easy effective economic eGovernance: january 2012

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8 of r Yeaication l Pub ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON E-governance ` 75 / US $10 / ISSN 0973-161X

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CCTNS Idea Management

Mahashramm

VOLUME 08 n ISSUE 01 n ISSN 0973-161X www.egovonline.net

Incident Management System

Smart Planet

PDS

VSAT

PDS Swagat Census

eKalyan

GSWAN Social Media Mahashramm Negp

HDIITS

2011

ATVT

e

MCTS eMamta

eGram GSWAN eDistrict XGN CSC Financial Inclusion eCity mGovernance State Data Centre ePassport Government Clouds

idea Management eProcurement

Delhi Govt Radio Network

asy, effective, economic

Governance

Ideas, Inspirations, Innovations www.egovonline.net

january 2012

Contents issue 01 n  volume 08

28

interview Sanjay Prasad Principal Secretary, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Government of Gujarat

47

interview Dr Avinash Vashistha Chairman & MD, Accenture

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Technology will Change the Shape of Everything Shankar Aggarwal

19

The Way Forward for ICT in Governance Ravi Saxena

20

An Idea Management Framework for India 2020 Navin Bhasin

22 Satellite

Communication: An Effective Tool for Rural Connectivity Dharmendra Singh

23

Transforming Government Operations J P Pandey

24 ICT in

Integrated Watershed Management Ram Kumar

25

e-Governance Initiatives for Conserving Nature Dr S K Nanda

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26 ICT for Effective

Disaster Management Dr Ranjit Bannerji

30

Smart Transportation for a Smarter Planet N S N Murthy

40 Challenges

50 eGover-

in Effective e-Governance Satendra Singh

nance for Urban Infrastructure Abhishek Singh

42 Post-

51 Financial

Fordism and Implications for e-Governance Sangeeta Singh

ICT-Related Initiatives in the Philippines Ivan John Uy

35

43 ICT

Further Financial Inclusion Abhishek Pandit

54

GIPL as an ICT Facilitator for Government V K Sharma

44 How Secure

of a Modern Urban Security Solution Lokesh Lohia

38 Taking

55

is Our Data?

Ruchin Kumar

Technology for the People A K Sharma

45

56 ICT for

Managing Security in e-Governance Prashant

e-Governance Part 2 Forward Niraj Prakash Chaudhary

39

52 Working to

and Rural Development: Challenges and Opportunities Tanmoy Chakrabarty

36 Features

Mahashramm: Empowerment through Inclusion Dr Kavita Gupta

Sajad Wani

43

31

Reaching the Masses through e-Governance Dr Ajay Kumar

Lessons in Disaster Management Mike Morrow

Inclusion in Jammu and Kashmir

a Better and Quicker Census 2011 Vrushali Warade

58 Helping

46

The Connectivity Conundrum Harjinder Singh

Governments Implement e-Governance

Eric Yu

A Momentous Year Sets the 2012 Agenda

2

011 will be remembered as the year when led by the youth, citizen power came to the fore, across continents. But what connects the citizens and aids such massive mobilisations? One of the important factors that aided such forceful articulation of the desire for better governance practices is the linkages that forged over Social Media.

Innovators behind Facebook and Twitter would never have dreamt that their services could one day become tools for furthering democracy.

India too, saw people coming out with demands for a better polity. Social media and modern tools of communications were put to imaginative use and the demand for change spread like wildfire. Although the Lokpal Bill could not be passed by Parliament, there is no doubt of the impact the movement has had on the nation’s polity. At the same time, while the legislative agenda was overshadowed by the Lokpal debate, a number of landmark Bills are now with Parliament, and some important policies are on the verge of being implemented.

The Electronic Delivery of Services Bill 2011, which is presently with the Lok Sabha, could prove to be the tipping point for e-Governance in the country, as it mandates departments to establish specific timelines for online delivery of services. In terms of changing the framework for government-citizen engagement, this law could prove as far-reaching as the landmark Right to Information Act. Similarly, discussions on policies on Electronics, ICT, Telecom and the e-Authentication Framework are well underway and we should see final policies on these sectors being unveiled shortly. As the Approach Paper shows, the Twelfth Five Year Plan would also place renewed emphasis on e-Governance.

The New Year is still young, and youth always inspires hope and optimism. While 2011 was a tumultuous year, it saw the planting of seeds that will bear sweet fruits into the future. The paradigm for governance is witnessing fluid changes, and technology will continue to shape the contours of this dialogue in ways imagined, and unforeseen.

We bid goodbye to 2011 on a high note with the 7th edition of eINDIA, which saw a grand confluence of leaders, thinkers and innovators from governments, industry and academia. eINDIA presented a snapshot of the progress made so far and also offered a peek into the future. The Conclave offered a constructive exchange of ideas that have been chronicled in this New Year issue of eGov. Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year, we hope the nuggets of wisdom contained in these pages serve as beacons guiding us towards our long-cherished national goal of inclusive growth. ravi guptA Ravi.Gupta@elets.in

From the history Email at subscription@elets.in to get previous issues

October 2011

November 2011

December 2011

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

5

Columnists

President Dr M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr Ravi Gupta GM Finance Ajit Kumar DGM Strategy: Raghav Mittal Programme Specialist: Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar partnerships & Alliances Sheena Joseph, Shuchi Smita

Excellencies at easia 2011

EDITORIAL Divya Chawla, Dhirendra Pratap Singh, Anand Agarwal, Sonam Gulati, Pragya Gupta, Shally Makin (editorial@elets.in) Sales & marketing Delhi & NCR: Jyoti Lekhi, Ragini Shrivastav, Fahimul Haque, Rakesh Ranjan (sales@elets.in) Mumbai: Rachita Jha | Pune: Shankar Adaviyar Bangalore: Puneet Kathait | Hyderabad: Amit Kumar Pundhir | Ahmedabad: Sunil Kumar circulation & subscription Jagwant Kumar, Mobile: +91-8130296484; Gunjan Singh, Mobile: +91-8860635832 subscription@elets.in Design & Creatives: Bishwajeet Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Thakur, Shyam Kishore Web Ishvinder Singh, Anil Kumar img Gaurav Srivastava, Prateek Mittal

HE Md Zillur Rahman, Honourable President, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

HE Sheikh Hasina, Honourable Prime Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Honourable Minister, Ministry of Finance, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Architect Yeafesh Osman, Honourable State Minister, Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

IT infrastructure Mukesh Sharma, Zuber Ahmed Events Vicky Kalra human resource Sushma Juyal legal R P Verma accounts Anubhav Rana, Subhash Chandra Dimri Editorial & Marketing Correspondence egov – G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA–201 301, India Phone: +91-120-2502181-85 Fax: +91-120-2500060 Email: info@egovonline.net egov is published by Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd in technical collaboration with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS).

Owner, Publisher, Printer: Ravi Gupta, Printed at Vinayak Print Media Pvt. Ltd, D-320, Sector-10, Noida, U.P. and published from 710 Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50 Noida, UP Editor: Ravi Gupta © All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic and mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage or retrieval system, without publisher’s permission.

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egov / www.egovonline.net / January 2012

write back Your views and feedback matter to us. Tell us what you think of the stories in the magazine or what more you would like us to cover.

Write back at editorial@elets.in

outlook 2012

Accomplishments 2011 and Aspirations 2012 With the objective of analysing the impact that e-Governance systems are having in the country, eGov interviewed some stakeholders, whose short and precise answers offer an insight into their achievements in 2011 and plans for 2012 Janesh Moorjani President, Enterprise and Public Sector, Cisco India & SAARC

in 2012, a 9.1 percent increase from 2011 spending of $73.1 billion. We are confident that despite global challenges, enterprises in India will continue to invest in IT. Wishlist from the government There needs to be an increased focus on areas such as education, healthcare, financial inclusion and infrastructure and power for the country to continue its current GDP growth levels.

2011 in terms of market, growth and revenues 2011 was one of the most transformative years at Cisco. The focus was on prioritising, simplifying, and taking action to drive Cisco’s continued market leadership.

Significant policy initiatives in the year 2011 In October 2011, the government announced the draft National Telecom Policy, which is a welcome move. It will go a long way in extending a variety of services at the grassroots level. Sectors such as education, healthcare and banking, which are fundamental for well rounded and inclusive development, will benefit greatly from this policy.

Expectations from the year 2012 According to Gartner, IT spending in India is projected to total $79.8 billion

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Technology trends to rule the roost in 2012.

Cisco believes that the network will unify wireless and wired access to support the proliferation of devices and ubiquitous mobility. Virtualisation and cloud services will deliver content whenever they provide a lower cost of ownership.

Increased collaboration with customers, staff, suppliers and other partners will grow, using video, data, and voice communications on a variety of devices.

Popular products/services in 2012 Smaller cities and towns in India have undergone a considerable change in the recent past and we strongly believe that these will drive Cisco India’s growth story. Although this market is still evolving, we expect a number of opportunities especially in areas such as e-governance, remote healthcare, learning, connected agriculture, retail and rural banking.

Nilesh Shah KMI Business technologies Pvt. Ltd. 2011 in terms of market, growth and revenues Basically we are an innovative company that delivers inspiring products and services in the field of business imaging, and leads the market through advanced digital technologies and enhanced reliability. In terms of growth, we have achieved 30 percent.

Expectations from the year 2012 We expect customers to make a major shift towards digital technologies. We expect the GST to be introduced.

Prakash Rane, Managing Director, ABM Knowledgeware 2011 in terms of market, growth and revenues With an excellent year of growth, we managed to execute very large e-Governance projects successfully Significant policy initiatives in the year 2011 Well planned policy initiatives showed impact on ground level. Various Mission Mode projects were launched with vigour. State governments implemented e-Governance initiatives.

Expectations from the year 2012 We see some slowing down in government procurement process. Procurement for e-Governance project requires bold decision making as it deals with quality and cost based selection.

Technology trends to rule the roost in 2012 Cloud Computing will be used on a bigger scale. With the use of Social media in Govt 2.0 becoming more prominent, gadgets like iPad will make many senior decision makers experience the power of IT.

outlook 2012

Dr Arun Nigavekar Raja Ramanna Fellow, Former Chairman, UGC, Former VC, Pune University, Founder Director NAAC

Eric Yu President, Huawei 2011 in terms of market, growth and revenues The year 2011 holds special significance for us, as we have launched our enterprise business in the month of September. Coming from our strong technologyleadership background and track record of executing challenging ICT driven solutions on global scale, we are positioning ourselves as an ICT solutions provider for the large and small enterprise set of customers.

Most significant policy initiatives from government in the year 2011 The JNNURM is doing better, but it got only Rs. 50,000 crore of central funds. While rural development is imperative we cannot keep urban development on a low platform of support mainly because rural growth is linked with strong urban base.

Technology trends to rule the roost in 2012 Clever and innovative use of IT in governance will continue to lead the technology trend. Service to Anyone, Anytime and Anywhere in all sectors that touch human life would become reality through larger national connectivity till last leg and affordable application hardware.

And moving forward, this trend is likely to continue even with greater fervour for the year 2012.

Popular products/services in 2012 For government vertical it could be the e-Governance framework and applications that can weave the population. For healthcare it could tele-medicine or e-medicine that can help in terms of delivering the much needed medical facilities to remote areas of the country.

Expectations from the year 2012 Our target is to supply a better solution and service to our customers, and share the market with our partner, and grow together. We would like to give a better way to India market.

Technology trends to rule the roost in 2012 IT decision makers are continuously looking at ways and means of amending their existing infrastructure. This is where concepts on Cloud Computing and Virtualisation are gaining ground.

Sanjay Mehta, CEO, MAIA Intelligence 2011 in terms of market, growth and revenues Year 2011 was great in terms of market, growth and revenues. We have achieved our targets in all three quarters in past and we expect to achieve the same in this quarter too. We have seen significant investments in IT from BFSI, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and other industries.

Expectations from the year 2012 Many western countries have been in a recession in 2011, but MAIA Intelligence’s business has not slowed down.

There is enough space in the market for innovative products.

Rajeev Kundra National Manager- Government Business (DI GCG), Kodak India Pvt Ltd 2011 in terms of market, growth and revenues We are sure that we shall register good growth of between 20 to 23 percent on YOY basis.

Most significant policy initiatives in the year 2011 The government has made many efforts to improve the economy, through moves on FDI. The focus has also been on manufacturing, export and development of infrastructure.

Expectations from the year 2012 We look forward to at least 20 percent growth over and above our net figures for this year. The entire market should grow at least by 15 to 18 percent.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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outlook 2012

Akshay Sheth, National Sales Manager- Govt. Segment, Matrix Comsec Pvt. Ltd. 2011 in terms of market, growth and revenues The year 2011 was a good year in terms of government market. The market has grown, competition has increased.

The buyers have become technically savvy and are more open to accepting new technology products. Overall there has been a growth in government vertical for Matrix.

The most significant policy initiatives in the year 2011 In terms of policy initiatives, the idea of giving preference to buying of Indian manufactured products in government sector is a welcome move. It will give boost to domestic economy.

Expectations from the year 2012 We expect 2012 to be the year for newer technology products in IP, Biometric Access Control and Surveillance.

We expect our company to make inroads in many new sectors, including defence.

Narayana Menon Head - Strategy & Marketing Novell India/South Asia

Nilaya Varma Partner – Lead for MC India, H&PS

Significant policy initiatives in the year 2011 The government is the largest IT spender in the country. Some of their most significant initiatives this year have been with respect to improving e-Governance under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

2011 in terms of market, growth and revenues We are now operating under four business units – Attachmate, NetIQ, Novell and SUSE – all of which are united under a single holding company named “The Attachmate Group” making us one of the largest, privately-held enterprise software holding companies.

