Sharing Knowledge, Expanding Horizons: January 2008 Issue

Sharing Knowledge, Expanding Horizons

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VOLUME 4

| ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2008

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THE E-GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE FOR ASIA & THE MIDDLE EAST

Abhishek Singh Ajay Ahuja Dr Ajay Kumar Aman Kumar Singh Anoop Kumar Srivastava Anurag Jain Ashis Sanyal C K Mathew Dr C Chandramouli Digvijay Singh Chudasama Gianluca Misuraca Jaijit Bhattarcharya J Satyanarayana M G Kiran M N Vidyashankar Prof M S Swaminathan Manoj Chugh Nagendra Venkaswamy Nagy K. Hanna Nandita Krishna Nandu Pradhan Neel Ratan Neeta Verma Oleg Petrov Prakash Rane Princy Bhatnagar R Chandrashekahar R S Sharma Raj Kumar Rajwant Sandhu Ranjan Anandan Ravi Venkatesan S P Singh Prof S Sadagopan Samia Melhem Sandeep Nair Satish Kaushal Steven Clift Subodh Vardhan Suresh Chanda Syedain Abbasi Tanmoy Chakrabarty Wajahat Habibullah

Rs 75

Anniversary Special Issue

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ov volume 4 | issue 1 | january 2008 PRESIDENT

Dr. M P Narayanan

EDITORIAL This is Just the beginning...

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ravi Gupta GROUP DIRECTORS

Maneesh Prasad Sanjay Kumar SR. SUB EDITOR

Prachi Shirur RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Neha Sabharwal, Shilpa Sahay

W

HAT are three years in the life of a magazine?

Nothing.

What are three years in the life of a country?

Nothing.

What are three years in the life of a organisation?

Nothing.

MARKETING

Gautam Navin mobile: +91 9818125257 email: gautam@csdms.in Debabrata Ray mobile: +91 9899650692 email: debabrata@csdms.in DESIGNED BY

Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Om Prakash Thakur Chandrakesh Bihari Lal (James) WEB MAITAINANCE

Zia Salahuddin Amit Pal Santosh Kumar Singh SUBSCRIPTIONS & CIRCULATION

Lipika Dutta (+91 9871481708) Manoj Kumar (+91 9210816901)

So here we are! Celebrating 3 years of egov magazine!

The magazine, which was a first in the country on the subject.

It’s heartening to see other following suit. It means perhaps you are doing something right. The magazine which many have liked (IT can change our governments), many have ignored (IT can not solve anything). And, many have loved! But one thing is for sure! This magazine has made a mark! In the minds.

We firmly BELIEVE that e-Governance is important for India’s development.

We firmly BELIEVE that e-Governance CAN help transform India’s legendary bureaucracy.

We firmly BELIEVE that e-Governance is crying need of India’s poor, the middle class and the rich.

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE

eGov

We began this journey when no one dared to tread this path.

G-4 Sector 39 NOIDA 201301, India

The journey has been long. And for sure a challenging one.

tel: +91 120 2502181-85 fax: +91 120 2500060

We are looking forward to the next three years. And beyond…

email: info@egovonline.net

With excitement.

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There’s a lot to be said. Lot to be read. Lot to be learnt.

New Delhi, India

THIS IS JUST THE BEGININNG… egov does not neccesarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in the magazine

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!

are those of the contributors. egov is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred, directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided. egov is published & marketed in collaboration with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. (www.elets.in) © Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies 2008 www.csdms.in

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Ravi Gupta Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

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w w w . e g o v o n l i n e . n e t | volume 4 | issue 1 | january 2008

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VISION

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NEGP: CORE INFRASTRUCTURE: STATE WIDE AREA NETWORK

Towards Co-operative Relationship between Government and Citizens

Interview: Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner, Government of India

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A Seamless Converged Communications Network

Interview: Ashis Sanyal, Senior Director, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of

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Next Three Years will be the Years of State MMPs

Interview: R Chandrashekahar, Additional Secretary, e-Governance, Department of IT, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India

Communications and IT, Goverment of India

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Helping Create Connected Governments Interview: Nagendra Venkaswamy, Managing Director, Juniper Networks, India

and South Asia Region

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e-Governance- The Strongest Tool for Advancement

Interview: J Satyanarayana, CEO, National Institute of Smart Governnent

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A Long Term Partner Interview: Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.

