Goa Marching Forward: February 2009 Issue

ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON E-GOVERNMENT

INTERVIEW

Rajni Razdan

Goa Marching Forward

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VOLUME 5

| ISSUE 2 | FEBRUARY 2009

w w w. e go v o n lin e. n et

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Secretary, (AR & PG) Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions, Government of India

Curtain Raiser: 12th National Conference on e-Governance, Goa

FEATURE

SPECIAL FOCUS

FEATURE

Politicians Connect Through Blogging

Doctor at your Fingertips

Mobile Penetration Boosts GDP

www.egovonline.net Volume 5 | Issue 2 | February 2009

COVER STORY Goa â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Marching Forward

Sandeep Budki

CURTAIN RAISER

12th National Conference on e-Governance Lekha Kumar, Director, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions, GoI

INTERVIEW

Administrative Reforms: Core Objective

New-Horizon Initiatives

Core Infrastructure Ready by mid 2009

From Business Intelligence to Business Analytics

FEATURE

Politicians Connect Through Blogging

Mobile Penetration Boosts GDP

Sandeep Budki and Tannu Singh

Rajni Razdan, Secretary (AR&PG), Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions, Government of India

Uddipta Ray, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of Goa

A K Srivastava, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of Meghalaya

Sudipta K Sen, CEO, SAS India

Intelligence in Business P K Gopalakrishnan, Sr. VP & Head India Operations, MindTree

Sandeep Budki

SPECIAL FOCUS

Doctor at your Fingertips Nilakshi Barooah

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The beginning of 2009 has been significant, yet full of extremes in the eGovernance and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) arena. On one side, US President Barack Obama is promoting the usage of Internet, on the other hand, we have witnessed the infamous IT giant fraud case courtesy - Satyam. In his endeavour to connect with the masses, Obama plans to pump in investments worth billions of dollars in computerisation of medical records, creation of smarter electrical grids and expanding high-speed Internet access in rural and underserved communities. Also as a matter of fact, Indian government for its e-Governance initiative, is also not leaving any stone unturned in its efforts for connecting the unconnected, which is appreciable in the time of recession. While taking into account the current fiscal scenario, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected a growth rate of over 5 percent for India in 2009 and 2010 instead of the earlier projection of 9 percent. Ironically this is the second highest growth rate in the world, at a time, even, the US is expected to make a negative growth rate in these years to come. As the adage goes, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;every cloud has a silver liningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and India is emerging as a silver lining in the cloud of super economies. In our current issue, we have written about how young and old politicians alike are using Internet through blogging to connect to the masses. Also, debates and deliberations on ICT has often taken into account the shift towards mGovernance. To highlight this aspect, Dr. SMS initiative of the Government of Kerala is one such case study which marks such a shift and adds value by providing health information through mobile phones. This is our special focus this month.

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February 2009

COVER STORY www.goagovt.nic.in

Goa - Marching Forward Goa is today turning into a fast developing economy with a vibrant citizenry that is asserting itself over choices and options of development

oa, the tiny coastal state, was liberated from the shackles of Portuguese rule on December 19, 1961 . Goa rose to become the 25th state in the Indian Union in 1987. Located on the west coast, Goa has a population of close to 14 lakh in an area of around 3600 sq. kms. It has a coastline of around 106 kms. The people worldwide know Goa as a tourists’ paradise blessed by silvery and pristine beaches, historical temples and churches and a place of peaceloving people who cherish communal harmony. Very few would, however, fancy that Goa is today turning into a fast developing economy with a vibrant citizenry that is asserting itself over choices and options of development. In other words, it is slowly but steadily transforming from a long laidback society into a vibrant and dynamic state. As a result, Goa is witnessing a major citizen participation in the local self government process, where people across the State are seen questioning the type of development and the use of State’s scare land and other resources. The State boasts of a very high literacy rate, almost second to Kerala. In terms of per capita income too, the state ranks among the highest.

DEVELOPMENT

Interestingly, Goa has been ranked among the leading states on the developmental scale by national magazines. Goa’s economy is growing at a faster rate than that of the country as a whole. While the rest of the country is growing at around 7 percent, the growth in Goa touched the double digit in 2005 and it is still going strong. Goan economy traditionally hinged on mining, Gulf remunerations and now on service sector mainly tourism. Gulf 6}

remunerations have been on decline in recent times, so too is mining and tourism which are presently facing the pressures of worldwide economic meltdown. Just to throw some light on Goa’s achievements it was ranked the best placed state by the Eleventh Finance Commission for its infrastructure, ranked on top for the best quality of life by National Commission on Population based on the 12 Indicators, placed in top three states in India for high rate of literacy and low rate of infant mortality and declared the second fastest growing state by CRISIL.

For the development in connectivity, Goa Broadband Project will connect each and every Taluka with a high bandwidth of 10Gbps, and each and every Village with 1Gbps and connects each and every house with 10/100 Mbps depending on demand. With this initiatives each and every house will get a connectivity with voice, video and data transfer facilities at an affordable and reasonable cost. INDUSTRIAL POLICY

Goa has been on the lookout to attract investments armed with a pro-active industrial policy, which identified www.egovonline.net

Goal of IT in Goa e-Infrastructure: The government has recognised that the success of IT investments is dependent, to a large extent, on connectivity. e-Governance: The government intends to optimally leverage IT to restructure governmentcitizen interface with the objective of providing good governance. e-Education: Availability of skilled manpower is a prerequisite for promotion of IT sector. Employment Generation: Government also focuses a lot on the employment generation for Goan youth.

biotech, food processing, agro-based industries, IT and IT-enabled services and entertainment sector as core areas of focus. After the State was declared a permanent venue for prestigious International Film Festival of India(IFFI), the entertainment industry led by stateowned Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) is making big strides in bringing to forefront entertainment as a significant revenue generating sector. The moves are on to make it a entertainment hub of international standards. LOOKING FORWARD

Realising the potential of Information Technology (IT) to impact the growth of every sector of the economy, the Goa Government set up the Infotech Corporation of Goa Ltd.(ITG). The mandate of the ITG is to develop ITrelated infrastructure, promote ITenabled services and implement egovernance objectives of the government. It is acting as a single-window agency for IT and ITES units for incentives under the State Government’s IT policy. Government of Goa is also, focusing a lot on the employment for Goan youth since they have an advantage of good English speaking skills which will be required for ITES/BPO Companies. To attract ITES/BPO Companies to start their business in Goa, Government has identified 3 locations for development as IT Parks. Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat, Dona Paula which is developed in an area of around 95 acres; IT Park at Socorro Porvorim will be developed in an area of around 250 acres and IT Retreat, Mandrem. CYBER AGE SCHEME AND TRAINING

The scheme was started during 20022003, under this scheme, government is providing a free computer, printer and UPS at a nominal cost to all 11th standard student. This will not only help student but also makes their family e-Literate. Students will be trained in soft skills, accent and social skills to 8

cater to the BPO industries. This will ensure that every graduate in computer savvy in the next 5 years. An incentive of INR 2000/- per every candidate placed is announced for the same. With 82.3 percent literacy rate and accent on IT education, Goa is striving to becoming a reliable source for competent Human Resources, which will add impetus to the state’s progress. INCENTIVES FOR INVESTMENT IN IT

IT Policy was announced in the official Gazette on 17th November 2005. All incentives made available under the industrial Policy, 2003, to the prospective industries intending to invest in Goa, shall also be applicable to IT and ITES. There is lot of focus of Facilitation of entry of major players. This will be provided to industrial houses among top twenty companies as per NASSCOM annual listing, that intend to open branches or campuses in Goa. Hardware manufacturing is also, a priority sector for the Government. Goa is well suited for hardware manufacturing industry as it has advantage of harbor facility. Government will declare IT Park as Special Economic Zones (SEZ) which would further enable conducive atmosphere for rapid growth of IT/ITES industry. The Government also, plans to l assist incubation of technology-based startups for products and services giving Goa a strategic advantage. In context with skill databases, the state government will encourage and assist the university and other educational organisations to create an online alumni database. A citizen database will also be developed through implementation of Smart Card project.

These databases will serve the IT units in the State in their search for skilled manpower. To boost Goa’s IT plan, government will reimburse the entire amount paid by all registered IT/ITES units that purchase or lease and/or building in the notified IT Park or industrial estates operated by the GIDC towards Stamp duty. Regarding quality power the government will ensure a reliable power supply to IT/ITES units located within notified IT Parks. Necessary investment will be made in the distribution network to ensure reliability and quality of power in the IT Park. IT/ITES units/companies shall be exempt from the purview of statutory power cuts. Incentives to promote research activities are to provide grants and other benefits to units that wish to undertake activities relating to research in cutting edge technologies, particularly in advanced telecommunications area. The proposals for such grants to a maximum of INR 10 Lakh will be considered by the government. Registered IT/ITES units that have completed 5 years of operation in the state will be considered for grant of one ‘Outstanding Contribution Award’ of INR 10 Lakh each year in each category on the basis of objective criteria published by the government. For the Training Institutions Incentives of INR 2000 per candidate will be available to Training Centres/ Institutes who have successfully trained the candidates in the communication/soft skills and thereby have been able to place them in reputed IT/ITES companies for employment. Goa’s Journey on IT road map has just begun. In the coming times Goa is set to become a major IT hub and a name to reckon with in the e-Governance sphere. We hope the right decisions are taken at the right time to make this a reality. Sandeep Budki sandeep@egovonline.net

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INTERVIEW www.darpg.nic.in

Administrative Reforms: Core Objective

Rajni Razdan Secretary, (AR & PG) Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions, Government of India

“

There are several projects across the country that are being supported under ‘Capacity Building for Poverty Reduction’ (CBPR) programme.”