Expectations from the year 2012 In 2012 our strategy is to leverage our business unit wise model. With increased adoption of the Cloud, we see a growing preference for hardware agnostic platforms.

Wishlist from the government Mere automation will not account to efficiency in government processes. A focused public policy is necessary for improving productivity levels. I see an increase in adoption of open source.

Most significant policy initiatives in 2011 Service delivery to citizens, through schemes like UID or Aadhaar, rural service delivery, financial inclusion, and health and education solutions Expectations from 2012 Health and Public Service is an important area of focus.

We are already working in various large transformational projects like UID, State Portals to name a few.

Technology trends to rule the roost in 2012 The key technology trends in 2012 will involve implementation of m-Governance and cloud computing. Technology supporting ubiquitous connectivity will also be important.

Popular products/services in 2012 2012 will see some large spends in technology related solutions are expected in UID and NPR as these projects gain momentum. With UID coming in, the states shall look at data consolidation for better delivery of government benefits.

Venu Palakirti, F-Seccure Significant policy initiatives in 2011 There was a good initiation in terms of the security from Government and we hope mandatory norms for security will also be introduced so that all connected devices have proper security solutions installed so networks and devices can be safeguarded.

Expectations from the year 2012 We expect to bring in good growth and expect the SMB market to contribute a equal portion of the overall business.

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Wishlist from the government My one major wish is to see the initation on the usage of cloud-based solutions even in the government sector as well Technology trends to rule the roost in 2012 Cloud-based solutions and services will rule in the coming years.

Popular products/services in 2012 SWAN implementations should be more robust and speeded up. The Cloud should be increasingly adopted in the Government and PSUs.

leaderspeak

Indian Talent +

Information Technology

= India Tomorrow

I

ndia, which was once known as the land of snake charmers is now known for its mouse charmers. India might have missed out on the gains of Industrial Revolution as it was under foreign rule, but with a progressive attitude we have risen to adapt Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Our youth have led the field and compelled the world to take note of our growth.

To me, e-Governance is nothing but easy, economic and effective governance. e-Governance is a key component of good governance, which is the key to sustainable development.

The state has been constantly innovating, aiming at excellence in governance. The opportune understanding of the importance of technology in effective and efficient delivery of services has enabled the state to take up many innovative steps for empowering people.

Gujarat has made long strides in the field of IT during the last decade, especially in adoption of modern technology for governance. We celebrated the year 2004 as the ‘Year of e-Governance’, emphasising upon the important role technology can play in providing good governance.

The Gujarat Government’s major e-Governance initiatives include e-Dhara for computerisation of land records, broadband connectivity in all the 18,000-odd village Panchyatas of the state, Citizens’ Charter providing information about 100 public services at 300 Janseva Kendras, e-Gram programme, SWAGAT to redress online peoples’ grievances, e-Mamta, use of technology in distance learning and so on.

The state government has also initiated online recruitment process, bar coding of

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ration cards and computerisation of all the check posts on highways through e-Governance. All check-posts have been computerised and every commercial vehicle going from the state to the neighbouring state is accounted for. The sales tax collection has been computerised, resulting in additional revenues for the state government. Computerisation of check posts has facilitated the process of verification of documents, estimation of penalty amount and its collection.

To arrest the dropout rates of school children, a district-level officer in the state administration has developed in-house software to keep a tab on dropouts. If a student is absent continuously for a period longer than 7 days, the system will automatically send a report to the Taluka level educational officer and in case of absence for over 15 days, it will be reported to the district-level officer. This can help in reducing the dropout rate in the state.

To encourage innovations in primary education, an attempt has been made by the Gujarat Educational Innovations Commission to recognise innovators who silently work at the grassroots level. One way through which this has been achieved is in the form of a book that showcases 25 teachers who have redefined primary education through their innovations.

The state has received a full-fledged transponder of 36 MHz Q-band from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The transponder will enable the state in implementing long distance education system across the state as it has fully developed the capacity. We will use the transponder in bringing about a qualitative change in the primary education by deliv-

ering education programmes to the schools, colleges, universities and for imparting the medical education, technical education and skill development knowledge. Besides, the educational programmes for farmers would be transmitted to the interior villages of the state.

Our cities are also emerging as IT hubs.

According to recent NASSCOM reports, cities like Surat and Ahmedabad have managed to position themselves on the top list that are attracting people with IT background.

I am very enthusiastic about the potential of Mobile Governance (m-Governance) as a tool for providing good governance. Mobiles are now being used by the common man with ease and Gujarat has been among the early adopters of m-Governance. We are working on a m-Governance policy and will soon come out with a detailed policy for use of mobile communication devices for government.

Gujarat had ushered in transparency and accountability in governance through use of Information Technology. When technology becomes a part of your life, it starts driving you.

The person, who understands this, can bring change. I wish that Indians use IT with as much ease as mobile.

I believe that IT+IT=IT i.e. Indian talent + Information technology = India Tomorrow. It is my firm belief that our talent will build the future of India with the help of IT. Excerpts from Narendra Modi’s speech at eIndia 2011 For full speech please log on to: http://eindia.eletsonline.com

leaderspeak

India, which was once known as the land of snake charmers is now known for its mouse charmers

When technology becomes a part of your life, it starts driving you. The person, who understands this, can bring change

Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivering the Inaugural Address at the 7th eINDIA 2011

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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eindia 2011

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat inaugurating eINDIA 2011

W

hat’s next? If we had a supercomputer that could peek into the future, we would have told you all about it at the 7th eINDIA 2011, India’s premier ICT event that was held from December 14-16 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Inaugurated by the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, eINDIA 2011 saw the confluence of policy makers, opinion shapers and thought leaders from governments, industry, academia and the larger civil society from India and abroad. The congregation was witness to an engaging and exciting exchange of ideas and experiences.

In tandem with power-packed conferences discussing a wide range of issues on how advances in ICT will transform governance, healthcare services and education, eINDIA

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• Speakers: 129 • Delegates: 800 • Sponsors: 26 • Exhibitors: 47 • Visitors: 5000 • Nominations Received for eINDIA 2011 Awards: 149 • Awards Winners: 32 • Hits Received on eINDIA Website in Run-up to Event: Above One Million also featured focussed workshops on ICT and a grand exposition of products, services and experiences from diverse domains. Senior ministers, industry leaders, senior officials from a number of government departments, representatives from schools and colleges, and a people from a cross section of society who visited the exhibition, were all impressed by the potential of technology.

At eINDIA 2011, optimistic predictions far outpaced negative ones. But the essence of what the speakers said was certainly not a wishful view that sees technology as a panacea for all ills. Nonetheless, the broad consensus of speakers was that a lot remains to be done as far as leveraging the potential of technology for braodbased, inclusive development remains to be truly taken advantage of.

eindia 2011

Glimpses

Audience at the eINDIA 2011 Inaugural

One of the power-packed panels from the Education track

Distinguished panelists from one of the e-Gov Sessions

An egrossed audience at the Plenary Session

Eminent panelists share best practices on eGovernance initiatives in Gujarat

Exploring ICT in the Health sector

eINDIA Valedictory Session

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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eindia 2011

eINDIA 2011 7th

Exhibition

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eindia eindia 2011 2011

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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e-inclusion

www.mit.gov.in

Technology will Change the Shape of Everything Concerns on the front of poverty cannot be met without full-scale expansion of ICT driven financial services Shankar Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of IT, Government of India

Q

uality and quickness in delivery of public services are still a major area of concern in many states of the country but states such as Gujarat have succeeded in making the transition. The role of strong leadership in this success cannot be discounted.

There was no dearth of doubters about India in the post-independence period and a number of prominent analysts predicted our demise. However, we Indians have proved them wrong and aided by a vibrant democracy, Indians from all walks of life have made vital contribution to national development.

Food security has been a major developmental objective in India since the beginning of planning. India achieved self-sufficiency in food grains in the 1970s and has sustained it

since then. But the achievement of food grain security at the national level did not percolate down to households and the level of chronic food insecurity is still high. The food gap can

Financial inclusion is an opportunity for the Government to ensure equal prospects to the citizens to partake the fruits of economic development 18

egov / www.egovonline.net / January 2012

be met from the existing food grain stocks in the medium term and by increasing their purchasing power in the long run through increasing job opportunities.

Inclusive Growth Sixty year after independence, we are still facing challenges on the front of income distribution and poverty alleviation. Sixty five percent Indian rural people are still unbanked.

They require access to financial institutions.

Concerns on the front of income distribution and poverty alleviation cannot be met without full-scale expansion of banking and other financial services. Financial inclusion is an opportunity for the Government to ensure equal prospects to the citizens to partake the fruits of economic development. It is one way of empowering vast masses of the poor and illiterate.

India’s economic performance over the last decade has been phenomenal and has surprised the world. Inching back to more than seven percent GDP growth rate in the backdrop of Eurozone crisis, the country is being recognised as a major player in the new knowledge economy. There is the uneasy apprehension that growth may not yet be inclusive enough. There is consensus about the need for inclusive growth across the political spectrum. Yet, the champions of inclusive growth need to recognise the necessity of the environment appearing attractive enough to globally mobile capital for labour-intensive manufacturing.

Today, technology is being used for the benefit of citizens on a large scale. The focus is to automate the backend. Earlier, even though a good amount of efforts were put into system automation, it did not give enough results.

Unless the benefits accrue to the citizens, it is not going to help. So, the focus should primarily be for the benefit of citizens only and not for the benefit of a particular department.

ICT is a very powerful tool, to use which it is necessary to follow a disciplined approach.

For this, we need to establish certain standards that have to then be followed across the spectrum. There is large scope for further use of technology for education and healthcare and for financial inclusion as well. This is the only way to ensure not only two-digit growth rates but also achieve the long-cherished ideal of inclusive growth.

egov 2.0

The Way Forward for ICT in Governance Ravi Saxena Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat and General Programme Chair, eINDIA 2011

T

he increasing use of ICT in governance is going to change the way governments conduct business like never before. Starting from the establishment of NIC and creation of NICNET, we are now in the implementation phase of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) that was finalised following concerted efforts at multiple levels of governments. It is in large part due to the NeGP that ICT in government is moving beyond just purchase of computers, and government departments are increasingly adopting ERP-type applications, covering the whole gamut of functions and services.

19 states are today at a stage where they have either fully or almost fully operational State Wide Area Networks. Data centres have also been commissioned in more than 15 states.

In India today, every state is onboard the e-Governance platform, albeit individual states might be at different levels of readiness in terms of infrastructure and services available online.

Gujarat has been an early mover in adopting ICT for governance. We setup GSWAN in 2001 while some states are only starting the process now. In addition to the GSWAN network, there is a intranet called eGram, which provides Broadband connectivity to 18,000 Gram Panchayats. We are now in the process of connecting the two intranets. The only hitch is that these are two Closed User Groups (CUGs),

“With the advent of Web 2.0, we are now talking of Gov 2.0” and a licence is required from the Government of India for connecting the two. We are now waiting for the licence to come through. Once integrated, the common intranet would be one of the world’s largest such networks and will have around 50,000 nodes. We have also raised the available bandwidth to 54 mbps from state level to district level and 10 mbps for district level to taluka level.

The physical constraints to online service delivery have been removed, by and large. Our data centre is similarly well-equipped to cater to existing and emerging needs of Departments.

The other part of e-Governance is developing appropriate applications for service delivery online. In this domain, the challenges are even stronger as a whole lot of cultural and

administrative issues are involved; issues of turf, power, authority – all crop up. India is still governed by the system initiated at the time of Sher Shah Suri and later imbibed by the British.

Adopting modern technology to work such an old system is no easy task.

In the coming days, Social Media is going to be a gamechanger. With the advent of Web 2.0, we are now talking of Gov 2.0, which is the governance paradigm where governmentpeople relations and interactions would be totally transformed. Social media platforms such as facebook, twitter, myspace have such large user bases that they cannot be ignored.

In recent times, uprisings in the Arab world, the London riots and the Occupy Wall Street movement all made extensive use of social media to scale up exponentially in a matter of days. Governments are now coming out with citizen engagement frameworks to communicate with constituents in a unified, strategic manner, and the impact of social media is only going to grow in the days to come.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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e-governance roadmap

www.saicare.com

An Idea Management Framework for India 2020 A structured approach to management and implementation of ideas can lead to realisation of the goal of making India a developed country by 2020 Navin Bhasin, CEO, Sai InfoSystem (India) Ltd

C

urrently, India is at a developing stage.

But the rate at which we are developing now will make us a power to envy by 2020, when 65 percent of our population would be below 35 years of age.

This young India is full of ideas which need to be systematically captured, synthesized and harnessed. Our young population is our biggest resource and we have to leverage its potential in the best way possible. In order to ensure that the country realises its destiny by 2020, we need to put in place the basic infrastructure and make its best possible use.

Issues and Challenges In order to realise objectives of Vision 2020, we need to address some key questions, few of which still remain unresolved. Key concerns that need addressing are: what is the role of ICT towards improving the quality of life for the common man; how ICT can be used for bringing about improvements in infrastructure and in the overall governance systems in the country; and, how widely and how deeply can e-Governance be integrated in the country’s framework etc.

At present, a number of gaps hamper project implementation and project performance.

Lack of citizen involvement; lack of two-way communication and information sharing;

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lack of common systems and platforms, and preponderance of silo-type solutions etc., are some of the key impediments in the way of us realising our objectives as far as e-governance initiatives are concerned.