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NEGP: CORE INFRASTRUCTURE : STATE DATA CENTRE

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State Data Centre: Back Bone for Service Delivery

Interview: S P Singh, Sr Director, Department of IT, Ministry of Communications and IT,

e-Governance in India- Challenges and Opportunities

Prof S Sadagopan, Founder Director, IIIT, Bangalore

39 121

Looking Back and Moving Forward

Government of India

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Facilitating Intelligent Information Infrastructure

Interview: Manoj Chugh, President, EMC, India and SAARC

Neel Ratan, Executive Director, Pricewaterhouse Coopers India

Innovations- The Starting Point for Change

Interview: Prof M S Swaminathan, Chairman, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation

EXPERT-SPEAK

32 41

e-Government in Developing Countries Nagy K. Hanna, Senior International Development Strategy Consultant

Empowerment through ICT

100 104

Leveraging on Technical Innovation Ajay Ahuja, Senior IT Architect, Sun Microsystems India Pvt. Ltd.

Ensuring Business Continuity Interview: Sandeep Nair, Managing Director, Emerson Network Power India

Pvt. Ltd.

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Central Mission Mode Project: MCA 21s

INTEGRATED PROJECT: INDIA PORTAL

Interview: Oleg Petrov, Programme Coordinator, e-Development Thematic Group,

World Bank

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The Future of e-Government

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Single-window Access to Government Information and Services

Interview: Neeta Verma, Senior Technical Director, National Informatics Centrea

Gianluca Misuraca, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Ten Practical Online Steps for Government Support of Democracy

Steven Clift, Chair, e-Democracy.org

NEGP: CORE INFRASTRUCTURE: COMMON SERVICE CENTRE

NEGP > E-PANCHAYAT

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Towards Electronic Governance at Village Level

Interview: Rajwant Sandhu, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development

INDUSTRY-SPEAK

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Aiming to Service the Citizens at their Door-steps

Interview: Syedain Abbasi, Director, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT, Goverment of India

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Focusing on Institutionalising e-Governance Interview: Tanmoy Chakrabarty, Vice President & Head, Global Government Industry

Group, TCS

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India

Interview: Jaijit Bhattarcharya, Country Director, Government Strategy, Sun Microsystems

Go for National Level Projects Interview: Satish Kaushal, Country Manager- Government and Education, IBM

We Want the Government to Start working on Next Phase of NeGP

India, Pvt.Ltd.

69 78 115

India Must Lead the Open Source Movement Interview: Nandu Pradhan, President and Managing Director, Red Hat India

Simplifying Information Technology Interview: Ranjan Anandan, Vice President and General Manager, Dell India

Providing End-to-end e-Government Solutions/Services

128 132

Need for Comprehensive Security Interview: Digvijay Singh Chudasama, VP-Sales, Cyberoam

Improving Work Processes, Impacting Productivity

Interview: Princy Bhatnagar, Director, Xerox India

Interview: Prakash Rane, Managing Director, ABM Knowledgeware Ltd.

State-Speak Andhra Pradesh

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Connectivity Down to Village Level Necessary for e-Readiness Interview: Suresh Chanda, Secretary, IT, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Chattisgarh

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Meghalaya

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We Have Open Doors for Private Players Interview: Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Principal Secretary to Government of Meghalaya, Information Technology and Health and Family Welfare Departments

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Key Infrastructure in Place for e-Governance Interview: Raj Kumar, Secretary, IT, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat

Nagaland

130

We Involve the Local Community Interview: Abhishek Singh, Secretary IT, Government of Nagaland

Rajasthan Jharkhand

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Committed to Provide Host of Government Services to Citizens Interview: R S Sharma, Principal Secretary, Information Technology Department, Government of Jharkhand

Karnataka

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Moving Steady on the Path of e-Governance Interview: C K Mathew, Principal Secretary, IT, Government of Rajasthan

Sikkim 88

Setting New Benchmarks in Delivery of Government Services Interview: M N Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary to Government, Department of IT, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka

Kerala

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From Less Paper Governance to e-Governance Interview: Anurag Jain, Secretary IT, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Chattisgarh has Several Firsts to Its Credit Interview: Aman Kumar Singh, Secretary-in-Incharge (IT) and CEO, ChiPS, Government of Chattisgarh

Gujarat

Madhya Pradesh

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Touching the Lives of Citizens Interview: M G Kiran, Secretary, IT, Government of Sikkim

Tamil Nadu

141

Infrastructure for e-Governance Service Delivery Firmly in Place Interview: Dr C Chandramouli, Secretary, IT, Government of Tamil Nadu

93

Leader in e-Readiness Interview: Dr. Ajay Kumar, Secretary, IT, Government of Kerala

CONNECTIVITY: VISION

122

Secure Connections in Challenging Environments

138

Reader’s Corner

Interview: Subodh Vardhan, Director Sales and Country Head (Government and Public Safety), Motorola India

TRENDS

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Connecting the Next 500 MillionChallenges and Opportunities

EVENT DIARY

108

GK3- An Event on the Future Samia Melhem, Chair, e-Development Thematic Group, World Bank

Nandita Krishna, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East

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egov > VISION

Towards Co-operative Relationship between Government and Citizens Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner, Government of India

‘Right to Information’ is being considered by many as the ‘second independence’ of India after 60 years of the first one.

Many see it as a key catalytic factor e-Governance in the country. How does the man at the helm of affairs on RTI in India sees it? Let’s find out from him.

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How do you see the Right to Information Act 2005 as a potent weapon in ensuring transparency and accountability and thereby reducing corruption in the government departments?

I do not take the Right to Information (RTI) as a weapon at all. I do take it as a tool, as an instrument. We want to see a cooperative relationship between the government and the citizens, wherein all the information that is available with the government, with the public authority, is actually available with the public. In case of India, it is a major leap forward because in other countries which were already flourishing democracies for many years, the Act is not so much noticed because everything is in any case available to the people. The Act has made procedures a little smoother in these countries.

However in our case, it was not available, so we actually leap frogged from a developing democracy to an advanced democracy. Therefore, there are bound to be tensions and glitches on the way. Thus, I believe that it should not be looked upon as a conflict.

The idea is that all the information should be made available and it has already begun to happen. What we want to see is that all the information that is available with the government, except where it is in confidential section 8 of the Act, be made available to the public. Recently the Ministry of Personnel has issued a circular under which even organisations exempt under the Second Schedule of the Act will have to part with information, under certain circumstances, like in allegation of corruption and human rights violation. So they must all set up a proper infrastructure under the RTI Act. These are all the movements whereby the whole thing becomes a part of the system of governance.

Sharing of information is very important, it should not be in conflict with the system of governance but instead be a part of the system of governance. That is where it would have the most lasting effect and that is also where it will begin to have an effect on what is one of its prime objectives – which is reducing and eliminating corruption.

What are the different kinds of cases that are coming up to the Commission under RTI? All kinds of cases come to the Commission. Initially the majority of cases came from within the government, which was quite understandable because the people within the

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government knew what the Act was, since the Act had been circulated to all the ministries. However, that is no longer the case now. As time has passed by, they obviously continue to make use of it, but others have started getting into the Act, so to speak. Similarly we also get cases from businessmen, people living in slums and from peasants.

I deal with Delhi, and Delhi is a very good example of what this Act can become in the future in India. This Act has been in operation in Delhi for five years and here the government servants are also making use of it. But also a large number of people like the slum dwellers are taking advantage of it.

They ask for information regarding 2-3 things most often.

One is regarding the demolition work that is taking place and where they are going to rehabilitated etc. Another kind of information that they often seek is regarding admission to schools. A lot of questions have been coming regarding this, and we have told them that we would give priority to these applications in this regard.

One thing that is not adequately done is that the rural folk are not yet participating to the extent that they should be participating. The participation around the Delhi area is not so bad, but this is the area where Delhi has expanded into rural areas. A lot of cases come on information regarding land acquisition, land assignment and common land.