10 }

How does e-Governance contribute to the fulfilment of the mandate of DAR&PG? Give us an overview of the various e-Governance initiatives which has been initiated by your Department. The mandate of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG) is to promote and facilitate administrative reforms, disseminate good practices and handle public grievances. We consider e-Governance projects to be a powerful means in enabling us to fulfil this mandate. As the nodal department for administrative reforms, we take a systems view towards problem solving using technology so as to prevent mere superimposition of technology on existing systems and processes of the government. This I feel is the biggest challenge of my department. It is extremely critical to take a holistic view of reforms and incorporate the e-Governance projects as part of the larger reforms process and to move from individualised e-Governance projects to institutionalised e-Governance processes. DAR&PG is at present spearheading a number of important e-Governance initiatives such as the Public Grievance portal, Governance Knowledge Centre and e-Office - a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). NeGP was jointly formulated and is now also monitored by DAR&PG with Department of Information Technology (DIT), GoI. Also, the DAR&PG along with the DIT, in association with one of the state governments has been organising the National Conference on e-Governance every year since 1997. The 12th National Conference on e-Governance is being organised on 12th &13th of February, 2009 at Goa. The National Conference on e-Governance has been providing a platform for meaningful interaction to policy makers, practitioners, industry leaders and academicians to deliberate, interact and recommend an actionable strategy for good governance and to improve the standard of services rendered to the common man. Every year in this conference, the DAR&PG, presents National Awards for e-Governance to recognise and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives. In addition, DAR&PG funds innovative projects executed by the state governments, a significant number of which pertain to using ICT for improving service delivery. www.egovonline.net

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Could you elaborate on the innovative projects in e- in the portal and by imparting extensive training to grievance Governance being promoted by DAR&PG? handling officers in the use of CPGRAMS. There are several projects across the country that are being supported under ‘Capacity Building for Poverty Reduction’ We are to understand that the Governance Knowledge (CBPR) programme. This innovation fund has been set up Centre Portal has been developed by your Department. wherein state governments can suggest innovative ideas to What is your vision for this portal? improve public service delivery to the poor, and DAR&PG The Governance Knowledge Centre (GKC) was launched provides funds for pilot implementation of the same. We by the Prime Minister during the National Conference of have been pleasantly surprised at the number of interesting Collectors at New Delhi in 2005. The GKC portal design innovative projects which have been sent by the state envisaged two distinct purposes- one, to be a Digital Repository government officers especially those working at the cutting of Good Governance Practices in India and abroad and two, edge. A large number of the projects undertaken have a to function as a knowledge centre to provide information, significant ICT component. In the North-East, in Tripura we expert advice as well as a forum for exchange of views and are using IVRS system for transmission of ideas on governance related issues. It critical nutrition data from ICDS centres is expected that such a forum would from far flung villages to the State HQ provide resources to the practitioners In the times to for prompt action. The information lag which would help them appreciate is expected to be reduced from about nuances of administrative and come, government the two months to almost real-time and management practices and pave the way in Meghalaya we are implementing a for taking up appropriate interventions websites would project that pertains to setting up of to improve governance standards. virtual classrooms for students requiring be the ﬁrst point of During the course of running of the coaching for competitive examinations contact for GKC portal, it has been realised that the and another one making the transactions larger goal of GKC being a knowledge pertaining to the PDS system in state the citizens.” centre which is used as a referral for computerised to enable transparency.. practitioners in government on issues In Southern region, in Tamil Nadu we related to policy and practice has not are funding a large pilot encompassing approx 100 villages yet been fulfilled. It was felt that the knowledge repository of for bringing in Biometric attendance devices at the NREGA the website is still at nascent stage. It was in this context that worksites to reduce the risk of leakages due to doctored muster DAR&PG has decided to collaborate with Centre for Law and rolls and in Karnataka we are funding a project on developing Governance, JNU for managing the site and development of MIS for improving recovery of loans by Rural Housing the content. This would not only provide academic rigour Corporation from BPL families by linking them to income to the material posted on the website but also enable us to generating scheme. In Western region, in Rajasthan we are develop a network of experts who can provide advice to supporting a project of a website for marketing the product the government officers as and when requested. Our vision of Women Self Help Groups and in Gujarat, individual BPL is to develop GKC into a facility which provides first rate families are being tracked for the benefits received by them knowledge resources to government officers in areas of public under various government schemes, through use of ICT. policy and governance. The pilot at Jamnagar tracks the 22,000 BPL families who are targeted through more than 400 government schemes Government websites have increasingly become a useful implemented by more than 40 government departments. It means for the citizens to interact with the government. is a unique exercise of bringing about convergence of the What are your plans in making this linkage even various programmes at the individual household level. stronger? I am of the view that in the times to come, government How is the Public Grievances Portal of DARPG websites would be the first point of contact for the citizens. functioning? A large number of government websites have been published DAR&PG is the nodal department for public grievances in in the cyber space to ensure maximum reach of government Government of India. In order to make the process of grievance information and services to the citizens of India. However, registering, tracking and monitoring simple and transparent, due to varied nomenclatures, layout and content standards as DAR&PG has designed a web based portal (CPGRAMS) for well as use of different navigation strategies in these websites, handling grievances. This portal at present is being used by it was felt that the some standards needed to be prescribed. To a large number of central ministries and their subordinate address this concern, DAR&PG in collaboration with National officers. The receipt of grievances has more than doubled Informatics Centre and DIT, GoI, has developed “Guidelines in 2008 as compared to 2007. In 2008, more that 40,000 for Government of India Websites”. The Guidelines would grievances were received through the CPGRAMS portal. ensure uniformity in the quality, promote consistency, The case disposal rate by the grievance handling officers of citizen-centricity and usability of government websites. These the various ministries linked with the portal has increased Guidelines would be released at the valedictory session of the substantially over last year. The average time for disposal of XII National Conference on e-Governance. cases has come down from 157 days to 41 days. We have Sandeep Budki been able to achieve this through continuous improvements sandeep@egovonline.net 12

www.egovonline.net

CURTAN RAISER www.nceg.gov.in

12 National Conference on e-Governance 12th National Conference on e-Governance is being convened from February 12-13, 2009, under the joint auspices of the DARPG, DIT and Department of IT, Goa

-Governance presents challenges and opportunities to transform the mechanics of government as well as the nature of governance itself. The big challenges are not technological but cultural. The National Conferences on eGovernance have been providing a platform of meaningful interaction to policy makers, practitioners, industry leaders and academicians to deliberate, interact and recommend an actionable strategy for good governance and to improve the standard of services rendered to the common man. The 12th National Conference on e-Governance is being convened from February 12-13, 2009 at Hotel Holiday Inn, Goa, by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Government of India jointly with the Department of Information Technology, Government of India and Government of Goa. At a time when many key technology and management strategies are transforming the way government gathers, shares and gleans knowledge from the explosion of information available to policy makers and practitioners, the 12th National Conference on e-Governance based on the theme “e-Governance: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges”, provides a forum for intensive deliberations on critical issues by the e-Governance community of the country. It would explore how government departments are working collectively to simplify access to public information, ensure the accuracy and privacy of the information they share, and analyze large data repositories to support

14 }

LOOKING BACK

For the last 11 years, the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has been organising the National Conferences on e-Governance in association with the Department of Information Technology and a State Government. At each conference, the attempt is to have a new state partner which has the opportunity to use this forum to showcase its eGovernance initiatives. The cities where the National e-Governance Conference have been held include Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Bhopal and Panchkula. LOOKING FORWARD

actionable decision-making especially at the lowest level of governance in Gram Panchayats and Municipalities. The capacity required for successful and sustainable implementation would also be discussed. The Conference also provides a forum to recognize and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance and to showcase various e-Governances initiative taken by various State Governments. The National Awards on e-Governance distinguish some of the best Government to Government (G2G), Government of Citizen (G2C), Government of Business (G2B) initiatives by various government departments and public sector units. The National Awards are presented at this Conference. An exhibition is also organised at this Conference which provides a forum to showcase best practices, innovative technologies and ICT solutions. The best stall of the exhibition is recognised in the Valedictory Session.

The chief guest for the12th National Conference on e-Governance is H.E. Governor of Goa .He would also be presenting National Award for eGovernance. Keynote address would be delivered by Chief Minister of Goa. The welcome and special address of inaugural session would be given by Chief Secretary, Goa and Secretary, DIT respectively. The Chief Guest of the Valecdictory Session is Minister of State for PMO, Personnel, PG and Pensions who would be delivering the Valedictory Address. Dr. Shashi Tharoor shall be the Special Guest in this Session and would talk about “Governance in Information Age”. A special session has been organized on “Managing Change - Providing Leadership” by Arun Maira, Boston Consulting Group, India for select audience. Other eminent speakers at the of the Conference are: Mr. Ramachandran, Secretary UD, S R Rao, AS, DIT; Dr B.K. Gairola, DG, NIC; Vanu Bose, Vanu Inc, www.egovonline.net

12th National Conference on e-Governance 12-13 February, 2009 | Goa

National Awards for e-Governance 2008-09 WINNERS AWARD CATEGORY Excellence in Government Process Re-Engineering

Exemplary Horizontal Transfer of ICT-based Best Practice

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

Public Distribution System-Online, Dept. of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Govt of Chhattisgarh and NIC

NIOS Online (Ni-On) Project, National Institute of Open Schooling, NOIDA M/o HRD, GoI

e-Gazette, Controller of Printing & Stationery, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh and NIC

e-CITY, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Gujarat

e-Lekha, Controller General of Accounts and AID, CGA

Granting of Patents and Trade Marks Process D/o IP&P & NIC, GoI

e-Krishi-Kiran, Anand, Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat

Outstanding Jaankari, DAR&PG, performance in Citizen- Patna, Govt. of Bihar Centric Service Delivery

Innovative usage of Technology in e-Governance

Sujala Watershed Project, Watershed Development Dept., Govt. of Karnataka

Exemplary Usage of ICT by PSUs

e-Procurement, Industry & Mines Department, Govt. of Gujarat

HIMPOL (Himachal Pradesh Police Web Portal), Police Headquarters, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh Fire Alert And Messaging System, O/o Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Forest Dept., Govt. of Madhya Pradesh

Management Information System (MIS), Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA), Ranchi, Govt. of Jharkhand

Automated Metering Project in MP East DISCOM-Jabalpur Division, Dept. of Energy, Madhya Pradesh

Digital OFS (Order for Supplies) and Excise Permit System Karnataka State Beverages Corporation Ltd, Bangalore

Technology Services; Local Governance: Reaching Services to the Underserved; and Building Capacities, Forging Partnerships. Also, supplementary tracks on Interoperability & Streamlining of Services: Identifying & Mitigating Challenges in establishing Standards and Process Reforms: Issues & Challenges would also be organized by DIT. e-GOVERNANCE COMPENDIUM

JOURNEY SO FAR

Papers from administration, academia and industry are invited on the themes are to be discussed in the plenary sessions during the Conference. All papers received are evaluated and