An Idea Management Framework It is believed that adopting best practices from the globe is panacea for all difficulties. But the key question is: what do we do once we have an idea? How do we look at the whole framework for idea management? Idea generation and overall framework needs to have two-way

communication mechanism and engagement with the beneficiaries.

The idea generation phase involves mechanisms to support and encourage generation of ideas. Such a mechanism should be global in its reach and local in scope, so that global best practices can be adopted for solving local problems. It also needs to have a two-way information management mechanism, so that the idea originator gets feedback at all times.

Similarly, participation of and engagement with the idea beneficiaries is a must.

The idea evaluation phase needs to be time-bound, with a well-defined mechanism for idea evaluation that can accept/reject ideas with proper feedback and reasons intimated to idea originator. The implementation and monitoring phase should make us of project management tools and techniques to ensure timely and effective implementation of ideas and periodic updation of the execution status to all stakeholders. Post implementation, initial training and modifications should also be carried out by the same entity.

Finally, for widespread integration of ideas, state and private agencies need to be roped in and tasked with overseeing the countrywide adoption of the selected ideas. A uniform and open source, multilingual platform would also ensure nationawide interest and involvement in the entire process.

The roadmap for e-Governance would be realized by 2020. It may also happen that 2020 welcomes an altogether different world in terms of technology and infrastructure. There is no limit to innovation, but a structured approach would help derive maximum benefits out of it.

rural development

www.hughes.in

Satellite Communication: An Effective Tool for Rural Connectivity Connectivity in India has still not been able to reach required levels.

While optic fibre remains the best option, satellite connectivity is the optimal solution given India’s geographical diversity and costs Dharmendra Singh, Director, e-Governance, Hughes Communications India Limited

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ommunication is the key to deliver services to the citizens. In order for the services to be effective, there is a need to make these services available on electronic platform. There are two building blocks: Power and Connectivity. Gujarat, for example, has made power available 24X7 to all the rural locations. Connectivity is crucial and required all across India. By connectivity, we do not just mean a 64 kbps grid. We are talking about the connectivity that is quickly deployable, reliable and is available 24X7 to people who are the end users.

Today, there is a need to look at planned and blended approach towards connectivity for the customer that is cost effective and cheaper. The government does support with many subsidies.

We need to look at the options available with us - WiMax, WiFi, optical fibre, etc., among which optical fibre is the best option in terms of qual-

egov / www.egovonline.net / January 2012

Satellite Communication has emerged as an answer to the problems pertaining to connectivity. It has played a crucial role in bringing Gujarat where it is today. In the state of Gujarat, out of the 18,000 locations connected, approximately 13, 5000 locations use satellite connectivity. Another beauty of the satellite connectivity is its inherent cloud capability. With the broadband connectivity, when the fibre gets laid in the village, there is a possibility that the extra or remaining fibre pipe may get wasted once it is connected with a point. The bandwidth is available on that route for that point. One goes from point to point and then to multipoint to multipoint.

In satellite connectivity, user is connected with customer premises router equipment.

One deploys bandwidth in a cloudlike service, which is available to the users. Each kbps that one deploys in the network is available in each CPU. If user A is not using it in the morning then user B is using it in the morning somewhere. The whole affair becomes cost effective as we grow the network.

With multicast as an inherent feature, one can deliver quality services in one-to-one or oneto-many mode. One village can communicate with another village. One can also deliver quality service to the education community at all the multiple locations that it is connected with.

Data Commercial Satellite

ity of service. We do not need broadband at each household in a village, what we probably need is a common access point that is used for providing various citizen centric services and information.

We have a total of 700 gbps Internet bandwidth available in the country, out of which only 800 mbps is available for satellite users 22

Satellite Communication

There is a need to have a data commercial satellite in India. We have a total of 700 gbps Internet bandwidth available in the country, out of which only 800 mbps is available for satellite users. The process of applying for satellite connectivity is very tedious in our country as it requires multiple applications. The reason is we do not have a good commercial satellite and the demand is very high. Therefore, the satellite connectivity provision is controlled.

We have most of the satellites available for weather, transport, etc. There is a strong need to have a data satellite for the users. The geographical structure of India is such that we may not have optical fibre everywhere. Satellite connectivity provides an effective way out of this conundrum. The data commercial satellite bandwidth will be able to give a cost effective Internet service using satellite router. It will be a reliable and cheap mode of providing connectivity.

rural development

www.polycom.com

Transforming Government Operations The Collaborative Government delivers greater service, performance and communication through smarter conversations J P Pandey, Senior Vice President – Sales, Presto Infosolutions Pvt Ltd

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t is imperative for us to identify the opportunities that accelerate the rural development and ePanchayat for an overall growth.

Governance and government operations, over a period of time, are found to be more accountable to the citizens. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has redefined the governance. There is a greater level of accountability and transparency in the government operations. The government is truly for the people and there are many citizen centric services introduced.

There are many initiatives taken by government to reach out to the rural population.

Of course, there are challenges to address.

While there are services introduced for the common mass like connectivity, electricity, telemedicine, etc. we also have to ensure that the last consumer is able to be touched upon with the services.

Collaborative Government In order to reach the last consumer or end

point client, there is a very strong need to have a mechanism that enables one to one connect.

In the rural context, there are many services public utility, agriculture, public transportation, defense, health services, emergency services, fisheries - that are required to be availed by the last consumer at the remotest of the place.

These services need to be communicated with a mechanism to the citizens. Video Conferencing is an effective mechanism of connecting with the end point customers that empower and equip them with adequate information. As a part of Polycom and Presto Association, where Polycom is the 80 percent market holders of the video conferencing solutions, we believe in providing one to one communication with eye to eye contact. Our solutions liberate one from the locations defying the boundaries of distance, cost, time and organizational silos.

Through our video conferencing solution, people from the remotest of the village come to the district and are directly connected to the government functionaries and can also participate. The medium of virtualisation provides for a highly immersive experience engaging citizens and stakeholders. While this mechanism reduces human latency, it optimises workflows.

There is a real time communication taking place with visualisation. This solution has greater applications in various sectors of development and governance. The solution has been found to be used in services like administration, fire, health, police, finance, transportation, judiciary, etc.

Our government has introduced services that are truly citizen centric and we, as solution providers, enable the citizens to engage with the effective governance and make the entire experience more participative. The government operations can be transformed only when we take a collaborative approach.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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rural development

www.ruraldev.gujarat.gov.in

ICT in Integrated WatershedManagement Gujarat has integrated technology and traditional wisdom to structure an effective and award-winning Watershed Development Model Ram Kumar, CEO, Gujarat State Watershed Management Agency

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he Department of Rural Development has used ICT in a number of programmes for rural development under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Some programmes are: scientific planning using GIS-based thematic maps, eMuster, ePayment and Electronic Fund Management System, GPS enabled mobile-based monitoring, Mission Mangalam, SHG Mapping, Total Sanitation Campaign - GIS mapping of assets created, Watershed Programme - Scientific planning, Monitoring and Impact Assessment using different tools, etc.

Background of IWMS Programme About 60 percent of net-sown area of India and 70 percent of Gujarat is under rain-fed agriculture which is a complex, diverse, underinvested, risky, vulnerable and distress-prone activity. It has been found that watershed management is the best option for integrated management of resources to alleviate poverty, hunger and distress. The idea is to conserve and manage the entire catchment area of a drainage

Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment

line through different mechanical and vegetative measures to enhance sustainable livelihood with the help of effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Gujarat has created a Watershed Development Model that includes GIS based prioritisation with a long term, scientific and need based holistic planning of each micro watershed unit with a participatory approach integrating modern technology with traditional wisdom. The Department has also ensured an institutional reconfiguration leading to establishment of separate dedicated state, district, projects and village watershed units providing e-connectivity at all levels. For the purpose of monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment, we use GIS tools.

The IWMS Programme received the National e-Governance award for the year 2010-11 24

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The Department is using ICT tools effectively at different stages, incorporating historical development works in the watershed, GIS maps, satellite imagery, spatial and nonspatial data thematic maps, GPS, Hydrological Modeling, Web-GIS system, mobile-embedded tracking system, eGram, multi-temporal remote sensing, etc.

In order to maintain transparency and awareness across the board, the project report has been made available online and local language versions have also been shared with the Village Watershed Committees. The project has been made participatory and inclusive with the inclusion of the marginalized, landless and asset less, minority groups, women, and disadvantages sections with 9 of the livelihood funds earmarked for day-to-day decision making.

The approach so far has been that of integrated monitoring and evaluation system. Monitoring is conducted before, during, and post implementation with the help of web-based GIS system. We have ensured that the Village Watershed Committee has been updating the database through the eGram centre periodically. It has also helped the project with specific and timely corrective measures as and when intervention was required. We have summarised and created specialized reports for different hierarchies. The mobile-based tracking with the help of customized software as a part of the web based GIS has been quite an instrumental in effective monitoring of the project. We also made a mandatory provision for social audit in Gram Sabha.

Impact Assessment and Feedback Mechanism Annual satellite images are used to assess the impact. Validation of physical status by independent assessors and output of the assessment will become input data for the next project. This would also be utilised for effective planning, documentation and development of knowledge base, research protocol, concurrent monitoring, Third Party Evaluation, provision for social audit, generation of dynamic maps integrated with mobile software to monitor the progress, quick and near-real time corrective measures, and scientific assessment with input application of remote sensing.

e-governance in action

www.envforguj.in

e-Governance Initiatives for Conserving Nature The Departmental entities have undertaken a number of ICT-backed initiatives to better manage issues related to conservation of the environment and pollution control Dr S K Nanda, Principal Secretary, Department of Forests and Environment, Government of Gujarat

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n governance, ICT has a wide range of applications. It is ICT that is ultimately going to guide us in evolving and fine tuning new mechanisms for sharing, training, ensuring accountability, making due interventions, strategising and also in exercising control when required.

ICT should aid us in our activities and also act as a tool for overcoming roadblocks as and when they crop up. In sum, ICT should be deployed to promote innovation, out of the box solutions, and in resolving issues rather than just sitting on them.

e-Governance Applications in Forests Department

Extension Green Node (XGN) The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and National Informatics Centre (NIC) have developed an application called Extension Green Node (XGN) which is now being adopted throughout the country. XGN helps the Board in

is being used by 300 technical and scientific staff at 13 field offices in Gujarat and 100 personnel at GPCB, besides concerned industries.

XGN is a G2B application that facilitates the online application for No Objection Certificate (NOC) and covers the entire process from inspection to laboratory to accounting. When someone applies for a NOC, they have to generate 26 pdf files and have to put it online. On the basis of these pdf files, online queries are raised and replies are given. Group or individual text messages are also sent to registered mobiles. There are nine stages of any approval and all stages have been moved online under the new system. A user (industry) is given a username and password for accessing the system and the process is monitored by nine officers who have been provided administrative password so that they can break down the data by regional and state level.

At present, G2G services are confined to the Bio Medical Waste (BMW). 183 local bodies, municipalities and 27000 hospitals and clinics are our clients. They are all governed by the BMW Act, which is very punitive in nature.

If any violations take place it can lead to even arrests and criminal prosecutions, and these all analysis and compilation of data has been done, is being done so that the Management Information System (MIS) reports about its activity, operation, processing and the quantified results are also being generated.

implementation of various Pollution & Environment Acts related to air quality, water quality, sewerage and hazardous waste. The application

GPCB and NIC have developed an application called Extension Green Node (XGN) which is now being adopted throughout the country

The Department of Forests has made use of GIS to generate the state’s forest data, social forestry data, administrative data etc. A PDA application has been developed for real time tracking of forest beat guards, alerts for fire, tree cutting, encroachment, man- animal conflict in forest, rescue & release activities for wild animals, etc.

We have created a portal for implementing a Central Command Centre through which an individual can perform tasks such as sending SMS alerts, group calling, mails to higher authorities for immediate action related to emergencies etc. We are also in the process of connecting all Forest Department offices on Multi Protocol Label Switching and a TETRA Digital Trunked Radio System. A Digital Trunk Radio System is to be installed at various locations of the Gir Forest and shall provide radio coverage for the complete forest area.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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disaster management

www.gsdma.org

ICT for Effective Disaster Management Timely communication, multiple levels of redundancy and efficient warning and response mechanisms are key components of an effective Disaster Management system Dr Ranjit Bannerji, CEO, Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority

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he importance of a robust and pervasive information system in minimising loss of life and property in case of disasters can hardly be overemphasised. Information may not be the only factor in effect in cutting down losses to life and property but it certainly is one of the most important. To cite an example, consider the case of Bangladesh. The country was hit by a supercyclone in 2007, which left around 5,000 people dead whereas in 1998, a cyclone of much lesser intensity had led to approximately 1,15,000 deaths. This dramatic change was possible due to the systems and processes deployed in the intervening period.

ICT in DM ICT usage spans different spectrums of Disaster Management. The most important is preparedness – a proper plan is important in preparing for and responding to a disaster. Unless a proper preparedness exercise has been carried out, effective response to disasters would be very difficult.

It is important to ensure that systems enable multiple users to talk to each other, at the design stage itself. We cannot have silo-bound systems where the police have their own communications system, the emergency medical service has their own communication system, fire brigade, ambulance and other first responders have their own systems, other agencies have their own systems, none of which are talking to the other.

All components must mesh together seamlessly into a single communication system that works even under the most adverse situations.