In Delhi, a lot of people are aware of the Act. In Maharashtra also, a lot of people have become aware of the Act. This is going to start happening all over the country and that is something we have to look forward to, and also prepare for, because it is only in a very small region that it is happening right now. When the Act really catches on, it will go much further and become at least 10 times more widespread than it is now.

Has the Commission done any analysis of the questions being asked?

Not yet. However we are planning it now, studies have to be done and the kind of people that are applying have to be assessed. We just have vague ideas as for now, like we know that government servants are applying but we do not know whether they are senior officials, junior officials, clerks or peons-What sort of people are appealing from within the government. Then the question of rural folk and urban folk.

As I said, the rural folk are not yet participating. But we still do not know to what extent. We do not know if it is true for all the ministries. In certain ministries they might be participating more. Similarly, we say Delhi and Mumbai are participating more, but these are general ideas, that we are getting out of processing the cases but we do not have proper facts yet. That still needs to be done, and we are planning to do that. An assessment of that nature will become part of our annual report, which would be presented before the parliament every year.

Are there any questions that are coming repeatedly to the Commission?

A lot of cases come for exemptions on the interpretation of section 81(j), that is invasion of privacy, and we have given a number of decisions in regard to that. Within the government, a large chunk of questions come regarding the ov

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DPCs (Departmental Promotion Committees) and ACRs (Annual Confidential Reports), where ACRs are confidential documents whereas DPCs are not and they have to be disclosed. This was challenged even in the High Court by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission), because the UPSC was given orders to disclose it, they challenged and then withdrew.

Another area that is of interest but has however not made progress yet, is a number of private organisations which have been declared as pubic authorities on the grounds of their being substantially financed by the government or created by government notification. In many of these cases, like the Indian Olympic Association, once it was declared a public authority, the decision was not challenged. However, companies like the Delhi Stock exchange challenged the decision through Writ, so we have to await the order of the high court in regard to this.

Another area that received a lot of applications is in the question of disclosure of answer sheets and examination results. Although we have said that the answer sheets can be disclosed, but under the law, we cannot mandate it. On the other hand we have of course passed judgments on the kind of information that can be given and can not be given at different levels. The objective there is that it has to be justice with equity. We do not want to be so feckless in our decisions that the whole system begins to collapse and disintegrate.

So those are the kinds of decisions that we have been taking largely.

Has the Central Information Commission issued any guidelines to the government departments to make the repeated questions online for the convenience of the citizens?

We have issued directions to the departments to bring those things online which are not online but are mandatory under section 4, and this section is quite comprehensive. Section 4 (1) (a) demands that all records should be digitalised and that is where the question of e-Governance comes in. This is the only law that lays this down and this is not simply guidelines or notifications. In that case there is also 4 (1) b, 4(1)I c and 4 (1) d, which specifies the kind of information that is supposed to be put on the website. On that, we have been giving a number of judgments, as to what should be on the website and what is mandated. For example, the list of ration card holders in Delhi should be on the website, everybody should know about it as they are beneficiaries of a government subsidy programme, which section 4 (1) b demands has to be published.

In India, where a large chunk of population is e-Illiterate, can the Bihar example of using mobile phone to use RTI, be replicated across the country?

Well we can not place all our eggs in one basket. The Bihar example may be one system that would work but it does not necessarily have to do with e-illiteracy as such because under the Act, as you know, if a person can not write an application of his own, then the Public Information Officer (PIO) is expected to do so for him and if he does not do it, then that complaint can go directly to the commission.

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How have the government functionaries responded to the Act? Are they happy or unhappy about RTI use by citizens?

There are certain elements in the government that do not appreciate the Act but there are also elements in the government that greatly appreciate the Act. So, I do not think one can really lay down the law, with regard to that.

The government as an entity- a bureaucracy does not adapt easily to change because a bureaucracy is appointed by any government to maintain the status quo. Therefore, it does not welcome revolutionary changes coming from within the bureaucracy and this Act is really radical. So it is going to take the bureaucracy some time to sink in, which is already happening. A lot of people are already appreciating the great benefits of having this Act. A lot of Joint Secretary-level officers and senior officers have told me that they are now able to understand the working of their own departments better. Of course, the resistance that comes from the government is also because sometimes the Act has been misused, for example if somebody comes up with 500 questions in 1 application and all have to be answered in 30 days, then that is obviously something that is done to try and harass, so that is resented.