The National Conference on e-Governance has been a very useful event as it has led to very concrete recommendations/outputs. The concept of e-Governance plan at the national

www.incois.gov.in Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad, M/o Earth Sciences, GoI

www.cityhealthline.org Nagpur Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra

www.panchayat.gov.in National Panchayat Portal, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI and NIC Special Sectoral Award- Tele-opthalmology Project-Vision Center, Focus sector Health Dept. of Health, Govt. of Tripura

Drug Logistics Information and Management System Central Medical Stores Organization, Health & Family Welfare Dept., Govt. of Gujarat

USA; R P Sinha, DMD IT, SBI; D.V.Singh, Additional Secretary, DAR&PG; SS Khan, Income Tax; Tracy Westen, CEO, Center for Governmental Studies, USA; Rajeev Chawla, Government of Karnataka; D.K. Jain, Joint Secretary, Panchayati Raj; Aruna Sundararajan, CEO, CSC Scheme; Shashwat Mishra, Director, Special Projects, Orissa; A.P. Singh, DDG Posts;; K. Raju Principal Secretary PR-AP; Shankar Aggarwal, JS, DIT; Ajay Sawhney, JS Training, DoPT; Ashish Garg, GeSCI; Joan Mc Calla CISCO; and Padamvir Singh, Joint Director, LBSNAA. The Plenary Sessions of the Conference are: Building Assistive 16

AWARDS AN INSIGHT

To recognize and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives, the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India, presents National Awards for e-Governance every year. The purpose of these awards is to recognize achievements in the area of eGovernance, disseminate knowledge on effective methods of designing and implementing sustainable e-Governance initiatives, encourage horizontal transfer of successful e-Governance solutions and promote and exchange experiences in solving problems, mitigating risks, resolving issues and planning for success. The category of awards are Excellence in Government Process Reengineering, Exemplary Horizontal Transfer of ICT-based Best Practice, Outstanding Performance in CitizenCentric Service Delivery, Innovative Usage of Technology in e-Governance, Exemplary Usage of ICT by PSUs, Best Government Website and Sectoral Award (Focus sector for 2008-09: Health). Gold, Silver and Bronze icon are awarded in each category.

e-HUDA-Plots and Property Management, HUDA IT Wing Panchkula, Haryana Best Government Website

winning contributions gets published in a Compendium which is brought out for distribution in this Conference. The Best Paper of this Compendium is awarded in the Valedictory Session of the Conference. The themes of this year’s Compendium are:e-Governance: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges; Building Assistive Technology Services; Local Governance: Reaching Services to the Under-served; Building Capacities, Forging Partnerships; Legal Issues in Process Reforms; Defining e-Governance Standards: Lessons to be learnt; Managing SLAs: Lessons from the past; Putting Governance before ‘e’; Evaluating the Impact; Translating Objectives into Outcomes: Priorities, Challenges & Solutions; and RTI and e-Governance: How to synergize!

Hospital Management Information System Health and Family Welfare Dept., Gandhinagar, Govt. of Gujarat

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Final Papers selected for the Compendium for the 12th National Conference on e-Governance S.No.

Title of the Paper

Knowledge Management by way of Workflow RTI and e-Governance: How to Management System in Government Departments synergize! and proactive sharing of information as per RTI Act 2005

MERComs - Tracking Entitlements of Rural Communities for Livelihood Security in Orissa (BEST PAPER)

Building Assistive Technology Services

Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya Rohit Magotra K Sasikumar Mansingh Durga Prasad Nayak

Gender Evaluation of Rural e-Governance In India: A Case Study of e-Gram Suraj Scheme

Local Governance: Reaching Services to the Underserved

Dr. Anupama Saxena Reader and Head, Department of Political Science, Guru Ghasidas University Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh

Putting Governance before “e”

Dr D.C. Misra, I.A.S. (Retd.), e-Governance Researcher and Consultant

‘Information’ – An essential requisite for successful e-Gov Product: A case study of CIPA Rajasthan

e-Governance: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges

Harsh Dwivedi Deepak Bhargava

Local Government – SHG Partnerships in Kerala: A Unique Approach to Capacity Building

Local Governance: Reaching Services to the Underserved

Dr. Jacob John Director, Kerala Development Society, Delhi

Building an Alternative e-Governance Model: Lessons from e-Gram in Gujarat

Local Governance: Reaching Services to the Underserved

Roshni Kishore Nuggehalli

Integrated E-Muster Implementation for NREGA– Local Governance: Reaching Services to the Underserved A Case Study from Madhya Pradesh

Suniti Gupta, Lateral Praxis, Center Point Niraj Prakash, SAP India Pvt. Ltd. Umesh Gulla, GGS Indraprastha University School of Management Studies

Legislation for e-Government Implementation

Sameer Sachdeva

Dedicated Framework for Process Management of e-Governance: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges e-Governance Projects

Leveraging Technologies for Rural Development: A Case Study of NEMMADI Centres in the Villages of Karnataka

Building Assistive Technology Services

Charru Malhotra Asst Professor, Indian Institute of Public Administration Dr. V.M. Chariar, Asst. Professor, CRDT, IIT-Delhi Prof. L.K. Das, Head, IDDC, IIT-Delhi

Strategic Integration of SWAN, SDC and CSCs (e-DISHA: ESK) – Taking Governance at GrassRoot Level – Haryana Experience

Building Assistive Technology Services

Dharamvir, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt of Haryana Ghanshyam Bansal, SIO-NIC, Haryana

Analysis of One Stop Government Portal : Solving e-Governance: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges Issues of Interoperability and Integration

Sidharth Jain, IIM, Kozhikode N.Krishnadas, IIM, Kozhikode Gaurav Kumar Kalal, IIM, Kozhikode

Rajiv Aarogyasri Community Health Insurance Scheme for the BPL families in Andhra Pradesh

Babu A Vishnu Kumar Gottimukkala Sasi Ganapathy Chetlapalle Sriram

level emerged out of the deliberations of this Conference as it was felt that there is duplication of efforts and expenditure. The idea was to bring several key e-Governance projects under a common umbrella which could share common infrastructure and common philosophy. Similarly the National Institute of Smart Government 18

Author

Theme of the Paper

Legal Issues in Process Reforms

e-Governance: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges

was an output of these Conferences, as it was felt that the competencies of the private sector need to be leveraged by the government. Thus, the deliberations in this event focus on the priorities and challenges facing the nation in the area of e-Governance and have succeeded in identifying actionable strategies for resolving them.

Suresh Chanda, IAS, Secretary, IT&C Department,Govt of AP Ganta Jacob Victor, Joint Director (e-Governance), IT&C Dept., Govt of AP

Ashok Kumar Hota Ashis Kumar Mahapatra Niladri Bihari Mohanty

Lekha Kumar Director (e Governance) Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions Government of India

www.egovonline.net

INTERVIEW www.goagovt.nic.in

New-Horizon Initiatives Goa has a huge coastal line and prone to natural calamity. What are the disaster management measures being taken to tackle it? Fortunately, despite having a long coast-line and being a part of Western Ghat range, no major natural calamity has struck Goa. However, the state has recently put in place the state and District Disaster Management Plans. Since ‘time’ is a critical factor in all disaster related activities, the State has already initiated consultations to introduce IT in three specific areas of management of inventory in the district (to ensure preparedness); flow of information from village to state level (to reduce time-gap and ensure reliability in event of a disaster); and settlement of claims/rehabilitation (to mitigate sufferings). Under the state-owned Goa Broad Band Network (GBBN) Optical Fibre Cables (OFC) have already been laid to provide connectivity to 189 Village Panchayats, 143 Lok Seva Kendras, all talukas and district headquarters with the state portal. GBBN connecting 802 different government offices at various levels will facilitate all disaster related activities.

Uddipta Ray Secretary - IT, Government of Goa

“

Government of Goa through Tourism Department has already set up surveillance cameras on beaches in order to enable monitoring of the tourist in Goa”

February 2009

Fully wired broadband network was launched in Goa early last year. What is the development so far? What are the key learnings? Government of Goa has launched the Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) on December 27, 2007 to demonstrate the capability of network by way of inaugurating video conferencing facility. The network has reached taluka level and village panchayats covering geographical area of around 750 kilometers with underground Optical Fibre Cables (OFC). The Network will be used as a communication medium for Government to Government (G2G), Government to Business (G2B), Government to Citizen (G2C) services and other departments. Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) would help in providing connectivity to the various government departments where the development of software has been undertaken with a focus to deliver 40 different Citizen Centric Services in 1st phase, to people of Goa through Lok Seva Kendras. These Kendras will deliver the G2B and G2C services to the people of Goa. 19

Major e-Governance projects in the pipeline for the year 2009 • • • • • • • • •

Surveillance Asset Management Geographical Information System (GIS) IT Knowledge Centre State Portal & State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) Cyber Treasury and On-line payment of Government dues Centralised Personal Information System (PIS) for all the Government Employees and Intra-Portal for Government Employees Integrated Border check-posts management Gap Infrastructure Project (last mile connectivity)

Being a new-horizon initiative, Goa has been in the process of learning a lot from the teething troubles and is at present carrying out a series of mid course corrections with the help of experts so as to make this a more effective and efficient endeavour. Goa was not a part of the on going Common Service Centres (CSCs) project under NeGP . What are your comments? Government of Goa has initiated a state-run project named Integrated Information Infrastructure Project comprising of State Data Centre, Single Official Portal and Integrated Citizen Service Centre (ICSC). Since Goa government has

already initiated Common State Centres (CSCs) Project, so Goa government was not a part of CSC under NeGP of the Central Government. Through CSCs project, government has aimed onestop-shop channel to provide various (Government/NonGovernment) services to the citizens. Government of Goa has already planned to set up 208 CSCs across Goa for delivering various G2C, B2C services. Currently, 28 CSCs are operational providing various B2C services. Fifteen of the first forty G2C services of Phase I will be launched shortly, as soon as connectivity to all the CSCs is completed. Goa is the hub of tourism, how is Information and Communications Technology (ICT) being implemented for fostering security in the state? What are the key initiatives? A major responsibility of the government is to provide safety and security for its citizens and its assets, especially in this environment of increased security and terrorism threats in the country. In this regard, the Government of Goa has already planned to build a comprehensive surveillance system for enhancing safety and security of citizens, for which work has already commenced. Government of Goa through Tourism Department has already set up surveillance cameras on beaches in order to enable monitoring of the tourists in Goa. Also, Government of Goa is in process of expanding surveillance system across the state, starting with the integrated border check-posts. Nilakshi Barooah nilakshi@egovonline.net