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Very large natural disasters are Black Swan events that happen probably once every few years. The emergency response centre should be flexible enough to normally run with a complement of 10-15 people but in case of an emergency, it must have the ability to ratchet up the manning to 90-100 people within min-

utes so that it can transition to operating under a state of emergency almost immediately.

Key components of GSDRS The Gujarat State Disaster Response System has an integrated Incident Management System operated from a state-of-the art State Emergency Operating Centre (EOC) built at a cost of Rs 40 crore at Gandhinagar. Each of the 26 districts has its own EOC and 35 extremely sensitive talukas have also been provided with dedicated EOCs. Villages particularly prone to cyclones and earthquakes will also have their own EOCs. The State EOC is a unified communication centre from where the Incident Commander would be able to activate the Incident Management System. There will be integrated alert and warning systems that can be activated in real time from the EOC at the state or district level.

In Gujarat, the disaster response system has been developed with six levels of redundancy so that communication lines stay open in the times of disaster. In addition, we are going to deploy emergency response vehicles that will be transmit information in text, visual, voice or any other form in real time from the scene of emergency, in case other infrastructure fails. In case disaster sites are not accessible to vehicles, they will be equipped with portable, suitcase-sized modules that can be deployed at the disaster site to ensure connectivity.

GSDMA has adopted the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer model for the DM System. At present, we are in the process of awarding contracts to selected vendors and the entire system should be in place in about six months’ time.

in person

Sanjay Prasad

Principal Secretary, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Government of Gujarat

“eKalyan is one of the biggest

social sector e-Governance

projects in India�

The Social Justice and Empowerment Department (SJED) is entrusted with empowering people belonging to the backward and underprivileged sections of society. The Department has been following a pro-active approach for effective implementation of various schemes for the welfare of people belonging to vulnerable sections.

Through its various Directorates and District Offices, it runs around 240 schemes and provides welfare services to nearly 70 percent of the population of Gujarat. Sanjay Prasad, Principal Secretary, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Government of Gujarat, talks to Rachita Jha and discusses the many benefits that technology brings to his department and its aspirations for the future

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in person

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he Social Justice Department is a fairly large department with a huge impact on society. What are the key challenges that need to be addressed for effective governance?.

SJED has put in place an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism at all levels to accomplish the basic objectives of the department. However, since a large number of schemes target individual beneficiaries, the department faces challenges such as: identification of the right beneficiary; reaching out to the people and making them aware about the schemes; making people apply for the schemes; managing huge volumes of applications and schemes and timely mobilization of the funds. In order to address these challenges, the department prepared a comprehensive IT Road map and decided to use IT as a primary tool for effective governance.

What are the ICT initiatives taken by SJED to meet its goals and objectives of effective governance?

SJED took a comprehensive approach to implement e-Governance by developing a department portal with information about all its Directorates, Boards and Corporations. The website enables the beneficiary to download application forms of all the schemes. SJED became one of the first departments to digitize more than 12 million records. Under the one day governance program, SJED in association with NIC launched 12 schemes including e-Caste certificates across the districts of Gujarat. SJED has taken a holistic view and conceptualised an ambitious project of making online all the 240 schemes catered by its various offices with an integrated Management Information System (MIS). The project “eKalyan” is one of the biggest social sector eGovernance projects in India. SJED is aiming to create a comprehensive integrated database for all its directorates and corporations.

Please elaborate upon key aspects of the eKalyan Project.

SJED wanted to use ICT to provide timely, economical and door step services to the citizens

through the network of various Citizen Service Centers (CSCs) and Panchayat offices. The department has envisaged a scenario where the person wanting any service would visit the CSC/e-Gram or the Panchayat office which would be within walking distance from their home and apply for the service online. The complete process of verification would be done with the help of information available in the departmental databases and the service would be provided online. The goals and objectives of the SJED eKalyan project can be measured against five main parameters namely: accessibility; economy; timeliness; transparency and efficiency.

When was eKalyan started?

Gujarat Informatics Limited (GIL), the state nodal agency, was nominated as the consultants for the eKalyan project. A detailed study was carried out

by GIL to prepare the Request for Proposal (RFP) and a tender was floated online in the month of

Which are the important schemes being implemented through eKalyan?

The eKalyan project covers approximately 240 schemes which currently are being handled manually. The project in its first phase will target the high volume schemes such as Caste Certificates, pensions for old age people, National Family Benefit Scheme etc. In later stages, the project will cover other important schemes such as scholarships, Cards for physically disabled persons, Saraswati Sadhana Yojana, Manav Garima Yojana etc.

Is eKalyan targeting institutions such as NGOs, Colleges and schools?

There are a number of Residential Schools and hostels run by SJED across the state of Gujarat.

Also the Social Defence branch of SJED works with Orphanage Homes, Children Guidance

SJED became one of

the first departments to digitize more than 12 million records

August, 2010. After a fair and complete transparent tendering process, Mastek Ltd. was selected as the Total Solution Provider. A comprehensive study of all the 242 schemes was carried out in a timely manner along with a thorough Government Process Reengineering exercise. Several workshops were also conducted to build capacity and spread awareness among the officers of the department.

Centers, Old age homes, disability centers etc.

The department aims at integrating all the NGOs for effective management. The department also provides scholarships to thousands of students every year through its pre-matric and post-matric schemes. eKalyan aims to receive applications for all these scholarships and also to disburse the scholarships in an online manner.

How will the department deliver schemes using ICT when most of its beneficiaries belong to backward classes and rural areas of the state?

Which other departments are involved in this project?

eKalyan will be one of the biggest “Government to Citizen (G2C)” internet applications in the state of Gujarat. Launching a G2C system wherein most of the beneficiaries belong to underprivileged sections is a big challenge. Fortunately, in Gujarat, due to the presence of more than 13,000 e-Gram centers with good IT infrastructure, GSWAN (Gujarat State Wide Area Network) availability in district offices and the State Data Center (SDC), it will be possible to launch eKalyan on such a big scale.

eKalyan will be hosted at the State Data Center (SDC) owned by the Department of Science and Technology, Gujarat. The department is planning to use the eGram infrastructure for providing services at the village level. eKalyan will use the databases the Rural and Urban Development Departments. Thus the eKalyan project will have horizontal interdepartmental co-ordination for seamless governance. eKalyan will help SJED to fulfill its vision of truly empowering people belonging to the backward and underprivileged sections of society by providing them timely, economical and doorstep services.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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urban development

www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/in/en

Smart Transportation for a Smarter Planet Emphasis on multi-modal public transport and wide-ranging policy reforms are essential to meet challenges of urban growth N S N Murthy, General Manager, Smarter Planet Solutions, ISA, IBM

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n order to build a smarter planet, an efficient urban transport system is a must. Success of a smart transport system will be dependent on deeper, more holistic and informed planning, collaboration and execution. Transportation service providers will need to become smarter and planning will have to focus upon encouraging public transport, as it is more economical, environment friendly and energy efficient solution as compared to private transport.

Planning is a very important aspect of urban transport, and an integrated, multi-modal transport system is of critical importance to urban areas. Consider the example of Argentina and Columbia, where they have integrated not only the public transport system, but also the taxis and autos into the multi-modal system. In order to ensure true success of a multi-modal system, it is important that there is not even a kilometre’s gap between two modes of transport.

Policy Reforms At a policy level, urban planning in India still does not include transport. About a dozen-odd Departments are involved in transport-related matters. The traffic department, municipal bodies, PWD etc., all work independently and in a disconnected matter. Take Bangalore for example, the Municipal Corporation decides upon parking spots, which might be kilometres away from the actual place of work or residence. The new Metro system is 1.5 km away from the single most populated industrial location in the city – Embassy Golf Links, where roughly 60,000 people work. In order

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to cover this 1.5 km between the Metro station and the office area, one has to take a U-turn, which takes four hours to negotiate due to the traffic. It is difficult to appreciate the planning that would have gone into such design.

Transportation is not taught in most urban planning courses today. It is essential that the future urban planners are exposed to transportation-related issues and also exposed to technology that can be helpful in devising solutions for the most complex urban problems that we are going to face.

All Indian cities above 5 lakh population need to have a multimodal transport policy and procedure in place. There are 50 such cities in India today and we need not wait for the future. Major cities such as Delhi and Bangalore waited for so long and nothing happened. Today, when one gets off from the Metro at Gurgaon, a rickshaw is needed in order to reach the IBM office – such is the state of infrastructure development. This experience should not be replicated in our growing cities and we must be ready for the future.

If needed, there should be no hesitation in taking hard decisions. In Stockholm, citizens themselves voted to impose a congestion charge on private transport, and also decided upon the quantum of the levy. Whatever money is collected trough this levy is used for building skywalks, bike lanes, additional public transport and so on. It has also helped Stockholm become one of the greenest cities in Europe.

urban development

www.mit.gov.in

Reaching the Masses through e-Governance A bottom up approach for urban governance though effective use of ICT will ensure enforceability and transparency in public service delivery Dr Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India

e

Role of m-Governance

Governance is gaining wide currency in India with the Government of India giving it formal acceptance through policy documents, primarily the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). While industrial infrastructure such as rails, roads, and telephone lines were the cornerstones of development in the previous centuries, the 21st century is marked by growth of Information Technologies. Today, urban planners and developers, and governments and industries can use technologies to transform their cities for enhancing the quality of life of citizens and for sustainable urbanisation.

Need of IT in Urban Planning There has been rapid urbanisation in India in the past decades. Urbanisation creates vast pressure in terms of increased demand for services such as energy, education, healthcare,

approach to services.

There is a need for a comprehensive Urban Information System to meet development needs of growing urban areas, and deployment of technology to facilitate people induced planning for smart cities is a must. An intelligent and connected city is one that has been able to connect to all its citizens and made them a part of the growth process. Such a city would have realised the value of investing in the human resources within its territory and optimising their potential as productive citizens to the fullest. Cities are engines of growth, but after all the drivers of this growth process are the human resources which a city has.

transportation, sanitation and physical security. There is an urgent need for cities to apply advanced Information Technology and analytics to develop a more citizen-centric

An intelligent and connected city is one that has been able to connect to all its citizens and made them a part of the growth process

m-Governance can usher in a new approach for delivery of governance services at the doorstep of the citizens. In the context of Urban Local Bodies, the use of advanced tools such as the ICT and Mobile Technology for information sharing enables the service providers to incrementally add services quite easily. Widespread usage of mobile technology and easy to understand text messages has enabled us to lower the barriers to acceptance of these services. The m-Governance in urban local bodies is replicable and captures the required skill levels through the technology to deliver quick and quality services at the doorsteps of citizens by minimizing transaction costs.

There is a need to learn from successful models of mGovernance. To cite one example, a project for urban cleaning, implemented by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) uses the off-site real-time (OSRT) monitoring system which relies upon the cell phone as a major component. GPRS technology allows cell phones to capture real-time images of public servants at work or public sites under inspection, with the date, time and location of the picture. These images are instantly transmitted to a central server and are available in the public domain. For example, garbage clearance that is outsourced to private contractors can be easily monitored using this system. The private contractor collects the garbage door-to-door and brings it to dumper bins from where it is taken to transfer stations. The corporation takes over from here and transfers the waste to the main dumpyards.

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in person eindia 2011 awards

eINDIA 2011 Award Winners

Hall of fame OASIS receives the award for Best Government to Business Initiative of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

ICDS-GMIS (Geo-Graphical Management & Monitoring Information System for ICDS) receives the award for Best Government to Citizens Initiative of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

e-Governance of Mineral Administration (Geology and Mining) receives the award for Best Government to Business Initiative of the Year in the Public Choice Category

AISECT Financial Inclusion Model for Rural India receives the award for Best ICT in Financial Inclusion Initiative of the Year in the Public Choice Category

HORTNET receives the award for Best Government to Government Initiative of the Year in the Public Choice Category

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Online Scholarship Management System receives the award for Best ICT-Enabled eGov Initiative of the Year in the Public Choice Category

Community Public Private Participation through Community Knowledge Centre Model receives the award for Best Telecentre Initiative of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

eGov Strategies and ICT enabled Initiatives at Chief Minister’s Office (IT), Gujarat receives the award for Best Government to Citizens Initiative of the Year in the Public Choice Category

in awards person eindia 2011

IKen Library receives the award for Best ICT Enabled Content for K-12 Education in the Jury Choice Category

Eureka.in receives the award for Best ICT Enabled Content for K-12 Education in the Public Choice Category

Integrated Housing Lottery Management System (IHLMS) receives the award for Best Urban ICT Initiative of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

TeachNext receives the award for Best Assessment Tool Providers in the Public Choice Category

Online Voting System receives the award for Best Urban ICT Initiative of the Year in the Public Choice Category

Extra Marks receives the Special Mention award for Best ICT Enabled Content for K-12 Education

Shodhganga receives the award for Best ICT Enabled Higher Education Institute of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

LK Singhania Education Centre, Gotan receives the award for Best ICT Enabled School of the Year in the Public Choice Category

Gulbarga University Library receives the award for Best ICT Enabled University of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

Lovely Professional University receives the award for Best ICT Enabled University of the Year in the Public Choice Category

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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in person eindia 2011 awards

Xcelerate receives the award for Best Open and Distance Learning Practices in Higher Education in the Jury Choice Category

LearningWare receives the award for Best Technology Solutions for Education Institutes in the Jury Choice Category

Community Development Programme using ICT: JNV DAVANAGERE receives the award for Best Technology Solutions for Education Institutes in the Public Choice Category

AMR APARD eLearning Project receives the Special Mention award for Best ICT Enabled Skills Development Initiative of the Year

DigiClass receives the award for Best Use of Technology for Teaching/ Learning Practices in Schools (Private Sector) in the Jury Choice Category

SevenHills Health City receives the award for Best ICT-enabled Hospital of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

108 Emergency Response Service receives the award for Best Civil Society Development Agency Initiative of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

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Tripura Vision Centre Project receives the award for Best Govt Policy Initiative of the Year in the Jury Choice Category

3D Technology in Education receives the award for Best Use of Technology for Teaching/Learning Practice in Schools (General) in the Public Choice Category

disaster management

www.emergeo.com

Lessons in Disaster Management Continuous planning, simplicity and interoperability of key systems are essential features for any effective disaster management system Mike Morrow, President, EmerGeo Solutions

D

isaster management is a challenge across the world, but it is far more pressing in India, given the high population density, population growth and economic costs associated with disruptions due to disasters. Disasters know no bounds – they do not respect political boundaries, they do not care about capabilities or disruptions. They just happen and one has to be prepared to face these emergencies.