Within the government and even within the Commission, there was a recommendation that there should be an amendment in the law that false, frivolous applications are not entertained. However, I do not support such a recommendation because it puts too much discretion in the hands of the PIO. What about the citizens? They do not want to waste time in filing an application, can the RTI application be made online?

The point is that people do not have to waste time, that is where e-Governance becomes effective. Then you could be sitting in New York and getting information from Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh. But that would happen only if section 4 (1) is fully complied with and that is necessary. We have been working very closely with the Department of Administrative Reforms in the Ministry of Personnel. The Ministry recently issued a circular to all the departments saying that they should set aside at least 1% of their budget for computerisation.

We of course have a much bigger scheme within the Commission which would be more than 1%, because we have opted to become one of the only three e-Administrative departments, besides the Department of Information Technology and the Ministry of Rural Development. So within the next three to four months, we should be able to go completely digital.

What are the challenges faced by the common man in using RTI? What do you think are the reason why people are still not using it.

The basic challenge is that people are yet not aware and that is where the media, the NGOs and the activists come in. Awareness has to be spread among people outside Delhi.

People in Delhi are now well aware as it has caught on here. It is very necessary to start moving to the rural areas. Maybe in the beginning to the areas around cities like Noida and Gurgaon, 10 }

so far as Delhi is concerned. Mumbai is fairly well covered, so is Karnataka because of its strong computerisation. In Andhra Pradesh unfortunately, there is a huge gap between the city of Hyderabad and the rural areas, in terms of IT, and that is a part of the problem in AP. All these contradictions might be resolved if people in the rural areas and the poor in the cities other than Delhi begin to start using RTI. Also, they will start using it once they know how easy it is.

Apart from lack of awareness, what could be the other reasons for not using the RTI? There could be apprehensions. As you know that government is an awesome institution so people are afraid to go to the government offices and give their applications. So, for that reason, the Act allows for Assistant PIOs (APIOs) to be set up outside the government office. In any case, post offices have been declared APIOs but people still do not know that. So all these things are interconnected; The fear of the government, the lack of knowledge of the Act and the lack of knowledge of what you can get out of the Act. With respect to the Information Commission, what are the challenges that the Information Commission is facing?

Recently we had the challenge that we were under-staffed and over worked. However, the government has been good enough to agree to our staffing. So now we are in the process of setting it up. The difficulty is, that the faster we dispose of our cases, the faster they start coming in and that is bound to be the case. That is why it is so important to go for section 4 of the RTI, to go digital. If that does not happen, the system will not be able to work. We have to have the infrastructure in place, which puts all the information into the public domain so that people can access it and they do not have to keep applying and complaining. Very often, I find that appeals are made, not because the information is not being provided but because the person does not know where to get the information from.

How do you rate the success of RTI in India?

Mixed. If I had to rate it on 10, I would say 6 but not more than that. I am rating it high for the reason that the awareness of the Act has grown leaps and bounds with very little effort made by the government. Very little has been done by the government to promote the awareness of the Act, yet, it has become quite widespread, so that is one major achievement.

Another achievement of the Act is that people now own the Act. The Act is no longer the government’s product as the public seems to have adopted it.

The third achievement is that a great deal of awareness has grown within the government, that information is not something that they can hide and it will have to be disclosed if somebody wants to know it.

On the negative side only a small section of the Indian population is actually taking advantage of the Act so far.

Secondly, the kind of speed and efficiency with which the cases should be processed is not there as yet, as the systems have still not come fully in place. Also the progress is not uniform throughout India. Thus the success of RTI is very mixed in India.

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egov > VISION

Next Three Years will be the Years of State MMPs R. Chandrashekhar, Additional Secretary, e-Governance, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

R CHANDRASHEKHAR IN CONVERSATION WITH RAVI GUPTA, CHIEF EDITOR, EGOV MAGAZINE

If there is one person who is considered widely to have changed the speed of e-Governance in the government, it is undoubtedly R Chandrashekhar, Additional Secretary, Department of IT, Government of India. He likes to think big but is no day dreamer. He has lead the conceptualisation and now the execution of the massive National e-Governance with an eye for precision and detail. He has silenced many of his skeptics with the successful roll-out of the State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and now the Common Service Centres (CSCs).