2008, The year gone by ... 20

www.egovonline.net

INTERVIEW www.ditmeghalaya.gov.in

Core Infrastructure Ready by mid 2009

A K Srivastava Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of Meghalaya

“

We are now in a dialogue with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to provide high speed broadband connectivity to all the 225 CSCs through Wi-MAX network as soon as possible”

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In the last year, what is the overall progress in terms of implementing the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in Meghalaya? Under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), the state is presently focusing on implementing the core components viz. State Wide Area Network (SWAN), Common Services Centres (CSCs) and State Data Centre (SDC), with an eye on developing some citizen-centric applications under mission mode on fast track, whilst simultaneously building capacity to handle the NeGP. During last one year, substantial progress has taken place in putting in core infrastructure as indicated below: We have just achieved financial closure of the SWAN project and we are hoping that the successful bidder i.e. ORG Informatics Ltd would start mobilising its team and take up the required steps in right earnest. We expect to complete the project by the set timeline of June, 2009. Regarding CSCs, we have identified 225 CSCs in all 7 districts of the state. So far, we are on schedule and as many as 35 CSCs have been set up. The Service Centre Agency (SCA) is Basix from Hyderabad and we hope to complete the setting up of all centres by June, 2009. Also the draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for SDC has been completed and we expect that the same should be floated by February, 2009 and our aim is to ensure the financial closure by June, 2009. Apart from this, the other aspects of NeGP such as State e-Governance Mission Team (SeMT), Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and Capacity Building (CB) in Meghalaya are also been undertaken. SeMT in Meghalaya has been formed and a group from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has been inducted as part of the team. A few departments have been selected for taking up Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and the SeMT is interacting with them on a regular basis to get things moving. A few of the MMP Departments like Agriculture, Police, Urban departments have formed their Project eGovernance Mission Teams (PeMT’s). The SeMT is also drawing up plans for conducting Capacity Building programmes under NeGP. www.egovonline.net

Earlier this year your Government had invited bids for the Meghalaya State Wide Area Network (SWAN) on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. What is the response for the same? When do you think the project will be fully functional? We have received four bids and we have completed the bidding process recently. It is expected that the Letter of Intent (LOI) would be issued soon and the agreement would follow up in the month of January, 2009. We expect that the SWAN would be functional in a period of six months time. What is the status of implementation of the 225 CSCs being planned in your state? Till date, 35 CSCs have been opened and we expect that the total roll out for the project would be completed by June, 2009. We are now in a dialogue with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to provide high speed broadband connectivity to all the 225 CSCs through Wi-MAX network as soon as possible. At present the connectivity is made available through Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) technology. Meghalaya boasts a rich English Speaking and educated population. How do you plan to tap this potential for eGovernance in the State? Many of the state’s youth who are interested in ICT-related jobs are already in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) / Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) sector all over the country. IT Department continues to impart training / sponsor trainings on ICT to our local youth. Also, training & capacity building for Government employees is going ahead on a regular basis and going to be enhanced in a more systematic way by the SeMT. It has been observed that Government employees pick up ICT trainings very quickly, because of their English education background. This would reduce the time-gap in imparting trainings for implementation of e-Governance initiatives. We are already in a partnership with Symantec Inc from Singapore for conducting educational programmes to our youths and the programmes have been received well by

February 2009

the participants. They are aimed at enhancing the skills of the youths who are seeking placement in the Industry. Moreover, the DOEACC courses with special focus on ‘Women’ is also conducting programmes on a regular basis for empowering the trainees with special skills to enhance their employability in the job market. We have observed that negative bidding is becoming a trend in acquiring government tenders. What are your comments? It is a fact that we are seeing a lot of negative bidding in the IT sector. Perhaps, it is an indication that the revenue models envisaged are a viable option and the bidders are comfortable with revenue plan. It is also an indication that the PPP model in this sector is likely to be successful with a win-win situation for all. Briefly tell us what is the agenda for the next couple of years in terms of e-Governance implementation? We expect that bid processes for most of the NeGP components such as SWAN and SDC should be completed by mid of the year 2009, and roll-out of these components should start by the autumn of 2009. The State Portal (SP) and State Services Delivery Gateway (SSDG) implementation is also expected to take off very soon and we are one of the states who is actively pursuing in this agenda. Within the next year, it is also expected that the MMP departments would have initiated and rolled out their back-end computerisation in full swing. The road map for e-Governance activities has been drawn and it is clearly envisaged that with the SWAN, CSC, SDC, SSDG and SP in place, e-Governance applications and benefits will soon be a reality for the citizens of Meghalaya. We expect to leverage our strengths and ensure that all citizens in the state reap the benefits of the e-Governance initiatives and ensure a clean, transparent and responsive administration. Nilakshi Barooah nilakshi@egovonline.net

4 Tracks 40 Countries 100 Thematic Sessions 200 Companies 5000 Delegates

5th

India's Largest ICT Event INDIA

INDIA

2009

August 2009 | New Delhi, India Organisers

Co-organiser

Department of Information Technology Ministry of Communications & IT Government of India

knowledge for change

Supporting Partners

Previous partners of egov India

速

eINDIA 2009 is a unique platform for knowledge sharing in various domains of ICT for development and facilitates multi-stakeholder partnerships and networking among governments, industry, academia and civil society organisations of different countries, including India. The objective is to bring together ICT experts, practitioners, business leaders and stakeholders of the region onto one platform, through keynote addresses, paper presentations, thematic workshops and exhibitions.

INDIA

2009

Will have the strong participation from

For Sponsorship and exhibition enquiry, contact: Gautam Navin (+91-9818125257), gautam@csdms.in Debabrata Ray (+91-9899650692), debabrata@csdms.in For paper submission, contact: Nilakshi Barooah (+91-9911142973), nilakshi@egovonline.net

www.eINDIA.net.in

FEATURE FEATURE

Politicians Connect Through Blogging The idea of using the Internet as a platform for political communication, Governance and for election campaign is gaining Popularity among Politicians

W www.bara

ckobama

www.kashmir-truth-be-told.blogspot.co

blog.lkadvani.in

www.mypopkorn.com/ blog/lalu-prasad-yadav

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.com

ith Barack Obama’s e-Governance agenda the movement from a so-called ‘manufactured consent’ in a government centric democracy, to an environment of an ‘enabled-consent’ in a citizencentric democracy, seems round the corner for the citizenry of America. Infact even the buildup towards his presidency i.e. in his presidential campaign Obama gave enough of proof of being firmly resolved to use IT for creating an e-Democracy. For example as per the reports on www.barackobama.com, more than 280,000 people created accounts, users created over 6,500 grassroots volunteer groups and organised more than 13,000 offline events using the website and over 15,000 policy ideas were submitted through the website. Obama has built a treasure database of more than 10 million supporters. And now that Obama is in White House already, his most important aim is to transform this YouTubing-Facebookingtexting-Twittering grass-roots organisation that has put Obama in the White House in the first place, into an instrument of government. Its a call for people who fought for change during the campaign to continue fighting for change in their communities in a new era of e-Governance. Towards the same a new group known as

the ‘Organising for America’ is being contemplated. The new group will work within the Democratic National Committee - led by Virginia Governor, Tim Kaine - to advance the Obama agenda through building a grassroots support for the administration’s agenda. The main agendas of this new group would be to integrate citizens into the actual business of government using a number of measures like making government data available online in universally accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action in their own communities; and lifting the veil from secret deals in Washington with a web site, a search engine, or other web tools that enable citizens to easily track online federal grants, contracts, earmarks, and lobbyist contacts with government officials. INDIAN SIDE

Now even Indian politicians are going hi-tech- mobile, SMS and now blogs. Lal Krishna Advani, the 81-year-old prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is the lattest entrant in the blogosphere. In his first post, Advani had said he had launched the blog after accepting “the compelling logic” of his “younger colleagues” who told him that “a political portal without a blog is like a letter without a signature”. The blog (blog.lkadvani.in) is part of a portal (lkadvani.in) created by the BJP. In his blog he ahd said, “I am excited by the idea of using the Internet as a platform for political communication and, especially, for election campaign.” www.egovonline.net

It has come to my notice that most of the comments are related to the functioning of Railways, where people have pointed out various deﬁciencies in the services.We are studying all the suggestions and will try to implement them” Lalu Prasad Yadav Admitting that he was “technologyagnostic”, he said: “My philosophy in this matter is simple: anything that works, deserves to be welcomed.” In some sections on media it has also been written that Advani who is a selfacclaimed ‘technology-agnostic’ has gone to the extent that now google searches on Congress, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati and even Obama show sponsored links to Advani’s website. Can there be better example of using an opponent’s strength to one’s own advantage than this, in an era of e-Governance? In the blogsphere Advani is not a lone politician from India. He is in the company of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad; Jammu & Kashmir’s new Chief minister Omar Abdullah; and Sachin Pilot, Member of Parliament from Rajasthan. While Abdullah stopped blogging after being heckled and abused by visitors, Prasad’s is going slow on blogging . Omar was hurt over a “heap of personal abuse” Omar while bidding adieu to blogging, which he started in April wrote for the last time , “This blog was supposed to be about the serious, frivolous, happy and sad, the important and the completely pointless but somewhere along the way it lost its character.” He said after almost 42 posts and more than 900 comments he was signing off. ov

February 2009

“Those of you who found this a convenient place to abuse are welcome to keep posting comments. They won’t be seen by anyone else but you will certainly feel like heroes and if not then go get your own blogs and try your luck there - may be, someone who will read what you have to say,” he said. Omar further wrote, “We truly are a bunch of intolerant people, who want to be heard but don’t have the strength to hear. We want to have an opinion but don’t believe anyone else is entitled to one.” He also said he was going back to being an old school politician. “You can read what I think in the newspapers.” From the clique of young politicians, even Sachin Pilot, can now be reached out on his facebook account. If you are lucky and he adds you to his friends list, then that creates another very convenient avenue for general public to reach out to their political leaders of today who are not only adopting e-Governance on paper, but are also putting it in practise on a day-today basis. Just in case if anyone is interested in dates 25th July, 2008 was the last time when Lalu posted on the blog but he has promised to get back to active