When implementing design solutions for disaster management, it is important to ensure that the systems are open platforms, they are interoperable, can share information across jurisdictions. Basically, one has to make sure that just like disasters, the systems also know no bounds. We have coined a term “plan as you operate, operate as you plan”, emphasising upon the continuous nature of planning in DM. The idea is explained in the accompanying illustration.

Interoperability of systems Having worked in areas with established systems already in place, such as the US, one has seen they have the ‘stove-pipes’ already in place, so that the big challenge in those places is to integrate the existing systems. The focus in such places is on being able to connect and pull the gathered information in a meaningful way so the systems can talk together. While upto a certain level, it is also true for India and one comes across systems one would have to integrate with, the focus here is mainly upon

providing a total, turnkey integrated package.

The focus is not upon developing a single system, but on developing an entire package.

DM Lessons Learnt Based on the experience of having been involved in the development of some large scale disaster management systems, we feel some lessons are worth highlighting. In a large cross-border exercise involving the Canadian Federal, provincial and local authorities, the US Department of State, the State of Michigan and the City of Detroit, we utilised an open technology platform to tie together 6 emergency operation centres. For the first time ever, this exercise was run as a terrorist bomb response scenario. The US and Canada were sharing real time information for the first time ever, and they were able to collaborate and effectively respond – a great success story. Involving a large number of people and jurisdictions, the key lesson from this project was the criticality of developing a system for standardised data exchange among different users.

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver was another complex project and here, the key issue was to aid rapid decision making and management of information overload.

We created a portal that provided a common operating picture. It tied together various applications, with an agnostic approach. This allowed people to use the application on a daily basis and bring all information together in a dashboard environment. A rule-based engine was created to automatically send out alerts if certain pre-defined thresholds for any category of were crossed. We also created an early warning system - a key component to an effective disaster management system. The key takeaway from this project was effective management of information.

Based on other experiences from elsewhere, the key features of a DM-system can be summarised into the following key areas: simple, open, portable, intelligent, spatial and importantly turn-key. In India, we are working very closely with SiS to provide a totally integrated solution to many governments and industry partners.

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public safety and security

www.cisco.com/web/IN/index.html

Features of a Modern Urban Security Solution The rapidly changing urban security scenario demands a sophisticated, open and integrated safety system that works with minimal human intervention Lokesh Lohia, Manager, Sales, Cisco

S

ecuring a city is becoming an increasingly complicated business in the present day and age. Just a few years back, urban security was concerned only with deploying more cameras, more x-ray machines, more security guards etc. The situation today is very different, and technology is playing a much bigger role in ensuring safety of a city. At Cisco, we and our partners are trying to develop an end-to-end architecture that covers each and every aspect of a security system so that all components from the most basic to the most complex are provided as part of a turn-key solution comprising of both products and services.

Not long back, we had a plethora of gadgets, each with its own different system and each with its own set of limitations. All that is now being replaced by sophisticated systems with integrated modules all working as one. Tools

such as video analytics and incident response solutions are acquiring increasing importance in the current scenario and that is where the market is moving.

Ensuring safety and security in an urban environment requires us to address five key concerns – those related to protection, prevention, detection, assessment and response 36

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Key Concerns In the 21st century, ensuring safety and security in an urban environment requires us to address five key concerns – those related to protection, prevention, detection, assessment and response.

Every single component of the system is critical when it comes to securing a city.

In order to improve system reliability, it is essential to minimise human intervention and manual processes. An analysis of recent security incidents shows that human intervention errors comprise the highest proportion of mistakes in responses. It is important to design systems with automated processes so that a security incident is automatically detected as soon as it occurs, and based on the policies that have been defined in the command and control centre, a response mechanism automatically kicks in. This is something very important.

Another important concern is that physical security solutions tend to be more product based. We have to move from such a scenario and adopt more architecture-led solutions that understand the entire gamut of security issues.

We then need to have policies for response mechanism and create an architecture that can deliver solutions. The next important aspect for a reliable security system is ensuring proper domain knowledge in the system. Physical security in an urban setting is a complex task.

At Cisco, we have created different domains: crisis management, urban security, border control, mass venues, public transport and prison approbation. We have developed domain-specific architectures, solutions and products, which then have to be all knitted into one single story.

Our analysis of security incidents shows that the initial response in the most vital early moments is often found wanting. These moments are very important for assessing the situation and devising an appropriate response strategy. The second most important part is the interoperability of systems and how communication happens between the stakeholders.

Third, we need to ensure that the end product is easy to use, as the guy handling it would not be a technical expert. He should be able to understand the solutions completely .

From a scenario of multiple screen-filled control rooms, we have reached an era of dashboard style single control rooms. At the end of it all, the final goal remains to ensure security of the city.

next steps

www.microsoft.com

Taking e-Governance Part 2 Forward It is now time to usher in e-Governance part 2, which will stand on the twin pillars of democratisation of IT and cloud computing. The role of niche social networks is also going to become increasingly important

e

Niraj Prakash, Director, Public Sector Marketing, Microsoft

-Governance part 2 is an idea different from Gov 2.0, which has a separate, specific connotation. Part 2 of e-Governance will cover two important primary things. First among these is the ‘Consumerisation or Democratisation of IT’, which is very significant. In terms of usage of IT, the line between work and personal affairs is getting increasingly blurred. People want to bring their own devices to the workplace and are questioning as to why these devices cannot be used for official work as well, and provide a seamless experience. While this is the context in the business sphere, in government, the scenario is entirely different. In terms of e-Governance, this will most probably lead to a scenario where people will decide the mode over which they would consume government services. Whether or not this turns out to be a chaotic process would depend upon the government, as the consumer is going to have access to all kinds of devices in the years to come.

Social Media

Role of the Cloud The second important component of e-Governance part 2 is the phenomenon of cloud services or cloud computing. The basic technology and infrastructure for cloud

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computing is already there, but the government now needs to look at how to take this to the next level.

There are obviously other forces such as the citizens’ and civil society’s demand, and demands from other sources, which would all have to be balanced and factored into eventual government policy.

Connectivity is the backbone over which any e-Governance initiative rides, and without which not much would be possible. So the basic characteristic of the cloud is that there has to be a broad network access.

The State Data Centres lend themselves extremely well to replicable applications within the states and there are numerous examples of successful initiatives over SDC infrastructure.

It is now pertinent to consider the path governments need to adopt in order to take the e-governance momentum forward.

Bills such as the soon-to-be implemented Electronic Service Delivery, the new IT Policy and other such initiatives would not be of any help unless the larger, long-term picture is also kept in mind.

How will the services be delivered online if issues related to connectivity are not resolved first? In the absence of wide and deep reach of computer literacy, how will these services reach the masses? If we don’t have proper literacy how will the services reach masses?

Such questions also need to be answered.

Another tool for better and more effective governance is social media. Using social media for interacting with citizens is of utmost importance today. This is the time to exploit the social media boom and if we don’t do it now, the time will be lost. But moving further on, what we need to do in terms of online engagements and social networks is to not just get restricted to the popular social media networks which we have available today.

The government has to start looking at very specific networks which they can establish for specific needs. The last key component is the capacity building and public private partnership. If public private partnership has to succeed, that enablement and that acceptance have to happen from government’s point of view.

e-governance in action

www.mahashramm.gov.in

Mahashramm: Empowerment through Inclusion The Department of Labour has embarked upon a gigantic initiative to provide electronic services to 45 million workers Dr Kavita Gupta, Principal Secretary, Industry, Energy and Labour, Government of Maharashtra

M

aharashtra has created a portal called Mahashramm, wherein all services of the Department of Labour will be available online. This is an important step towards fulfilment of the guidelines of the proposed Maharashtra Electronic Service Delivery Act. The project has four major components: labour registration and financial inclusion; Departmental automation and computerization; e-services to businesses; and creation of a network of Business Correspondents (BCs).

Through Mahashramm, the 45 million strong labour force will be registered and given bank accounts, which will thus enable financial inclusion.

The project aims to have 24,000 BCs across the state Components of the Mahashramm Scheme so that the

workers can easily withdraw their money from the accounts created for them.

In Maharashtra, 5 Bills and Acts have been amended and it has been mandated that all labourers other than those employed in agriculture and domestic labourers will be paid their wages, bonus, gratuity, HRA, etc., only through cheque or through banking Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT).

In order to ensure that this provision is implemented, a chain of BCs has to be cultivated across the state so that these transactions can take place.

Under the project, a biometric-enabled wage card will be issued to the worker. The card holder can approach any BC who will allow access to the individual’s account after verifying his or her identity through biometric impressions.

Highlights of the G2B component •

• •

•

All interactions with the industries, trade unions and establishments to be made online Provision of online registrations, returns, applications, NOCs, complaints etc.

Back-end Departmental computerization and workflow automation to align with external e-Services Computerization of the Department’s administrative, accounts and human resource functions

Present status As of now, the project is in the finishing stages and a Pilot has been conducted in the Thane district. 2 lakh workers have already been registered under the project. For every application or return which is filed using the Mahashramm portal, there is a user fee.

This fee is deposited into the project fund which supports the project. Accenture has been appointed as the project consultant and the project is being executed in the PPP mode.

Future plans In the coming days, we plan to extend Mahashram to cover health services, integration with Provident Fund (PF), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme and offer a number of other value added services.

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state initiatives: jharkhand

www.jharkhand.gov.in

ChallengesinEffective e-Governance Use of ICT in government has come a long way from early days of computerisation. The challenge now is to ensure content in local languages and reliable connectivity Satendra Singh, Secretary (IT), Government of Jharkhand

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he first phase of ICT intervention in government was digitising or back office operations, which made it easier for the operations that were still being done manually. Following this phase, processing speed was improved and hassles reduced.

In the next phase, focus was laid on processes and we saw considerable speeding up of many government processes. The third phase involves delivery of services which would become easier and time bound. Now the various state governments are implementing the Public Service Delivery Act, which mandates the delivery of services to the public within a certain time-frame.

Many times, these frameworks are developed by the IT department but the services are to be delivered by other departments. Due to lack of will, coordination, and communication, implementation does not

Issues and Challenges

match intent and as a result the public suffers.

One such example is the State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) project, which is a centrally funded project through DIT, MCIT, which envisages the services to be delivered in an

Availability of useful and useable content is the biggest challenge to the effective use of ICT in governance and development

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electronic way. But this Bill requires an intent notification from the departments specifying the services they intend to make available online. In the absence of proactive action from user departments, it is difficult to prepare the technical framework for implementation. The Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Bill presently under discussion in the central government mandates that every department should notify within a certain period of time what all services they want to deliver electronically.

The Government of Jharkhand has enacted its own ESD Act in September. The Act has been circulated to all departments and it has been made mandatory for all departments to notify within six months the services they will move to the electronic mode.

Availability of useful and useable content is the biggest challenge to the effective use of ICT in governance and development. Even for transaction-based services, content is important. For example if in a particular service all the content is in English then it is difficult for a large number of people to use it.

The e-District project has been launched in Jharkhand where all the certificates are being given online. Applications are collected at the Panchayat level and they are collectively transmitted to the relevant authorities. The certificates are then prepared with digital signatures and sent back to the Panchayats and whoever has applied for a certificate can then collect it from there. The application has been developed as a bilingual one and till now we have issued around 5,000 certificates. And the point to note here is that most of the certificates have been issued in Hindi. This is something that we have to keep in mind – any application has to be in local language for it to be truly effective.

The other issue that we faced is of connectivity. For any project involving online transactions, good and reliable connectivity is one of the prerequisites for success. Ensuring connectivity in rural areas often remains a challenge.

Another issue is of capacity building of the village level or Panchayat level workers. When we started training workshops for the project, we found that 80 percent of them had not even seen a computer in their life. These are challenges one will face in any large-scale project and it is important that steps to handle these are built into the programme design.

ict at the workplace

www.wcd.gujarat.gov.in

Post-Fordism and Implications for e-Governance In a rapidly evolving socio-economic scenario, it is imperative for governance to move to a participatory and proactive model for better service delivery Sangeeta Singh, Commissioner & Principal Secretary, Department of Women & Child Welfare, Government of Gujarat

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hen we talk about e-Governance, we have to see how technology affects our work processes at the bureaucratic level also. In the modern world, one has to have a more holistic approach towards work. In the post Fordist world, High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs), which are new ways of organising work, rewarding performance and involving employees in the decision making process, have been adopted.