Let’s hear from him, what is brewing in his mind regarding the next things in e-Governance in India.

How has the e-Governance scenario changed over the past three years?

If I look back at the past three years, there have been a number of significant achievements. Some of them have been soft achievments, which are extremely 12 }

important and some of them are hard tangible achievements.

The soft achievements are: complete clarity, understanding and consensus around the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). The roles and responsibilities ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE

of each player is very clearly defined. In a programme like e-Governance, spread across different ministries, which means many things to many people, both within and outside the government. It brings in convergence across different www.egovonline.net

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stakeholders both within and outside the government like industry, academia, niche media like yours and other mainstream media. This is a significant achievement. I think it is very important, because it converts all the small efforts happening in different places into a uni-directional force. There is a clear focus on services, ownership, people responsible for the domain and mission team in each Mission Mode Project. All these improvements have taken place over the past three years.

Coming to the hard achievements, I will divide it into two sub-categories. One is hard achievement with regard to infrastructure. There has been a complete clarity on the element of infrastructure required for pervasive e-Governance in the country. We need data centres, connectivity and access infrastructures for the masses. Out of these, State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and Common Services Centres (CSCs) are in the advanced stages of implementation. We are confident that by the end of 2008, we will see them on the ground. Much time and effort had gone in just leading up to the contract.

Various official and legal procedures like preparing of Request For Proposal (RFP), getting the approval, formalising the award, entering into the contract etc., have taken a longer time than we expected. But it has been done now.

The third pillar is the State Data Centre (SDC). We are expecting the government approval within a month. Then the implementation of SDCs will start. Effectively speaking, by the end of 2008 we will have all the three core infrastructures in most of the states. Another aspect of infrastructure, which is important for service delivery, especially for the service access providers and also for integration of services is the service delivery gateway. This project is also slated to be completed by February 2008.

Another sub-category in the hard achievments is the capacity building. The lack of suitable capacity at different levels of government is recognised as a major bottleneck.

Implementing an ambitious programme like NeGP requires the highly skilled people as well as people with domain knowledge within the government. It requires a multidisciplinary team to be involved in the implementation.

We have spent siginificant amount of time on studying this problem and have identified some solutions. The capacity building programme that has been drawn up under NeGP is not only based on the analysis of the problem but also on a discussion with the state government. It is radically different from the way in which government normally deals with this issue. It provides a mechanism for professional resources to be inducted from the market on a compensation at par with market. We are expecting the final approval of the government any time now for this programme. Therefore, the implementation of capacity building programme will result in a small but highly competent e-Governance mission team in all the states. The real challenge we will face is finding such a large pool of talented human resources within a short period. As far as the financial provision is concerned, we are ready to complete the implementation within this financial year itself.

The second part of the hard achievements are actual projects, which are aligned with the service philosophy of NeGP. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA 21) project is ov

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one of the best example of a project, which was conceptualised in a service manner. It places the end customers at the centre and built the other key elements around them, rather than placing the departments at the centre. Another remarkable achievement in this project is that the entire project was implemented in 77 weeks. This project shows that you have to be more ambitious and should have a fixed plan. There are other major projects at the centre like Income Tax and Central Excise. These projects are also aligned more towards the delivery of services.

Among the various challenges involved from an e-Governance perspective, software plays a very small part, just one percent of the entire project. e-Governance is about transformational change, leadership, visualisation, inspiring people to adopt new system. These things can not be achieved by softwares alone Similarly, we have the Passport Project, which has put on a comprehensive Request For Proposal (RFP). In all these projects, we felt that e-Governance is much more than computerisation. They have now triggered major transformational effort in many different ministries.

Providing the hard infrastructure is the easiest part. Most of the states are not yet geared towards providing services through Internet. What are the plans towards resolving this issue?