I want to be in touch with people. I would make sure that I see every comment, every complaint myself. I will write a blog on the website as well” Omar Abdullah blogging soon. Now a little bit of history Lalu Yadav said to a newspaper that he planned to take up blogging after one of his friends from the media suggested him to do so. Lalu said it was pointed out to him how blog helps in connecting immediately with the general public and receiving feedbacks. As far as feedbacks

go, Lalu’s blog has been receiving them in huge numbers. Guess what! A lot of them are complaints regarding the Indian Railways, some are blessing and good wishes whereas few others are uncomplimentary too. In is blog he has thanked all those who have posted their comments on his blog. He said, “I thank all of you for the

I am excited by the idea of using the Internet as a platform for political communication and, especially, for election campaign” L K Advani response. It has come to my notice that most of the comments are related to the functioning of Railways, where people have pointed out various deficiencies in the services. We are studying all the suggestions and will try to implement them.” To all those who want to know about his personal life, he said, “I would like to tell them that it is like an open book. Through my blog posts I will be telling all of you about it, my family background, about my old attire and my present attire. I will also be talking about the turnaround of Indian Railways that was incurring losses during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule.” In his blog (www.mypopkorn.com) he has written on the Gujjar agitation demanding six percent reservation and according of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to its community. Known for not mincing his words, Lalu is at his candid best as he singles out Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for her handling of the Gujjar stir. Lalu also wants out to reach out to younger audience by means of blogging. I guess , we all can look forward to fireworks in his forthcoming blogs. Sandeep Budki and Tannu Singh sandeep@egovonline.net 27

INTERVIEW www.sas.com

From Business Intelligence to Business Analytics

Sudipta K Sen MD and CEO, SAS India

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

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How do you think Business Intelligence can foster transparency in the government system? Are there any key learnings you would like to share with us? Today with changing global, economic, political, environmental situations; government systems need to be effectively and efficiently aligned in order for it to optimise, while meeting the needs of external and internal constituents. With changing national and international dynamics, government today needs to stay agile, move beyond reactive decision making to pro-active decision making and to make better and faster strategic decisions. They constantly need to remain foresighted. To develop a strategy for constant innovation, optimisation and transformation, government needs to move beyond Business Intelligence and embrace the power of Business Analytics. Business Analytics not only empowers government organisations to deliver insight to the right people, at the right time and in the appropriate form but helps move beyond what was and what is to what will be, should be and can be. Business Analytics provide a flexible and extensible set of business interfaces to their information and supporting services, turning the information that has been collected and enriched into intelligence that they can be quickly act on. With functioning at a state or national level and responsibility towards its citizens, government departments have to ensure sanctity of information to foster transparency through out. Your company has provided several applications for various departments of the government. How has been your experience so far? SAS solutions like Performance Management, Activity-Based Management, Forecasting and Predictive Analytics, Data Quality and Integration, Financial Intelligence, Citizen Intelligence are being effectively used by government bodies across the globe. Some of our global customers are US Census Bureau, Department of Commerce and Treasury, Centre for Disease control and prevention, Public Service Commission, Prisons and Constabulary and Bureau of Internal Revenue. www.egovonline.net

Various government departments in India like Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC), Ministry of Health use our advanced analytical solutions to analyse complicated data and to unearth hidden relationships in vast data volumes which would help in building an effective and efficient Decision Support System capable of providing analytical and timely information to various stakeholders. Some of the key growth drivers for government organisation to embrace Business Analytics solutions include: • Managing information explosion • Managing citizen expectations • Increasing transparency • Avoiding tax evasion and minimising fraud Business Analytics is emerging to be a strategic area of investment within the government organisation as it allows them to transform citizen data in to meaningful intelligence to manage citizen expectation and thereby strengthen service delivery to them. It helps unearth areas of tax evasion, thereby increase revenue. Looking at historical data and trend, it is also possible to do predictive modeling which can be a great business driver for ministry of commerce, agriculture etc. At every level of transactions, there is a constant need for the government to ensure public value efficiency, accountability and transparency. The main drivers that ensure this are: Tighter Strategic and Tactical planning; Faster, agile and event driven decision making; Reporting and Compliance; Analytics that focus on “how well” rather than “how much” and Improved performance and effectiveness impact. What is your USP in the e-Governance sphere vis-a-vis your competitors? SAS’s integrated Business Analytics framework helps governments get consistent, accurate and intelligent information for policy and decision making. SAS platform helps governments gather information/ data from multiple statewide systems consolidate and monitor the same, convert this information in to intelligence by analytics and forecasting, thereby giving them a comprehensive view of the national policies and state of affairs. SAS enables government organisation to mark accurate fact based decisions thereby further strengthening the effectiveness. Designed for complex IT environments, the SAS solution is both scalable and flexible, which suits the evolving needs of government organisations, regardless of size or structure. With SAS, the insights you gain enable proactive management and informed decision making, resulting in

February 2009

reduced uncertainty, precise predictions and improved overall performance. In the current volatile market scenario, are you betting big on the government vertical? Government vertical is large and challenging. Unlike in any other industry, where you have liberty to choose your customer, government organisations needs to serve the whole populace, not just the good, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens. Mix into this the potential for genuine errors, process failures and delays, and the environment is such that avoidable losses go undiscovered and unrecovered. One of the greatest assets we have available for arresting these losses is the ability to make sense of the reservoirs of intelligence and meaning within the even bigger repositories of raw data that underpin the day-to-day business of government. Intelligence allows us to spot poorly designed processes, hidden relationships within data and the faint traces left by even the best fraudsters so that service can be improved. We are pleased with the governments focus on using IT for improving service delivery to citizens which we believe they would be successfully executing against their stated goals. We believe it is important for industry to raise the level of awareness of deploying Intelligent IT infrastructure which can further accelerate the required transformation. What are your plans for the year 2009 with reference to e-Governance? Results-oriented, citizen-centric and reform-minded have become a mandates and rather than just rhetoric. The government needs to efficiently and effectively speed information and services delivery to the public. It is important for Indian e-Government initiatives to not only provide ‘access to information’ to citizens but engage citizens meaningfully for intelligent interactions. This requires clear understanding of who the citizen is and what relationships he has with multiple government organisations. We see a great opportunity for SAS in working with government organisation in order to equip them with required intelligent infrastructure which can take e-Government from ‘Information Access stage’ to ‘Intelligent Interaction stage’ with citizens. We are excited by the opportunity presented by this sector. We have a focused strategy of working closely with the government and enable them with required intelligent infrastructure so that they can take fact based decisions. SAS’s decades of experience in working closely with this segment coupled with industry backed solutions, positions it ideally to serve this segment. Tannu Singh tannu@egovonline.net

FEATURE FEATURE www.icrier.org

Mobiles Penetration Boosts GDP There are important network effects which magnify the economic impact of mobiles on development when the level of mobile penetration exceeds a critical mass of around 25 percent

obile telephony which started nearly 15 years ago in India has almost changed the communication landscape. This is quite evident from the the latest research which says increased penetration of mobile technology has contributed to higher and more inclusive economic growth. A report titled India: The Impact of Mobile Phones published by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and funded by Vodafone Group, states that Indian states with high mobile penetration can be expected to grow faster than those states with lower mobile penetration rates. The growth would be 1.2 percent a year more on average for every 10 percent increase in the penetration rate. The report further states that there are important network

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effects which magnify the economic impact of mobiles on development when the level of mobile penetration exceeds a critical mass of around 25 percent. This finding underlines the urgency of increasing teledensity across all states and especially in those numerous areas of India that are yet to reach this threshold level. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If Biharâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mobile penetration rates were similar to those of Punjab, for example, then it would enjoy a growth rate that is 4 percent higher than its current rate,â&#x20AC;? said professor Rajat Kathuria, who led the research team. Access to mobile telecommunications

is certainly not the only thing that matters to economic growth. In this regard, the research also highlights the vital importance of complementary skills and other infrastructure. Unless these are in place, the full potential of better access to telecommunications

www.egovonline.net

will not be realised. Report says, there is no benefit in farmers knowing the prices that their produce could be sold for in different markets if the roads are too poor for them to be able to transport the goods to those other markets. While some parts of India are clearly reaping the benefits of access to telecommunications, other parts are still lagging behind. The recent growth in telecommunication connections in India, which has topped 10 million per month in 2008, is a reality but there are some pitfalls also. Teledensity in India (31 percent) still lags well behind most other countries at similar stages of development like China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka which have achieved significantly superior penetration rates of 77 percent, 60 percent and

“If Bihar’s mobile penetration rates were similar to those of Punjab, then it would enjoy a growth rate that is 4 percent higher than its current rate”

61 percent respectively. Also, there is enormous variation within India, and many of the less developed states have average penetration rates of well below 20 percent, which includes Bihar, UP, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Assam. The level of access to the Internet remains persistently low across the whole country (at about 5 percent) and in less developed states it is virtually non-existent, for example 0.1 percent in Bihar and 0.2 percent in Assam. The report shows how putting a mobile in the hands of an individual is unlikely by itself to improve that person’s livelihood. But when it is associated with education on agricultural techniques and tools, as well as with better roads and storage, easier access to information through telephony can infact become very valuable. Perhaps it is obvious that there also needs to be investment in other, complementary, infrastructure, but the impact of this interaction between telecommunications and other infrastructure in a developing country may have previously been underestimated. Poverty ultimately needs to be alleviated by improved labour productivity. Mobile telephony has an important role to play because it provides a means for the exchange of information and learning, but it is only one element in the process of productivity growth. For example, 60 percent of the working population in India is engaged in agriculture and the barriers to raising agricultural productivity gains, go far beyond communications access. Sandeep Budki sandeep@egovonline.net