HPWPs are characteristic of new technologies based on specialised production, outsourcing and buying, and have led to a shift from the command and control-oriented management to participative management. Job design restructuring, job enrichment, job design, job rotation, job enlargement, cross-training, employee involvement in decision making process and other tools are being used to enhance employee productivity.

Challenges The changing management philosophy presents a great challenge to governments – that of bringing about a concomitant change in governance paradigm. These challenges can be broken down into the following categories: • From vertical to horizontal – restructuring of routines and work processes so that

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tion and increased stakeholder involvement; and • Participatory e-Governance, both for individuals and communities, making governance more interactive, direct and immediate Restructuring of government processes is the key challenge that every department is facing internally. The top down approach is being phased out gradually, in that the beneficiaries did not have much participation in the planning or structuring the schemes or plans which in turn resulted in the programmes being not-so-effective for the target groups. In such a scenario, ICT is playing a major role as a tool to institutionalize stakeholder participation in the process of governance.

Gujarat can be said to be following the Interactive Participatory Model of governance.

SWAGAT and many other projects from the state ensure participation and involvement of public in governance.

The use of public input enables better decision making and provides for more transparency, accountability, responsiveness, and participatory decision making.

ICT in the WCD Department

they are less hierarchy-oriented and more result-oriented; • Improved efficiency in service delivery, enhanced transparency, reduced corrup-

In the Department of Women and Child Development, a very strong network of anganwadis has been developed. The main focus is to put in place an effective nutrition and surveillance system to address the challenges related to malnutrition and under-nutrition. We are working closely with the eMamta project to realize our objectives. Beneficiary-wise data is available, anganwadi data is being developed. We also have the PDS program where the biometric data of all the family members has been linked to avoid duplication. With the Food Security Bill expected to be enacted soon, and increasing concerns related to malnutrition, better data and better analysis of this data will be needed and we can only meet these challenges through a participatory model. In order to meet challenges, the mode of governance will have to transform from representative to direct and from passive to proactive.

rural ict

www.cict.gov.ph

ICT-Related Initiatives in the Philippines Ivan John Uy, Chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, Philippines

T

he Philippines has 7100 scattered islands and obviously in such a situation, connectivity is a difficult issue because of the challenges in providing submarine connectivity for cross the seas in Broadband and reliable networks. Give the island’s remoteness, isolation and lack of electricity, we need to move into many other alternatives using satellite communication, solar power, wind energy and

many other forms of renewable energy in order to sustain.

In the Philippines we have sponsored several Bills to promote ICT. One such Bill is concerned with the creation of a separate Department of ICT to guide the entire ICT strategy plan for the Philippines. This Bill has been passed by the Congress and it needs to be passed by the Upper House.

We are also planning to form a pool of Government CIOs in form of an association or a council so that the ICT programmes of every department are shared. The standards, strategies and projects will be shared and con-

verged. This is a challenge in e-Governance, addressing not only the different pillars or silos of information systems but at the same time overcoming the turf issues to facilitate information sharing. By forming the CIO community we are hoping to bridge many of these gaps.

www.tcs.com

ICT and Rural Development: Challenges and Opportunities

I

Tanmoy Chakrabarty, Vice President & Head, Government Industry Solutions Unit (ISU), TCS

nformation and Communication Technology (ICT) has emerged as a powerful tool in bringing about transformation for the rural population of India. Presently, one does witness ICT proliferation in urban areas in India. Internet penetration and other e-services are showing an upward trend. But the real challenge is to bring the enablement of the ICT to masses and impact the society at large where 75 percent of the population resides in rural India.

The issue is how best can we transfer eGovernance to the rural mass to bring in

transparency and accountability to the functioning of government at various levels?

There is a need to share the example of good practices that are available with the common mass so that these practices are emulated and get replicated and digital parity is established little sooner across the society.

In India, we have an extreme dichotomy.

While on the one hand, India is a country with $80 million dollars IT exports, the rural population still forms the non privileged section of the digital divide. The challenge before us is to bring the economically deprived section to the other side of digital divide.

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data security

www.safenet-inc.com

How Secure is Our Data?

Information security can only be managed when significant emphasis is placed on securing data Ruchin Kumar, Principal Solution Architect, India and SAARC, SafeNet India Pvt Ltd

O

nline space is a blessing, but it can lead to sensitive information falling into wrong hands.

It might be possible to query the system to collect data on the top ten transactions in the last seven days. This may facilitate someone with criminal mindset to make demands on parties involved. There have been many instances where the published information in a public website or any other public media has led to an uncomfortable situation for someone or the other.

These days it has also become possible to query the system to show the list of individuals with the highest number of properties in a certain area.

This may again facilitate someone with a criminal mindset to misuse the information for his or her personal gain. Cases where misuse of data has led to uncomfortable situation often come to light.

Implementing Security

Safeguarding Data In our IT Act, it is mentioned that if a corporation is storing critical data, which gets misused or compromised, then the corpora-

There has to be a system in place where the machines are correctly able to interact through a foolproof system of identification

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tion will be liable to pay damages to the person or entity affected. It can also lead to financial penalties to the corporation and loss of importance. So security is now becoming very important in terms of safeguarding the integrity of the data and the confidentiality of the sensitive information. The idea of nonrepudiation is also important when it comes to data storage.

Integrity of data means that an unauthorised entity should not be able to tamper with the data. Maintaining the confidentiality of the sensitive information means that the data should not be leaked to unauthorised entities.

Non-repudiation means that the person who owns the data should not be able to deny a transaction after having conducted it. Not every piece of data is sensitive. So there should be some system of classifying the data to find out what data requires what level of security.

There is a need to control access. Not every piece of data is needed by everyone. Data should be accessible only to the genuine users. At every point of time the amount of information that can be fetched needs to be controlled.

Security is an ongoing process; it should be running continuously. There has to be a proper audit trail and reporting, so that there can be a timely review of the security of the critical data. How do we authenticate the identity of a person? There is legal validity given to the system of PKI, which uses certificate based authentication to establish my identity. Apart from the system of username and password, which is easy to break, there should be another system of authenticating the identity of the person who is accessing the data.

Then there is the aspect of machine to machine level authentications, where a lot of transactions for mobile governance are being conducted. There has to be a system in place where the machines are correctly able to interact through a foolproof system of identification. SafeNet is one of the oldest security companies in the world. The company employs a large number of encryption engineers, and enjoys presence in every part of the globe. SafeNet’s security systems are being used not only in the government, but also in the finance sector.

public safety and security

www.ca.com/in

Managing Security in e-Governance While creating new ICT infrastructure, we must keep the security related issues in mind Prashant Chaudhary, Technology Evangelist, CA Technologies

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Addressing security concerns

he end objective of the ICT infrastructure we create is to provide certain services to the end-user. If the service is not easily accessible then the whole purpose of having the costly infrastructure gets defeated. At the time when a project gets conceived, a comprehensive study needs to be made of the exact needs of the population.

Building infrastructure without paying heed to the exact needs of the people is akin to building castles in the air. The issue of security is equally important. If the infrastructure cannot be secured, then people might not be drawn towards using it.

Rising complexity of technology Are we managing what we have, because the technology is getting complex day by day.

Whatever infrastructure we create has to be judged not only from a usability and efficiency point of view, but also from security point of view. We have to keep track of the weaknesses, glitches and other issues in the system. For instance, there is the telecom service being pro-

applications that we are using. To manage this infrastructure is a really challenging task. When we talk about the e-Governance services, what are we talking about is that in one click of the mouse the citizen should be able to seamlessly access any particular service.

Many times citizens are not able to do that.

This is because the interface through which the citizens interact is too complex. We need to make things easy for the citizens; if the system is too complex the entire purpose of having the infrastructure is defeated.

vided to millions of citizens. The citizen is only concerned about the device through which he is connected, but behind the device there exists a vast amount of infrastructure. Who is responsible for the upkeep of the infrastructure? Is it only the private companies, or does the government also have a role to play?

Complexity has become the hallmark of the data-centres we are building, or the

If the service is not being provided in a seamless manner then the whole purpose of having the costly infrastructure gets defeated

Security remains an area of concern. The system must be able to correctly identify the users. Who is Ram Lal, who is Shyam Lal - the online medium should be able to tell. At times the citizens are not particular about the kind of User ID or Password that they create. Is it possible to secure the identity of the users by doing something at the data-centre level? If we can do that then we will be able to win the trust of a larger number of users.

We have done a good job of setting up datacentres, which are like highways for the traffic to flow. As of now the traffic is yet to arrive at data-centres. Departments can move into data-centres very quickly whenever they decide to do so. But for one reason or other there are delays, and so many of the data-centres are still waiting for traffic. At some point of time the traffic is sure to arrive. We can also envisage a movement from data-centres to the cloud space. Who will be running the systems when the transactions happen in the cloud? Will the entity that provides the could-based service going to be responsible, or will the government be responsible?

Purely from security point of view, there exist many issues in the random and ad hoc way in which we are installing applications in our data-centres. We still don’t have a comprehensive system of deploying security across data-centres. Can we put a common layer of security across our data-centres so that the citizen has a seamless experience whenever he is trying to access any of our services?

For the cloud space, which we believe is the future of digital world, we are yet to develop a comprehensive strategy. It is time we devoted our attention to enhancing the security of our transactions in the cloud.

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Connectivity

www.airtel.in

The Connectivity Conundrum

computers, laptops, tablets and much else.

We are at a stage where we rarely have to go to banks; we conduct most of our transactions through the online mode. We can also use the online service to take care of all kinds of utility and other.

Airtel has played an important role in the implementation of e-Governance by building a diverse network for providing connectivity in voice, data and video

ICT is about Connectivity

Harjinder Singh, Head Government Vertical, Airtel

W

hen the Industrial Revolution took place, none of us was around, and unless someone believes in the theory of reincarnation, there is very little contribution that anyone of us could have made in the process. But faith in reincarnation cannot be blamed on ICT. The products of ICT have become so widely available that we have developed a tendency to look at everything, even traditional beliefs, through the prism of ICT. The truth is that all of us are addicts of ICT products.

The ICT Revolution The revolution in the IT and ICT space cannot be denied. Technology has seeped into our life with the suddenness or the abruptness of a tsunami. This is not a destructive tsunami; it is a beneficent tsunami that has brought incredible improvements to the quality of our

lives. It was probably in 1987 that I opened a bank account that gave me an ATM card for the first time. Today everyone has an ATM. Even my driver has one. Day after day we are bombarded by ICT and IT products like

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If we can conceive of ICT as a state of art pyramid, then the base or the foundation of the pyramid is made out of connectivity. Without proper infrastructure for connectivity you won’t get speed, you won’t get efficiency and you won’t get security.

It is connectivity that runs your mobile devices; it is connectivity that powers your credit card. Look at the state of Gujarat— a state that has successfully implemented the eGram project, which provides connectivity at every level. I feel proud to say that the Gujarat eGram connectivity is being provided by Airtel.

If there is willingness on part of the government, then roll out of e-Governance initiatives can happen in a timely and judicious manner. The government in Gujarat has been able to take such initiatives, but many other states in the country have not done so. That is why Gujarat’s success cannot be replicated in other states.

If the government of India is serious about improving the quality of lives, they have to implement many projects.

Many state level data centre projects have already been implemented, but most of the data centres are not yet operational. The government of India needs to find out why the data centres continue to be inactive in some states. In many cases, the states have failed to provide the final acceptance test to the data centres. What is it that is preventing the state from providing the final acceptance test?

There is huge resistance from some departments from moving into data centres, and this is something that is thwarting the growth of ICT in the country. However, lot of progress has been made on the connectivity front.

Connectivity, whether it is fibre, wireless, GPRS, 3G dongles and VSAT is something that is already here. In 2012 we expect 4G to be here and that could be the biggest game changer.

IN PERSON

Dr Avinash Vashistha Chairman & MD, Accenture

“Technology opportunities for

transforming public-service

delivery in India”

T

he slowdown in the US and UK markets has given local players an opportunity to explore the Indian market potential. How is India leading as an IT destination and what are the key reasons for its success?

The English speaking/writing ability of Indian engineers may have been a subtle but crucial element that turned the tide in India’s favour. Accenture too is in India because of the unparalleled talent it offers and has over 70,000 people across its businesses in India which serves both global and domestic clients. India is experiencing strong growth across most industry sectors, and businesses here are becoming more sophisticated in buying the kinds of services and are also more amenable to investing in technology. When you combine these factors, there are many opportunities in India.

Tell us more on how ICTs can help in strengthening the overall economy and growth in India

The talent available in India is exceptional and according to me this is one of the key reasons that has propelled India to become a leading IT destination. Accenture has been successful in India largely because of the unparallel talent it offers. The company started Indian operations in 1987, and set-up its first delivery center for technology in Mumbai in 2001. Today, it has 25 centers across 7-cities.

In conversation with Rachita Jha, Accenture India Chairman & Managing Director Avinash Vashistha lays out the growth landscape and future vision for technology and its new avatars of application in India.

Technology is catalyzing a massive social and economic transformation in India. It is connecting people and communities, enabling innovation and productivity increases, and improving standards of living and opportunities across the country. New connection points arise daily as government funding and low-cost innovations – such as a US$35 touch-screen tablet developed in India – make purchasing computing hardware more feasible. Technology also offers opportunities for transforming public-service delivery. Our analysis illustrates that, by investing in skills and widespread technology adoption to harness the technology trend, India can boost its GDP by `4 trillion (US$90 billion) by 2020, 2.8 percent above the current trajectory. This can help create 10.8 million new jobs by 2020. Organizations need to seriously think about how they can harness the power of technology to become more efficient and grow at the same time.

