next year. Nearly 2,000 biometric machines will be simultaneously pressed into service in all its 20 districts from March-April to
delayed payments and bogus muster rolls.” The Prime Minister also expressed concern over problems in implementation of MNREGA in Naxal-affected areas. He announced that the government will establish a technical unit, comprising a panchayat development officer and a junior engineer, in each gram panchayat.
Andhra Pradesh has finalised agreements with governments of Mauritius, Poland and Israel for transfer of technology related to e-Governance. The state
capture fingerprints and Iris impressions of its estimated population of 2.75 crore for Aadhar, India’s ambitious project to grant a unique 12-digit identification number to its every citizen. Reforming its
government would soon enter into agreements with these countries in this regard, the Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah said.
ration and LPG supply system is the reason why Punjab has made information about the two mandatory in the form to be filled in by citizens. The department, which has already invited ‘request for qualifica-
tion’ bids from firms enlisted with the UIDAI for outsourcing the process of capturing the biometrics of its citizens, has worked out the figures backwards for ensuring that the September deadline is met.
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Multi-purpose National Identity Cards for Orissa fishermen Altogether 36,500 fishermen in 228 coastal villages in Orissa will be provided Multi-purpose National Identity Cards as a preventive measure against infiltration. The exercise is being conducted jointly by
the National Population Registrar (NPR), Ministry of Home Affairs and the state government’s marine fisheries department. The I-cards would provide nationality, professional and legal proof and lead to easy detection of
infiltrators, masquerading as fishermen. “The enumeration and data entry work has ended. Photography and fingerprint biometric work for issue of the National Multipurpose Identity Cards is
on full swing in infiltrationprone coastal Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts,” Assistant Director of Fisheries (Marine) Rabi Narayan Pattnaik, said. The enumerators have gathered information such
tele-medicine
broadband
The SAARC Telemedicine Centre has been established in Kathmandu village. This initiative is a result of the promise made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the 13th SAARC Summit, way back in the year 2005. The centre aims to link all the top institutions in Lucknow and Chandigarh. Nepal’s caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Friday inaugurated the telemedicine centre at Patan Hospital in Lalitpur, set up with an Indian assistance of nearly 4.8 crore Nepalese rupees, under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) project. India is fully funding the project to set up telemedicine network in
The National Broadband plan aims to connect 160 million Indian households with high-speed Internet connections by 2014, as stated by the Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal. The broadband plan would focus on framing a policy that balances consumer affordability and service provider’s economic sustainability. Therefore, additional optic fibre would have to be laid along with leveraging existing wireless infrastructure. Kapil Sibal consulted key stakeholders including telecom regulator TRAI, industry chambers, mobile, internet, cable and PCO service providers and their associations apart from Rail-Tel, Power Grid Corporation and
India-funded telemed centre to link Nepal, Lucknow and Chandigarh
the entire SAARC region as part of the assurance given by Manmohan Singh, a statement by the Indian embassy in Kathmandu said. The Lalitpur telemedicine centre, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for which was signed in 2009, will enable the host institution to receive consultation and Continuing Medical Education (CME) services from select hospitals in SAARC countries. From India, such services
would be provided by the super-specialty Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, and the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh. Nepal has special ties with the Chandigarh institute. Besides the telemedicine centre, a SAARC teleeducation centre is being established at the National Centre for Education Development in Nepal’s Bhaktapur district.
as genealogical order of the family, nativity status and fingerprints of those aged above 18. The Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) is now carrying out photography and related technical jobs.
National Broadband plan to connect 160m homes officials from information and broadcasting ministry on telecom related policy issues. Earlier this month, Sibal announced a 100-day agenda for taking concrete steps towards finalisation of the broadband plan. As per the plan, optical fibre network will be treated as a national resource and will be equally available to concerned stakeholders for providing broadband services. The government aims at inclusive growth through broadband as education, medical treatment and entertainment related applications would be extensively used, besides enabling e-Governance and citizen-centric services particularly in the rural areas.
Nearly 57,000 apply for online registration of shops in Haryana Nearly 57,000 applications have so far been received for online registration of shops and commercial establishments after introduction of e-governance in Haryana’s labour department. The online registration of shops and commercial
establishments under the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958, was launched February last year. “The registration through the net also provided for automatic permission to regulate their own hours of work and weekly off days,
which has been the persistent demand of the traders for some time,” Labour and Employment Minister Mahender Partap Singh
said. Online registration and licensing of factories under the Factories Act was also launched in October last year. He said that development
of self-certification under Factories Act and registration of establishments and workers under Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996, were also in the pipeline and would be launched shortly.
February 2011 / www.egovonline.net / egov
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