February 2009

SPECIAL FOCUS www.itmission.kerala.gov.in

Doctor at your Fingertips Dr. SMS is an innovative G2C Service for providing health care through a SMS in Kozhikode, Kerala

magine you are in the midst of a heart attack! But you will survive, if you happen to be in Kozhikode, Kerala. Thanks to Dr. SMS, for its prompt service at your finger tips. Dr. SMS is not a doctor emerging out of your mobile phone, but a SMS service which will definitely help you reach the nearby hospital in town. Dr. SMS is an innovative way of providing health care information system through a SMS. This service was launched early in 2008, in Kozhikode city of the South Indian state of Kerala. An excellent example of Government to Citizen services in the health sphere, the magic number – 9446460600 provides information on the availability of hospitals, medical centres, facilities and doctors in the designated area, that the sender wants to know. Speaking to egov Dr. Ajay Kumar, Secretary – Information Technology, Government of Kerala said, “This information based service help people contact the hospital concerned through their mobile phone as soon as an emergency arises”. All a person is required is to text the pin code of the locality, where he / she needs the information for. And they receive the information promptly via a return SMS. Bridging the digital divide has been the prime moto of all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives and projects. With India adding millions of mobile subscriptions every month and heading towards meeting the 500 million mark by 2010, mobile device is all set to become the all in one gadget. Right from paying electricity bills to booking bus and railway tickets, mobile phones holds the ability for further value additions as when and when required. Today, it is not rare to see a rickshaw puller or

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the daily wager to carry a mobile hand set. Tapping such wide popularity of the mobile device the Dr. SMS project is definitely a great move towards providing value added services on a mobile phone. It also marks an innovative way of a shift towards mGovernance. DR. SMS @ KOZHIKODE

Currently, Dr. SMS service is available in Kozhikode (Calicut) which is the

third largest city in Kerala with a population of approximately 20 lakhs. Kozhikode is the ‘chosen one’ for this project because it has the highest rates of mobile penetration in the state. The city has a huge migrant population and also attracts a large number of tourists every year. Dr. Kumar said, “Mobile phone is more affordable to people compared to the Internet facility – this fact again ensures the reach and success of a project like Dr SMS among www.egovonline.net

the public, be it tourists, migrant population or the resident population”. The service acts like a first aid kit for any health emergency for the large number of tourists who are on the move in the town and are not aware of the whereabouts of the place. In the event of an emergency, people can contact the hospital concerned through their mobile phone. This helps the hospital authorities prepare the emergency room as per the requirements as well as to mobilise the resources like specialist doctors and specialised equipment to take care of the emergency. Moreover, the database created for Dr SMS can also be used for micro-level planning for ensuring an equitable geographic distribution of facilities. Given its novelty, the project has managed to get an average of approximately 200 transactions on a day to day basis. ROLE OF KERALA GOVERNMENT

The Government of Kerala has taken a laudable step in creating this value added service for its people. Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Kumar stated, “Presently, the cost of SMS sent to the user is being borne by the Government”. Even though there is no tie up with any of hospitals for this project, the project claims a credible and a sound database on hospitals and emergency health services which was based on a large data from the Health Infrastructure Survey, conducted by the National

INSIGHT • • • •

Target Audience: Tourists, Migrants and Resident population Pilot Project: Kozhikode Services Available: Information on the availability of hospitals, medical centres, facilities and doctors Other cities in the pipeline: Kannur, Kasargode and Thrissur

Commission on Macro economics and Health (NCMH), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. This survey extensively uses data on all medical facilities across all the districts of the state. Dr. Kumar added, “The validity of the data was ensured during the preparation of the database”. PARTNERING WITH BSNL

Dr. SMS is a success story in Kerala and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has played a significant role in it. The services provided for Dr. SMS at affordable and cost effective rates has indeed made the services popular among the masses. At present, the customer who uses the service is charged an amount of 40 paise per SMS. The Government of Kerala has taken the onus of taking care of the cost of the return-SMS delivered to the users. IN THE PIPELINE

With the success of the Dr. SMS project in Kozhikode, there are plans for replicating the model in all other cities of the state. Speaking about such plans, Dr. Kumar further reiterated that “The pilot project was implemented in

COST STRUCTURE OF DR. SMS PROJECT • • •

Monthly rent for the SMS SIM = INR 225/month + service tax. Free outgoing SMS provided/month = 2000 numbers. Additional SMS charge = 5 paise/SMS irrespective of any service providers within LSA and 40 paise/SMS outside LSA.

February 2009

Kozhikode and is easily accessible to more than 20 lakhs people residing in the district. The services of Dr SMS will be available to the residents of Kannur, Kasargode and Thrissur within a few months”. Expanding the scope of the project, there are also plans for making it a umbrella service through the various mediums of information distribution delivery outlets such as portals and the integrating of spatial data and GIS, apart from the existing SMS service. There are also plans for making provisions to receive the details of the medical services on email or as an SMS to the user’s mobile device. Further talking about the future plans of making the model sustainable, Dr. Kumar added that, “We are also in the process of identifying a SMS aggregator which would help us provide this service on a sustainable basis to subscribers of any mobile service provider’s network”. It is hoped that once the project is rolled out across the state, it will benefit the 3 crore population of Kerala. The state promises the best delivery of such digital technology given its high rates of mobile penetration which is even higher than that of the national average of India. With such high levels of commitment of addressing the digital divide, Kerala is not only the front runner in the e-Governance map of India, but also embarking on a path of m-Governance. Nilakshi Barooah nilakshi@egovonline.net

NEWS GUJARAT TO GET SMS ALERTS FOR PAYING PROPERTY TAX Gujarat will soon be getting reminders on mobile for paying professional or property taxes. The mobile governance by the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) aims to reach citizens for giving out important SMS alerts on property tax, professional tax, renewal of licenses such as food, shops and establishment and drugs. The corporation is building a huge database of the mobile phone users in the city. The data will then be sorted out under different heads such as property tax, professional tax etc. and then the SMS alert system

BMC LAUNCHES MOBILE TAX PAYMENT SERVICES

will be created. The service is scalable and is intended to be used as a two-way communication services channel between the corporation and citizens.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) has launched a new mobile payment scheme which enables citizens to pay property tax by sending an SMS to 57575. The service got activated on January 1, 2009. The civic body has also initiated as part of its e-governance plans, a citizens’ portal and Itz Cash outlets, to make payment easier for citizens. An Itz Card, which acts like a pre-paid mobile card and has a ﬁxed balance, can be used to pay property tax and water dues up to INR 20 thousand.

INDIAN RAILWAYS INTRODUCES MOBILE HELPLINE

m-GOVERNANCE FOR VILLAGES

The Indian Railways has introduced a ‘Mobile Helpline’ which will enable anywhere and anytime enquiry for its users. The scheme enables availability of Vigilance Ofﬁcials of Indian Railwayson a 24x7 service. Rrailway passengers can lodge their complaints of bribery/ corruption against railwaymen on the Mobile Helpline No. 155210. It is said that wherever possible, action is taken on real time basis for redressal of the grievances of the passengers. The Indian Railway authorities have mentioned that the initial response to the facility is encouraging.

Reliance Communication, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group company, which is already working with the West Bengal government to provide various e-Governance services is soon expected to launch similar e-Governance and m-Governance services in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar as well. These m-Governance services launched will allow the rural folks to communicate with agricultural experts; obtain information about the fertiliser; ﬁnd out the prices of various agricultural products in nearby mandis; weather report; as well as serve as local helplines for various requirements. The company is also developing local applications including group messaging to facilitate panchayats and district level bodies to disseminate information of local importance to rural people.

TELE-DENSITY REACHES 33.23% MARK Total 10.66 million telephone connections (Wireline and Wireless) have been added during December 2008 as compared to 10.18 million connections added in November 2008. The total number of telephone connections reaches 384.79 million at the end of December 2008 as compared to 374.13 million in November 2008. With this growth, the overall teledensity has reached 33.23% at the end

34 }

of December 2008 as against 32.34% in November 2008. The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & WLL(F)) base stood at 346.89 million at the end of December 2008. A total of 10.81 million wireless subscribers have been added during the month of December 2008 as against 10.35 million wireless subscribers added during the month of November 2008.

www.egovonline.net

INTERVIEW www.mindtree.com

Intelligence in Business

P K Gopalakrishnan Senior Vice-President and Head, India Operations, MindTree

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

India certainly is an emerging market for BI tools and we believe this would be the next big application, as most of the enterprises have completed their ďŹ rst and second wave of automationâ&#x20AC;?

February 2009

Tell us about the business intelligence solutions provided by MindTree. Do you think India has an emerging market for it? Business Intelligence (BI) practice in MindTree is a 450 member strong consulting cum implementation practice. We work with most of the software product vendors like SAP, SaS, Oracle and Informatica. We have developed our own framework called RUBIC for business intelligence applications. We have 40 odd customers from the Fortune 500 list spanning various verticals like banking, capital markets, manufacturing, insurance and retail. Our approach is consulting led and we help architect the right frameworks to enable customers get intelligent information out of their data. MindTree also has very good expertise in providing statistical analysis. Our work is in the area of customer management, master data management, supplier spend analytics. India certainly is an emerging market for BI tools and we believe this would be the next big application, as most of the enterprises have completed their first and second wave of automation. Manufacturing and Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) seem to be two big verticals apart from government which can leverage the power of BI tools. Government particularly today has huge data and statistics on citizens, landholdings, health care and education. Data available in multiple locations can be intelligently mined to support informed decision making. We see a good scope for the Indian customers to use BI frameworks. MindTree has storage services under its Research and Development vertical. In this regard, are you betting big on the government for its data centres? We have not been empanelled in the central government programme for data centres. However, we do have a fledgling practice for consulting on data centre design to operate and manage. We will be looking forward to participating in some of the consulting opportunities in the near future. What are the projects MindTree is undertaking in various government departments of the country? We have been active in the domestic government space for the last two years only and have done consulting assignments for few state governments. This includes consulting for Government of Rajasthan for the e-Mitra project, which looks at citizen service centres as delivery channel for many of the government services. 35

In light of the current security crisis in the country, how do you think critical government data can be safeguarded? We believe government is looking at this ab initio and holistically. There are multiple dimensions to this - aspect of awareness, training and self control by the users which need to be overemphasised as they are most critical. Well designed security policy and control procedures are essential. Regular self and third party audits are required to make sure processes are being controlled. I think Government should also build in-house capability in every vertical.