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IN PERSON

Tell us the more about current technology trends The key technology recommendations can be broadly along five strategic actions: Embrace the cloud: Purchasing IT solutions as a service enables companies to enter new markets rapidly, minimize sunk costs and benefit from cutting-edge software. Offering all these advantages, cloud computing will help Indian entrepreneurs and SMEs compete with larger organisations.

Use technology to pursue polycentric innovation: Multinational companies are pursuing “polycentric innovation”—choosing locations for innovation based on the markets served; for example, a different innovation hub for a different type of innovation for a different type of market.

They are increasingly shifting idea incubation to locations like India to create relevant products for their emerging-market consumers. “Reverse innovation” is also on the rise, whereby ideas originate in emerging markets before being sold into the developed world.

Harness technology to serve customers’ needs: Indian companies recognize the importance of putting the customer at the centre of their technology agendas.

They are analyzing customer needs before deciding what technology to deploy, which helps them justify technology investments to the shareholders.

Share digital literacy: Widespread digital literacy is critical for amplifying technology’s impact on productivity and innovation across the wider economy. Full integration of new technology requires a variety of skills in the workforce at a range of levels, from basic digital literacy to more advanced technical skills.

Knowledge-sharing schemes such as mentoring, social networks and enterprise wikis can spread the necessary expertise cheaply and effectively as well as bridge generational gaps in working practices.

Create open innovation networks: Open innovation—whereby companies involve stakeholders such as suppliers, vendors and customers in their innovation process—are attracting significant interest in India. Automobile companies in India provide exceptional examples. They have nurtured capabilities in local auto-parts companies and OEMs and, in return, have benefited from these stakeholders’ ideas—strengthening technological capabilities across the industry’s value chain.

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How can Indian education and healthcare sectors benefit from technology applications?

Although India has a strong IT talent pool, a wide gap exists in terms of other technical skills. The government and corporate sector are trying to bridge that gap through skills-development programmes. Similarly in healthcare, Information technology (IT) has the potential to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care. Diffusion of IT in health care is generally low (varying, however, with the application and setting) but surveys indicate that providers plan to increase their investments.

Drivers of investment in IT include the promise of quality and efficiency gains. Barriers include the cost and complexity of IT implementation, which often necessitates significant work process and cultural changes. Certain characteristics of the health care market—including payment policies that reward volume rather than quality, and a fragmented delivery system—can also pose barriers to IT adoption.

ture’s third global IT performance research study, an India-specific survey shows that High Performers, not surprisingly, are more evolved in their information management practices than other organisations.

Data security: WikiLeaks most recently demonstrated the damage that can be caused when information assets are not properly protected. In addition, sophisticated and targeted attacks on government systems have added significant security concerns. In 2011, governments and large enterprises will invest far more in technologies, services and business processes to protect sensitive information assets.

Virtualization technologies: India lags way behind in the adoption of virtualization as compared to US and UK where adoption of virtualization technologies has almost reached 100%. Indian companies use mostly thin clients with seamless multi-media access to enterprise content. There is a lot of interest in piloting these solutions, but few are committing to it.

However, with suppliers’ spreading awareness

“Although India has a strong IT talent pool, a wide gap exists in terms of

other technical skills”

Given IT’s potential, both the private and public sectors have engaged in numerous efforts to promote its use within and across health care settings. Additional steps could include financial incentives (e.g., payment policy or loans) and expanded efforts to standardize records formats, nomenclature, and communication protocols to enhance interoperability.

As we approach the new financial year, what are your predictions on the IT spend and the key sectors to look out for?

Every year we come out with Accenture technology vision on technologies that will be adopted by companies in the years to come. I am outlining a set of technologies that will turn out to be a key enabler for organisations. These are…

Analytics: Indian enterprises are fast becoming aware that business intelligence helps enterprises to increase revenue, reduce costs and enhance service efficiency. As per Accen-

about the benefit of virtualization, 2011 should see an uptake in adoption of these services.

Cloud Computing: Cloud computing – including Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS) – is emerging slowly, and India as compared to US and UK, is surprisingly lagging in SaaS adoption. However, the good news is that Indian organizations are currently far more receptive to cloud-related marketing messages than other organizations in APEJ region, with only 19 percent viewing the cloud as “over-hyped.” The majority of organizations are still reading and monitoring cloud trends and would take more informed and definitive actions in the coming year.

Open Source: Open source technologies have started gaining acceptance and momentum with a host of technologies associated with FOSS. A perceived lower cost of ownership has been pushing enterprises and SMBs to switch to open source-based solutions.

3

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e-districts

www.mit.gov.in

Online Service Delivery Through e-Districts The e-District project is presently being implemented in more than 600 districts and will bring a large number of citizen cervices online Abhishek Singh, Director, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and IT, Government of India

U

nder the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), the core infrastructure in 27 mission mode projects is being implemented countrywide. As part of the initial success in the first five years of the NeGP, the major initiatives that have been implemented are State Wide Area Network (SWAN), Data Centres, and Common Services Centre (CSC). While setup of SWAN has been completed in almost 27 to 28 states, Data Centres have been completed in 15 states and in others, the process in well underway. Around 97,000 CSCs have been established so far. This includes infrastructure that has been laid down across the country. For citizens to be benefitted, they now need applications to be delivered for using the infrastructure.

e-District Project The Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) seek to

use this infrastructure to deliver public services to citizens and the e-District Project is one of the important MMPs. This is one of the major initiatives that will undertake automation of backend of District Collector offices,

Data Centres have been completed in 15 states and in others, the process in well underway.

Around 97,000 CSCs have been established so far 50

egov / www.egovonline.net / January 2012

Taluka offices or block offices and deliver high volume of citizen services at district level in an electronic mode. These services primarily include certificate services like birth, death, caste, income, domicile, residence; social welfare services like disability pension, old age pensions, widow pensions, scholarships; Right to Information services, grievance services, services related to revenue court, etc.

The e-District project being implemented in a centralised architecture model. There is one software application and one database for all the services, which is hosted in the state data centre. Various field offices communicate and share the information and the data by using the SWAN. Citizens can access the services through the CSC, as in the eGram centres of Gujarat. For any services request, the citizen can make the application from CSC in place of residence. The application goes to the state data centre, then state services delivery gateway route the applications to the right field offices and it reaches the field offices on the same day of the application is filed. After various levels of verification like address proof, income proof, caste proof, etc. done by revenue functionary, the application is uploaded in the system and then the services is delivered electronically to the citizen at the CSC from where the citizen has applied. This eliminates the requirement of any intermediaries, bringing transparency and accountability in governance.

The government has approved this project to be implemented in all 641 districts in April 2011. It is expected that within two years this project will be implemented across the country.

The project provides the funding support of two years for implementation and two years of support. The initiative focuses on a very key point that it requires a high level of involvement of district collectors in implementing the project.

Besides the software application, IT infrastructure, the network, the most critical part in implementing the pilot e-district project has been the training and change management required at the field level as the functionaries are required to use their digital signatures. They are also required to have the change of mindset that one can actually deliver the service without the citizen coming to the government offices.

Gujarat will have the head start, with the ATVT project (Apno Taluka Vibrant Taluka), e-Mamta in the health sector or eGram project services delivered electronically.

Financial Inclusion

www.jkbank.net

Financial Inclusion in Jammu and Kashmir As the implementing agency for the CSC scheme in the state, J&K Bank has adopted a number of innovative practices and used technology to reach beneficiaries Sajad Wani, Executive (IT), J&K Bank

W

e are one of the leading banks in J&K and are operating 650 branches across India. We have leveraged our network and the Common Service Centres (CSCs), which are called ‘Khidmat Centres’ in Jammu and Kashmir, to take financial inclusion across the state. As a premium bank in the state with little competition, we also took financial inclusion as our social responsibility.

Khidmat Centres In February 2009, the CSC project was entrusted to J&K Bank for implementation, on the recommendation of the state government. As we started this venture before any mandate for financial inclusion was brought out by the regulatory authorities, we planned for financial services as the key activity at these centers for the villages. Under the CSC

scheme, our bank has to have 109 CSCs set up in the state and so we began on our journey. Every six villages were to have a CSC, and with 6,600 villages in the state we have 1109 CSCs, and so clustering of the

Each smart card has the ability to have 15 accounts and track previous transactions. The accounts includes saving bank account, no frills account, MNREGA and social security accounts and loans

villages was done in order to have evenly scattered CSCs across the state. This was followed by the selection of Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs), followed by identification and development of the sites followed by standardised branding of the CSCs across the state. The infrastructure at the CSCs in J&K includes laptop, printer, connectivity (VSAT), furniture, digital camera and power back-up.

650 such centers are operational.

We were given a target of 1260 unbanked villages i.e. 535 SLBC villages and 725 non SLBC villages to be covered by March 31, 2013.

As of now we have engaged 423 VLEs as BCs to provide ICT for financial services to villages in the state. In the state, 805 unbanked villages will be covered by 423 VLEs. One of the services offered at these centers included J&K Bank Loan Documentation Product. This was devised considering the many legal documents that we required for loans. For financial inclusion, we took a special permission to include the VLEs operating the CSCs as Business Correspondents (BC), apart from these we have educational services, utility services and others.

The major challenge when we started the project was to finance the centers, and it was the VLE who had to bear the costs of setting-up and running the centre successfully.

Our bank took a special initiative and devised a unique product for financing the CSCs and is named as the J&K CSC Finance. In this product, `1.58 lakh is given as a loan to VLE to set up the centre.

Technology platform For the technology platform we have tied-up with FINO (Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd), and they provide us smart cards that have biometric authenticated cards provided to the customers – that are suitable for the citizens residing in remote villages as it avoids al the paperwork that is required for either depositing or withdrawal of cash from the Khidmat Centres. Each smart card has the ability to have 15 accounts and track previous transactions. The accounts includes saving bank account, no frills account, MNREGA and social security accounts and loans. The major CSCs earning are coming from the financial inclusion schemes and we are looking forward to a wider reach and penetration of our services to the unbanked in the state.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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Financial Inclusion

www.aisect.org

Working to Further Financial Inclusion The objective of financial inclusion could not be realised till date due to a number of economic and policy issues, but the scenario is changing for the better Abhishek Pandit, Director, AISECT

A

ISECT Ltd is a leading service provider active in the domains of education, training, citizen services and e-governance. We are active in semiurban and rural areas of the country. Our 8,000 centres are spread across the country. We also operate 6,000 Common Service Centres in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh & Punjab.

Coming to financial inclusion, it is pertinent to note some critical points: • In India, almost half the country is unbanked.

• Only 55 percent of the population have deposit accounts and 9 percent have credit accounts with banks.

• India has the highest number of households (145 million) excluded from banking in the world.

• On an average, there is only one bank branch per 14,000 people.

• There are 6,00,000 villages in India, but the number of rural branches of Scheduled Commercial Banks, including Regional

Rural Banks number a meagre 33,495.

• Only a little less than 20 percent of the population has any kind of life insurance and 9.6 percent of the population has non‐life insurance coverage.

• Just 18 percent have debit cards and less than 2 percent have credit cards.

We have installed Remittance Kiosks to facilitate transfer of money by rural migrant workers in a number of urban centres 52

egov / www.egovonline.net / January 2012

The figures cited above need no explanation or analysis. It is very evident that we have a problem in the country when it comes to financial inclusion. Marginal and landless farmers, oral lessees, self employed, urban slum developers, migrants, minorities, social excluded groups, senior citizens and women constitute the majority of the financially excluded.

Issues and Challenges A number of initiatives such as cooperative movements, establishment of Regional rural Banks, Self Help Groups, the Lead Bank Scheme etc have been started with a view of addressing the issue of financial inclusion in the country. However, progress has so far not been able to match expectations. Historically, problems such as inadequate usage of technology in the banking system, issues of reach and coverage, absence of a viable delivery mechanism, absence of a viable business model are some of the major challenges afflicting the cause of financial inclusion on the country.

With the increasing adoption of technology and adoption of the Business Correspondent (BC) model, costs are being brought down so that banking services for the poor do not have to be a loss-making proposition. Even in other areas of bank operations, increasing adoption of technology is helping improve efficiencies and change the very face of banking as we have known it.

In addition, finalisation of a roadmap to cover villages above 2000 population by March 2012; guidelines for mandatory opening of 25 percent of all new bank branches in unbanked rural centres; simplification of Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation requirements and guidelines for convergence between Electronic Benefit Transfer and financial inclusion plans, etc., are some recent initiatives that will go a long way in promoting the cause of financial inclusion.

AISECT Activities AISECT is actively involved in promoting financial inclusion. We have a network of BCs, and Business Facilitators (BF); have been trying to introduce insurance services for villages across the country; have installed Remittance Kiosks to facilitate transfer of money by rural migrant workers in a number of urban centres. We have also introduced Mobile van Banking where mobile vans moves village to village and provide banking support to people in these villages.

www.emaharashtra.eletsonline.com

e-governance in action

www.gipl.net

GIPL as an ICT Facilitator for Government

Data Documentation An eFiling system has been installed that helps in data documentation. The system helps in tracking the status of the data entered, while at the same time it fastens the record retrieval process, thereby improving overall performance.

eProcurement

A dedicated PSU has been established to help different government departments in implementation of e-governance.

GIPL provides consultancy, software and hardware solutions V K Sharma, CEO, Gujarat Info Petro Limited

Human Resource Management A human resource management system called eEmployment has also been developed. This is a recruitment management portal with various features including online examination, payroll management, leave management, skill and training management, performance appraisal and employee productivity mapping.

G

ujarat Info Petro Limited is involved in a wide range of activities, varying from the implementation of information technology projects to consultancy, software development and implementation, data centre applications, virtual private network with tunnelling solutions, video conferencing, and bandwidth management software among others. It is the nodal agency for most of the departments and Public Service Undertakings in Gujarat. Most of these departments have implemented ERP, CRM and SCM, which have brought about the requisite transformation in work process and service delivery by lowering transaction cost, improving transparency and accountability, reducing delay and corruption and bridging the performance gap. On the application management side, we have implemented cloud computing, server virtualisation and customised solutions, which are flexible and designed as per need. Implementation of cloud computing has facilitated the expansion of required infrastructure and improved reliability.

The integration of an eProcurement system enhanced transparency, reduced tender cycle-time and facilitated fast and accurate pre-qualification and evaluation.

Smart Cards An RFID-based inventory management system with asset tracking and asset control has been developed. The integration of GPS helps in tracking vehicles and fleet. Smart card based identification and access system for ticketing and universal applications. system has been put in place. Another important feature is that the system provides real-time backup of all data. Data protection and security are ensured through intrusion prevention and control system, unified security management, taming wild firewall with Tuffin technologies and information security management system.

Information Sharing Video conferencing and web casting are used for sharing information throughout. Video-conferencing is easy to set-up and best for remote communication, while web casting is user friendly and allows mass information sharing.

Data Storage and Security For data storage, the applications installed include DRMS, CDP and data proliferation. This has largely helped in de-duplication, thereby accelerating the transaction process. Data archiving has also become more efficient and an automatic disaster recovery management

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A snapshot of GIPL initiatives

e-governance in action

www.gujaratindia.com

Technology for the People Gujarat takes a technology-based approach for addressing public grievances A K Sharma, Secretary to the Chief Minister and CEO, Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board

T

he State Wide Attention on Grievances through Application of Technology (SWAGAT) initiative is an exemplary programme that has won several accolades including the UN Public Service Award in 2010. Initiated in 2003, SWAGAT has been running very successfully for the last eight years. SWAGAT owes its inception to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat who believes that an effective grievance redressal system is extremely important.

Developed almost completely by NIC, the scheme has impacted 208,416 applicants and almost 91 percent of cases have been resolved. Various types of grievances, some even involving changes in government policy, and long-pending cases have been resolved through the system.

Benefits of SWAGAT Before the launch of SWAGAT, public grievances were not handled systematically.

The paper-based process was cumbersome and lengthy and there was no mechanism for monitoring and follow-up. There was no transparency in the system and officials had no fear of being exposed. Further, the common man had no access to the higher authority.

SWAGAT has brought in transparency and during the sessions, all stakeholders are present in real-time. The Hon’ble CM directly reviews the cases, hence ensuring compliance. Inputs from everybody including the citizens, key officers and elected representatives are consid-

on the 4th Thursday of every month.

In the morning, the grievance applications are registered online at SWAGAT Office, details of which are immediately available to the concerned officers.

In the next phase, the officers enter information and responses online. The Hon’ble Chief Minister and senior officers then interact with applicants and the district and sub-district officers attend the programme through video-conferencing. Based on the decisions taken, cases are redressed on the same day or in time-bound manner and all directions given by the Chief Minister are formally recorded. First-time complaints are handled by at lower levels of administration and unresolved cases move up the government hierarchy.

The Infrastructure

ered, which ensures fairness of the system. The project has made the highest authority aware of the nature of problems that exist at the local level. Further, the responsiveness, accountability and awareness of the local administration have also increased.

The Process The state-level SWAGAT meeting is conducted

SWAGAT operates on the Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN) that connects all 26 districts to state data centre with 2-8 Mbps bandwidth. This is based on leased circuits provided by BSNL, Reliance and Tata Tele Services that interconnect 8,496 district and sub-district offices. 23,017 user IDs have been created for government officers, under this scheme. The video conferencing centres are located across 26 department offices, 26 district offices and 239 sub district offices.

The platform used is Microsoft Dot Net 2.0 as front-end and SQL server 2005 as back-end.

The system is totally transparent as applicants are given a unique ID through which they can access their case details and status online from anywhere.

The Impact The scheme has provided quick relief and satisfaction to the common people when grievances were addressed at the highest level. Severe action was taken against delinquent officials. Farreaching policy changes were brought about and administrative processes re-engineered.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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e-governance in action

www.censusgujarat.gov.in

ICT for a Better and Quicker Census 2011 Effective use of ICT at all stages of the 2011 Census led to better data processing and release of Census findings in record time.

This will be of immense help to planning agencies, governments and businesses Vrushali Warade, Deputy Director, Directorate of Census Operations, Gujarat

C

ensus of India is a unique exercise that takes place every ten years.

Census 2011 was the 15th in a series, unbroken since 1872. The census was held in two phases- House Listing and Housing Census (April to September 2010) and Population Enumeration (February 2011).

Population Enumeration in snow bound areas was conducted in September 2010.

This year the task was supported by a number of technological innovations. The first being availability of digitised maps of all the areas to be covered through the census. The map of each village (6 lakh in number) was given to the enumerators to avoid duplication and omission.

There were satellite based digital maps of 33 Capital Cities upto street and building level.

Another area where technology played an immensely active role was the instruction

The Facebook page of Census had thousands of likes and we had personalities like Prime Minister Dr Manmohan SIngh and Sam Pitroda posting on the Facebook page 56

egov / www.egovonline.net / January 2012

manuals and census schedules that were printed. All of them had bar codes and partly pre-printed location particulars. The enumerators who conduct the census need a great motivation and proper training to go for the herculean task. This year around 2.7 million enumerators and supervisors were trained and ICT was used in this part of the process as well. e-Learning modules were used for training.

Internet, training CDs, community radio and SMS/email - all modern means were used to train the enumerators.

Mainly schoolteachers were appointed as enumerators and there was a strong advertisement campaign supporting Census 2011. From radio to the Internet, all types of media were extensively used for spreading the message.

Social media and ICT played a major role here also. The Facebook page of Census had thousands of likes and we had personalities like Prime Minister Dr Manmohan SIngh and Sam Pitroda posting on the Facebook page. We also revamped our website to encourage participation through it.

A dedicated call centre was established for redressal of grievances received from public about non-enumeration. The call centre had facilities for redressal of grievances in 12 languages. The Census Commissioner also reviewed progress using the video-conferencing facility and was in regular contact with all the 640 District Census Officers in the country.

Interaction with officers in the field in remote and difficult districts was made possible by use of appropriate technology.

The next step of Census after enumeration is data processing. We have undertaken a thorough revamp of our data processing capabilities and all machines have been upgraded. We also employed Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) technology for faster processing of the Census schedules. Due to extensive use of technology, it was possible to come out with Census reports in a record time. Early availability of Census data can be a big help in planning activities for socio-economic development and also for a variety of governance and business related needs.

We must realise the role that technology is playing in various activities that make life easier for authorities as well as the beneficiaries that is the citizens. Through ICT this year’s Census was a comparatively simpler task and we look forward to the next Census.

broadband infrastructure

www.huawei.com/in

Helping Governments Implement e-Governance One of the world’s largest telecom companies is now working on a wide range of e-governance projects Eric Yu, President, Huawei Enterprise

G

overnments face a number of challenges in integrating ICT due to problems such as: a weak infrastructure and low level of information management, lack of system integration, low collaboration, etc. As the first step towards effective e-governance, a national broadband infrastructure is imperative as other types of connectivity are not adequate for effective service delivery.

Huawei has developed solutions covering

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education, healthcare, parking automation, and city management. Above all, we believe green and cost effective, cloud-based ICT is essential for sustainable e-Governance services.

Huawei has implemented a smart city surveillance project in Guangzhou – one of China’s largest cities. Guangzhou has a population of 90 million, and under the project, one million cameras have been installed in the city. 6 percent of these cameras are controlled by the Government, mainly Home Department while 60 percent of the cameras have been deployed to manage the traffic in the city. The system also provides extensive analytics to the administration, helping it modify service delivery as per requirements.

Once security is ensured one can think about increasing efficiency. Cloud-based operations will go a long way in improving productivity while lowering costs.

Huawei has developed numerous cloud solutions that work across hardware and software platforms. This will facilitate easy, round-the-clock access to and sharing of information.

Solutions developed by Huawei meet the criteria for e-governance being “easy, effective and economic”. Our solutions are designed with the end user in mind, and are easy to understand and operate.

Our solutions offer good value for money and are scalable to meet changing needs and demands. We have a range of end-to-end solutions in a number of areas such as intelligence in surveillance, control traffic or emergency command centres.

Huawei works with a number of partners to develop effective solutions that meet all requirements of our clients. We have executed projects in a variety of modes such as PPP, public projects or privately-run projects.

easia report 2011

Asia’s Premier ICT event marks its presence at Bangladesh www.e-asia.org

Honourable Prime Minister H.E. Sheikh Hasina Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and Architect Yeafesh Osman, Honourable State Minister, Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology, Government of Bangladesh releasing a postage stamp on eAsiA 2011 to mark the 40th year of independence

The eASiA initiative was introduced to facilitate a common space for all the stakeholders allowing them to share their experience through face to face consultation, online consultations, discussions and communications. This forum provided an opportunity to reach out to the appropriate community with adequate knowledge resource materials. It became an effective forum for a quick knowledge exchange which would be instrumental in preserving and adding on to the knowledge as well as resources while keeping it dynamic in order to meet the changing needs.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

59

easia report 2011

Chief Guest HE MD Zillur Rahman, Honourable President(centre), People’s Republic of Bangladesh Architect Yeafesh Osman, Honourable State Minister, Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology, Government of Bangladesh (left) and other dignitaries on the dais graced the occasion at the valedictory function

I

nformation and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have transformed the very concept of development and growth, bringing disparate communities together in virtual interactive communities of shared experiences and understanding. This revolution has shaped social changes that necessitate a rethinking of what it means to be part of a community since lack of access to the knowledge society invariably means exclusion from the social, economic and political decision-making process.

The 5th eASiA 2011 provided for a knowledge platform to gather thought leadersips, schol- The audience attending the inaugural function in the ‘Hall of Fame’, BICC ars, practitioners, policy makers and government functionaries, academia from across Asian countries and beyond to exchange, collaborate and become engaged in a continuing dialogue ultimately leading to appropriate, innovative and ground-breaking policy solutions. It provided for a platform for strategic knowledge building community aiming at developing, identifying, and sharing emerging practices on the integration of ICTs in various facets of growth and development in governance, education and health.

The 5th eASiA 2011 was organsied at Dhaka, Bangladesh to commemorate the 40th birth anniversary of Bangladesh and celebrating Digital Bangladesh agenda of the government from December 1-3, 2011 at Bangabandhu International Convention Architect Yeafesh Osman, Honourable State Minister, Ministry of Science and Information Centre (BICC). Bringing more than 200 international leaders and Communication Technology, Government of Bangladesh (left) felicitating Chief Guest HE Md Zillur Rahman, Honourable President, People’s Republic of Bangladesh as speakers from across the globe, the event kicked off suc-

60 egov / www.egovonline.net / January 2012

easia report 2011

Key Sessions: Co-creation: Citizens in the role of service providers An appropriate Telecommunications Regulatory framework to maximize citizen’s benefits Telecentres Sustainability to bridge digital divide Cost effective Healthcare services using ICTs ICT enabled Future Classrooms to increase learning outcomes Redefining pedagogy: Teachers as mentors and guides ICT enabled Agricultural Services to be accessible, available and cost effective Application development for mobile platform Best practices in safeguarding digital content

Honourable Prime Minister H.E. Sheikh Hasina Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh attending the exhibition

Prime Minister (centre), Dr MP Narayan, President, CSDMS(left), Sajeev Wajed Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (right) and State Minister (extreme right)

Prime Minister visiting the eAsia expo 2011

cessfully with the inauguration by Honourable Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The Prime Minster, in her inaugural speech, emphasised that the government wants to build the new generation as technology-friendly human resources by providing skills in ICT in different sectors of development such as governance, education, healthcare, agriculture, outsourcing, among others.

Releasing a postage stamp on eASiA 2011 to mark the 40th year of independence, the Prime Minister also highlighted the need for a global cooperation to build an eco system around the drive for ICT for Development.

In line with the four key strategic pillars of Digital Bangladesh vision, eASiA 2011 comprised of unique thematically inter-related conferences: Building Capacity, Connecting People, Serving Citizens and Driving Economy. The conference spanning over three days with more than 35 sessions, witnessed a footfall of more than 25,000 visitors and participants.

The exhibitions provided a great platform for knowledge sharing, showcasing projects, programmes and initiatives of government and private sector agencies and corporations, as well as for demonstrating innovative ICT products, solutions and applications for various domains, which were covered under the scope of the event. There were also pavilions of the countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China and Japan along with two special pavilions from Nordic countries. eASiA 2011 Awards night was witnessed by the distinguished guests including the Honorable Minister for Planning and Honorable Minister for Science and Information and Communication Technology. The eASiA Awards were instituted with the primary aim of felicitating and acknowledging unique and innovative initiatives in the use ICT4D. The award categories were chosen in alignment with the five themes of the conference: Building Capacity, Connecting People, Serving Citizens, Driving Economy and Breaking Barriers. Among 38 finalists, 17 awards were given in the gala event held on the second day of the conference.

The valedictory session was presided by the HE Md Zillur Rahman, Honorable President, People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

January 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

61

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