selection of right implementing agencies, timely implementation • Business Intelligence (BI) practice in MindTree of projects and participation and is a 450 member strong consulting cum commitment of the end user. implementation practice Also leadership, capacity • We have developed our own framework called building and change RUBIC for business intelligence applications management in end user • Our approach is consulting led and we help organisations will hold architect the right frameworks to enable customers importance, along with win-win get intelligent information out of their data partnership between government • Manufacturing and Banking Financial Services and and private industry. Public Insurance (BFSI) seem to be two big verticals apart Private Partnership (PPP) from government which can leverage the power of projects will be the order of BI tools the day, but private sector will • Data available in multiple locations can be have to invest in domain skills intelligently mined to support informed decision and government must look at a making partnership relationship and not • We have not been empanelled in the central a vendor relationship. Profits are government programme for data centres necessary to sustain the projects • We have been active in the domestic government and there should be threshold space for the last two years only and have done We have observed that negative values at which projects can consulting assignments for few state governments be awarded. Attention should bidding is becoming a trend in acquiring government tenders. also be given to reforms in What are your comments? e-Governance procurement and contract administration. This is certainly not a healthy trend. While initially Most of the terms and conditions in government contracts are governments may feel happy to shift the CAPEX spend to one sided and and have to be modified considering changing the service providers, since the viability of the projects are realities and corporate governance norms existing under not clear, eventually successful project completion and various laws. chances of meeting the end objectives are doubtful. In my opinion, rational pricing criteria is not followed in most of Where do you see the e-Government road map heading these projects and only the intention to bag some prestigious towards in the India in the next couple of years? projects, seem to be driving the pricing. Some of the winners I see a bright future for e-Governance in the country. There also look at possible future benefits, which atleast the past is visionary leadership at government level driving the NeGP experience does not seem to be validating as a good practise. and the private sector too is charged up to participate in the It will be good, if some agencies like Comptroller and Auditor programme. We do believe that the common infrastructure General (CAG), audit some of these projects from a point of like the data centres, state networks and delivery centres will be in place in the next two to three years and once this is done, viability and good governance objective. there will be more pressure to develop user friendly simple What in your opinion are the major challenges in the applications. It will can be a different India that one will see a few years from now, as far as application of technology is sphere of e-Government in India? I assume that the key challenges that will dominate concerned for providing better governance. e-Governance spehere will be programme management of Nilakshi Barooah e-Governance projects- this includes proper conceptualisation, nilakshi@egovonline.net

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INTERVIEW www.airtel.in

m-Governance: Opening New Vistas

David Nishball President Enterprise Services, Bharti Airtel

“

Recently, we have partnered with Chennai Tax Corporation for deploying Blackberry services for property tax collection”

38 }

Bharti Airtel is participating in selected e-Governance projects with a clear focus on rural strategy. What is the progress so far in terms of roll outs and partnerships with state governments? Airtel Enterprise Services has had resounding success in deployment of innovative, large scale-mission critical projects for various enterprises/governments. The World Communication Awards 2008 recognised Airtel for its commitment to the highest standards in systems, project services delivery and project management in a communications networking environment for its e-Gram initiative. The e-Gram project for the Gujarat government connected Panchayats and Common Service Centres (CSCs) across 13,716 villages in the state. We are further leveraging our mobile network strength in rural India and working with various partners to offer the health, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) services on Personal Digital Assitant (PDA) devices. At present we are working with various state governments to offer these services. We are also engaging with various other state governments for setting up telecom infrastructure to connect their Primary Health Care services (PHC) with the state hospitals through Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) technology. Besides these, we are also looking at partnering with Common Service Centres (CSCs) to connect their centers and to help them access Government to Citizen (G2C) services. You were in the advanced stage of discussion with various state government departments to offer mobile base solutions for their urban and rural. What is the update on mobile solutions offered by Airtel for mGovernment? Airtel was the first service provider to bring BlackBerry to India. Our traffic automation solution for Bangalore Traffic Police is the world’s largest BlackBerry supported law enforcement network. The Bangalore Transport Information System (BTIS) is governed by the www.egovonline.net

state-of-the-art technology that is based on recording traffic densities in real-time. It uses Airtel’s mobile network to keep the public informed and updated in order to facilitate and steer towards optimal road choices. BTIS will bring together a wide range of information located on the urban map of Bangalore city and make it accessible to Airtel mobile users in order to facilitate their easy and convenient travel. Equipped with case history of past offenders, the solution helps traffic police to punish errant drivers on the spot and track repeat offenders. This solution also assists in determining if the vehicle was stolen or whether the driver has a pending fine on his name. It is quick in generating an offence ticket (bill) and prints it on the spot with the help of a hand-held printer, helping streamline the process of revenue monitoring and collections. Recently, we also partnered with Chennai Tax Corporation for deploying Blackberry services for property tax collection. The system expedites the process of collection. Bill collectors need not carry loads of documents anymore. Data is uploaded to the main server immediately and the tax payers get to know details of their arrears. Further, tax payers get a computer generated receipt soon after payment through a Blackberry. The online tax collection has helped bring down the queues in front of payment counters at the zonal offices. In line with our strategy of partnering with state governments, we have also developed a solution for computerisation and mobile enablement of the Model Fair Price Shops (FPS). The BlackBerry solution designed for the project can display the stock position at the BlackBerry Handheld of any fair price shop and also show the information on the commodities allocated to each customer and closing balance of the stock at the shop. The BlackBerry device will also give a unique identity to each transaction and at the same time, register a replica of the transaction We are working on the central with different server placed at corporation state governments the office. Print out to offer mobile based of the receipt is also issued to services for municipal the consumers. The solution has corporations, NREGA helped in real time and health care stock monitoring and is helping centres, as part of our to streamline the m-Governance distribution of commodities at initiatives” the FPS. Besides these deployments, we are also working with different state governments to offer mobile based services for municipal corporations, NREGA and health care centres, as part of our m-governance initiatives. How important, in your opinion is Public Private Partnership (PPP) for the implementation of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)? ov

February 2009

PPP model is extremely important, especially for the smooth execution of large projects. If both government and private players can combine their expertise, they can The Bangalore bring immense value to the table Transport and deliver worldInformation class services to citizens. We System (BTIS) is strongly advocate public private governed by the p a r t n e r s h i p s state-of-the-art and hence are closely working technology that is with central/state based on recording governments and public sector trafﬁc densities units. It is also important, for the in real-time” success of PPP projects that the government selects partners based on the organisation’s strength, financial background, past experience and numbers of years in the business. Airtel hoped to replicate its one of the e-Governance projects with the Gujarat government in West Bengal also. What is happening on that front? As discussed in our earlier response, we have been speaking with various state governments for different e-Governance projects. We will keep you informed as and when we make any progress. We are extremely hopeful of several replications in various governments fairly soon. Airtel is looking at 25 percent growth for its enterprise services along with the increased e-Governance projects. Comment. Airtel Enterprise Services has been strategically focusing on different industry verticals like retail, IT/ITES, BFSI, Media & Services, Manufacturing & Distribution and government and offering products and solutions customised to the needs of the enterprises. The Gujarat e-Governance project has been a great success. It is also the largest e-Governance rural connectivity initiative taken at the village level. We will definitely like to replicate this project in other states, however at the same time we will also continue to focus on other industry verticals. We are working on many large projects but are selective in our approach, as these projects would have sizeable scale of hardware and our dependency on Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partners is quite high. The growth of the vertical also depends upon the pricing strategy of our OEM partners. We certainly see a major growth on selective state governments, IT & Telco spending, and are well positioned to leverage our unique capabilities to further establish our leadership expertise in this space. Sandeep Budki, sandeep@egovonline.net 39

NATIONAL NEWS JAMMU KASHMIR EMBRACES IT REVOLUTION THROUGH e-GOVERNANCE AGENCY The Government of Jammu and Kashmir (J& K) has set up an exclusive e-Governance Agency called the Jammu and Kashmir e-Governance Agency (JaKeGA), with an empowered Board of Governors, headed by the State Chief Secretary. JaKeGA registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act on January 14, 2009, is supposed to provide with the much needed ﬂexibility to implement Information Technology (IT) related projects throughout the state and to receive grants directly from the Government of India and other donor agencies. Modeled on similar agencies working in many progressive states like Karnataka and Punjab, JaKeGA shall serve as the single point responsible for procuring all types of IT resources and services like hardware, software, power, printing and networking peripherals for government agencies. This will help streamline the IT-related activities of all the departments and help them save time and money by providing them with a single point mechanism for designing, developing, procurement and training. JaKeGA shall also have the mandate to create permanent, temporary or project based positions that shall help boost the employment prospects of the thousands of IT professionals in the state.

e-GOVERNANCE SERVICES IN BIHAR BY SREI, PNB Srei Sahaj has been mandated to roll out 5,565 Common Service Centres (CSCs) in Bihar. The company is an ICT based infrastructure provider in rural India in the area of e-Governance services, a subsidiary of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited. Srei Sahaj has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Punjab National Bank (PNB) which will enable a speedier implementation of the eGovernance project in Bihar. Its being planned that all these CSCs will become fully functional by the end of the current ﬁnancial year. Nearly 2,000 Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) have set up their centres, and out of these approximately 500 have applied for loan assistance to PNB. As per the scheme, the VLEs are required to invest INR 1.6 lakhs for setting up a Common Service Centre. As margin money they are required to put a minimum of INR 40 thousand, with the balance being funded by banks. These banks are already providing the requisite funding to such rural entrepreneurs who are carefully selected by Sahaj. Similar plans to enter strategic tie-ups with the bank for providing loan assistance to VLEs in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Orissa is also being planned.

40 }

TRAINING PROGRAMME ON e-PROCUREMENT BY DELHI GOVERNMENT Department of Information Technology, Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi is conducting a Training Programme in e-Procurement which will be held on every Tuesday and Friday between 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. This programme aimed at suppliers/contractors/ vendors intends to smoothen the implementation of the e-Procurement system. The venue for this training programme will be Department of Information Technology, Government of NCT of Delhi, 9th Level, B-Wing, Delhi Secretariat. Government of NCT of Delhi has already implemented e-Procurement system for all tenders compulsorily in the departments of Public Works Department (PWD), Health and Family Welfare, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) / Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Irrigation and Food Control, Delhi Jal Board, Food and Civil Supplies, Excise and Entertainment, Union Territories of Civil Services (UTCS), Education, Delhi Transco Ltd., Indraprastha Power Generation Corporation Limited (IPGCL) / Pragati Power Corporation Limited (PPCL) and New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC). Many other departments of the Government of NCT of Delhi are going to implement the same. These departments are Delhi State Civil Services Corporation (DSCSC) Ltd., Audit, General Administration Department, Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC), Land and Building, Urban Development, Central Prison, Trade and Taxes, Revenue, Developments, Transport, Information and Publicity, Labour, Training and Technical Education, Higher Education, Social Welfare, Cooperative Societies, Delhi Fire Services, Conservator of Forest and Prevention of Food Adulteration. The bidders who intend to participate in e-Tenders are required to register with Application Service Provider (ASP) of Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) by paying a registration fee of INR 6 thousand plus service tax at the help desk in the Delhi Secretariat.

e-TENDERING ADOPTED BY PUNJAB FARM BOARD Punjab Agricultural Marketing Board is on its way to become the ﬁrst organisation in Punjab to implement the Internet based tendering. Punjab Agricultural Marketing Board has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with state-run Indian Telephone Industries Limited for implementing e-Tendering. The system is expected to get functional by February 15, 2009. The board receives tenders worth INR 300-400 crores every year for construction and maintenance of mandis and rural roads. The proposed move is likely to beneﬁt the contractors as well as the department. Further, it will bring total transparency in the departments. In addition, it will bring more competition, resulting in saving in tenders.

www.egovonline.net

GUJARAT LAUNCHES e-GRAM PROJECT On 23rd January 2009, Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat formally launched the e-Gram Vishwagram Project, offering broadband connectivity to all 13693 Gram Panchayats of the state from the Haripura village. It has also helped 10,000 rural entrepreneurs in getting employment. Gram Panchayat can further offer services like issuing of documents and certiﬁcates, application forms for various development and welfare schemes, like record of rights (land records), property registration, vehicle registration,

INDIA RANKS 41ST IN THE GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX India falls 18 places in global innovation index. In last year’s Index India was ranked 23rd out of 107 countries. In the current edition, which is the second edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) India has been ranked 41 among 130 countries. The United States has been ranked first, Germany second and Sweden third in this year’s index. This report puts China at 37, eight places down from last year but four places ahead of India. Also last year, global research and advisory firm Economist Intelligence Unit ranked India 58 on its list of innovative countries, one rank above China. Indian policymakers and scientists frequently compare their research and innovation output with China’s, which in the past two decades has overtaken India on several indices that measure scientific prowess of countries.

driving license, passport, commercial services, mandi rates, health care, employment registration and distance learning; VSAT communication technology based broadband connectivity; free of cost communication between panchayats; common service centre facility for the villagers. Villagers can also take advantage of Internet and cyber services through the establishment of this e-Gram services. This e-Gram would gradually also take other services under its ambit, like electricity and telephone bills, visa, e-Postal services.

egov LAUNCHES JOB SITE

MCD USES GIS FOR MAPPING DELHI

egov has announced the launch of a section called ‘Jobs’ in its website. This section is aimed to cater to the job search need of those seeking to work in the e-Governance sector. This job search engine is also geared towards addressing the need of those employers who are looking to recruit people to work in the domain of e-Governance, as they can ﬁnd the proﬁle of such jobseekers posted on this particular link of the website.

In a unique initiative towards using Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has used the Geographical Information System (GIS) for mapping Delhi. The GIS application tool has mapped all the 12 zones of Delhi -- Shahadra South, Shahadra North, South, Central, City, Civil Line, Nerala, Rohini, Nazafgarh, West, Sadar Paharganj and Karol Bagh. The zones are further listed into wards, colonies and sub-colonies. The sub-colonies are further divided into houses. All these listings can viwed online http:// app.mapmyindia.com/mcdApp/

SUN MICROSYSTEMS LAUNCHED CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN e-GOVERNANCE IN IIT DELHI Sun Microsystems launched a Centre for Excellence in e-Governance in IIT Delhi campus recently. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for this was signed way back in 2006. The centre is started with the aim of fostering research in e-Governance in the area of technology and socio-economic

February 2009

aspects, create technology models, business models and sustainability models for greater adoption of eGovernance. It is expected that the centre will ensure some key outputs such as privacy issues in Internet security, low cost mass computing and Internet access solution on PPP models, promote open source standards by government departments and analyse environmental impacts of Information Technology. The impact of this centre is expected to bring in better social infrastructure, higher revenue infrastructure, lowered cost of running the government,

enhanced security, better quality of life for citizens and better future for the next generation. Apart from this, the centre has been conducting workshops for showcasing the latest technologies that can foster the sustainability of e-Governance in India.

EVENTS WATCH

2 - 4, FEBRUARY, 2009 The Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Communications Conference Miami, Florida http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/

4 FEBRUARY, 2009 Government IT 09 London, UK http://www.govnet.co.uk/govit/index.php

11 - 12 FEBRUARY, 2009 12th National Conference on e-Governance Goa, India

17 - 19 APRIL 2009 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2009) Doha, Qatar http://www.ictd2009.org

http://darpg.nic.in/arpg-website/egov2009/ 12thconf.asp

23 - 27 MAY, 2009 15th GCC eGovernment and eServices Forum Dubai, UAE http://www.datamatixgroup.com/conferences/ profile.asp?id=457

27 - 28, APRIL 2009 12 - 13 MARCH 2009 1st International Conference on eGovernment & eGovernance, Ankara, Turkey http://www.wbc-inco.net/object/calendar/18227. html

18 - 20 MARCH, 2009 17th Convergence India 2009 New Delhi, India

Government Technologies Conference & Expo Toronto, Canada http://gov.wowgao.com/

7 - 9 MAY, 2009 2nd International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Accessibility Hammamet, Tunisia http://www.icta.rnu.tn/

http://www.convergenceindia.org/

24 - 28, MAY 2009 The Fourth International Conference on Internet and Web Applications and Services (ICIW) Venice, Italy http://www.iaria.org/conferences2009/ICIW09. html

31 MAY - 4 JUNE 2009 6th Annual European Semantic Web Conference Heraklion, Greece http://www.eswc2009.org/

27 - 29 MARCH, 2009 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICICT)

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Hong Kong, China

16 - 19 JUNE, 2009 CommunicAsia 2009 Singapore Expo

http://www.waset.org/wcset09/hongkong/icict/

www.communicasia.com

3 - 5 APRIL, 2009 International Conference on Information Management and Engineering (ICIME 2009) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia http://www.icime.org/

42 }

August 2009 New Delhi, India http://www.eindia.net.in

16 - 19 JUNE, 2009 Enterprise IT 2009 Singapore Expo www.goto-enterpriseIT.com

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MOVEMENTS

Executive Movements Abhishek Singh has been appointed as the Director of e-Governance in the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communications and IT, GoI. Previously, he was- the Secretary to Governor and Secretary of IT and Technical Education in the Government of Nagaland. He is a 1995 batch IAS officer of Nagaland cadre. D Diptivilasa will become the Joint Secretary - Internal Security. He is a 1981 batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He will look into the IAS officer Diptivilasa will now look after Law and Order,Intelligence and Anti-Terrorism desk. Dr. Upendra Triparthi will join as the new Joint Secretary, Minority Welfare, Government of India. He is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre. He is likely to assume office after the Vidhan Sabha byelections. Ganesh Ayyar is the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MphasiS. He was a former executive in Hewlett Packard (HP). Haukhum Hauzel will join in the rank of Secretary in the Government of India. He was the Chief Secretary to the Government of Mizoram. Hauzel belongs to the 1974 batch IAS. J P Singh will join as the new Advisor in the Chandigarh Administration. Currently, he is the Chief Secretary in the Government of Goa. He is 1977 batch IAS officer of Union Territory cadre. Jalil Ahmad Khan will join as the new Economic Advisor of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. K J Mathew has joined as the new Chief Secretary to the Government of Kerala, on January 22, 2009. He has replaced P.J.Thomas. Prior to this, Mathew was the Additional CS Home. He belongs to the 1975 batch IAS officers of the Kerala cadre.

Neelam Kapoor has been appointed as the Director General of Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP). She belongs to the 1982 batch Indian Statistical Service (ISS) officer. She will move from her current post as DG in Press Information Bureau. P J Thomas is appointed as the Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs in Delhi, Government of India. Prior to this he was the Chief Secretary in Government of Kerala. He is a 1973 batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre. P K Gopalakrishnan has joined as the Senior Vice President and Head India operations in MindTree. Prior to this, he was working with Wipro Ltd and was responsible for the government and defence industry vertical in India. Pradip Mehra will join as the new Chief Secretary in the Government of Goa. Currently, he is the Advisor to the Chandigarh Administration. He belongs to the 1975 batch IAS officer of Union Territory cadre. R Swaminathan is appointed as the new Ambassador to Arab Republic of Egypt. Currently, he is the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Radhe Shyam Julania is the new Secretary in the Narmada Valley Development (NVD) Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. He is already a member in the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA). He belongs to the 1985 batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre. Sunil Krishna is has joined as the new Director General in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). He is a 1973 batch IPS officer. Vanhela Pachuau is the new Chief Secretary to the Government of Mizoram. He belongs to the 1976 batch of IAS officers.

This section keeps you abreast with people on the move in the government and the private sector. If you come across any executive movements write to us at info@egovonline.net

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Tracking Stray Cattle The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has recently cleared the proposal to implant computer chip in the stomachs of buffaloes and cows to ascertain their ownership and keep track of their movement in the city.The proposal was passed by the MCD Standing Committee without any debate. The civic body expressed the hope that the microchips in the stomachs of bovines - to be read through a special scanner - would help keep track of their movement in the city, besides checking the mushrooming growth of unauthorised dairies. In fact, a similar project is already being implemented in Punjab and is a common practice in developed countries. The microchip will have a unique identity number and will ensure that no new animals are smuggled into the city from the neighbouring States and also check the menace of stray cattle. The owners of all authorised dairies

would be charged INR 900 for each implant. Each microchip would be given orally to the animals and it would then get embedded in their stomach. The civic body has warned that those animals found without the microchip would be impounded and auctioned. The MCD took this decision after the Supreme Court’s directed that all unauthorised dairies be relocated at Ghogha in Narela in North-West Delhi. Significantly, while a Corporation survey revealed that there were nearly 35,000 cows and buffaloes in these unauthorised dairies, the civic body was surprised to receive applications for allotment of land for as many as 50,000 cows and buffaloes. Later, investigations revealed that some people were trying to get dairy land allotted in Ghogha. Sandeep Budki sandeep@egovonline.net

FLIP SIDE by Santulan Chaubey

Sir, I have Smart Card, Ration Card, Election Card…. Can you please deliver the ration electronically….

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