I completely agree with the conventional wisdom that hard infrastructure is the easiest part and provision of services is the hardest part. To some extent it is a chicken and an egg problem. If you do not have the infrastructure, it is difficult to provide the services. In the meanwhile, if you do not have the services ready, it is difficult to convince the administrative authorities to put the infrastructure in place. I think, the focus by the government on e-Government have enabled to break this chicken and egg problem and place its faith in the whole programme.

There are successful examples of e-Governance implementation in different states, but, the fact remains the same. There is no project, which is implemented across the length and breadth of the country and this has been a challenge. There are several dimensions to this challenge. In some cases financial resources have been a problem. Some of the states do not have sufficient resources to allocate or e-Governance is not one their high priority list or they do not have the capability to structure an e-Governance project.

The Apex Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary of Government of India has been driving this programme and pushing this in all the ministries to speed up the implementation. On 7th December, 2007, a meeting was held with all the ministries concerned with State Mission Mode Projects (MMPs), where the concern over the pace of implementation was brought out and the ministries have been advised to speed up the implementation. The good

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much more likely to succed in our federal setup. Each state is at different levels of e-Readiness, earlier only two or three states were trying e-Governance. Today one can easily say that 10 states or 1/3 of states are implementing e-Governance programmes seriously and making significant progress.

NEGP FRAMEWORK

news is that almost all the ministries concerned with state MMPs also have worked out the timeline and the detailed implementation plan will be prepared in the year 2008.

Therefore, in the next two years actual implementation of these projects will happen. In fact, I would say the next three years will be the years of State MMPs. Another interesting project is the e-District project, which will be steered by the department of IT (DIT) in the centre and it is a very important project. Because, it provides a number of miscellaneous services. It will have a good impact. But again the issue will be how quickly we implement it and how quickly states will be able to absorb and adopt this project.

A general question that people ask is that, why we do not use a single software for an application and localise it depending on the need? Why is it not shared rapidly, what are the challenges?

Among the various challenges involved from an e-Governance perspective, software plays a very small part, just one percent of the entire project. e-Governance is about transformational change, leadership, visualisation, inspiring people to adopt new system. These things can not be achieved by softwares alone. In fact, in many cases it is not the software, it is the handholding support, which drives the success of e-Governance. NeGP is very clear that change in procedures should not be done after the implementation and can not be done before implementation. Therefore, it should be done as part of the project. In many cases, carrying out that in a systematic manner including change management, training, handholding support, communicating with people are more critical. One of the reasons why projects like MCA 21 succeeded is because it was handled properly. The continuous interaction and training not only for employees, but also for company secretaries, chartered accountants and other stakeholders outside the government contributed much for the success. We are undergoing a societal transformation, nothing less than that.

In fact, the role of the central ministry is not to visualise a project and ask the state governments to implement it.

It picks up the bests from the projects succeded and then makes support available to the states to customise it for the local need and then implement it. This is meaningful and 14 }

People are talking about top-down and bottom-up approach and they are also saying that NeGP is a top-down programme and may not have as much success or ownership. As you rightly mentioned, people are much more concerned about their district level administration rather than the state level government. Do you have any plans to keep the district as the hub rather than the state?

Though the district is a very important administrative unit in our country, I think that the state would continue to be an important hub. States have a very critical role in the constitution. Secondly, there is not much of a difference in the level of homogenity across the state and across the district as compared to the difference between the state and centre. The point you made about replication is much more valid within the state since the softwares and administration is almost going to be the same there. Therefore, the role of the state in pushing that and feeding it up is paramount.

Having said that, NeGP recognises the essential dilemma of e-Governance, which is that it is to a certain extent topdown. For example, the focus on e-Governance is a National priority and part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s agenda. It is a part of the National Common Minimum Programme approved by the government at the apex level. From this view, it is essential for any National programme.

At the same time, there is a clear recognition that it can not be implemented in a centralised manner. The implementation should be based on bottoms-up approach. Many flexibilities have been left to the states. Therefore, it has to have a combination of top-down and bottoms-up approach. The whole name of the game is ‘balancing the top-down and bottom-up’ in the right manner.

How do you see the role of private sector? What role should they play to gear up for future?

In pre-2000 era, the role of the private sector in e-Governance was peripheral. But increasingly the tendency of the government is to procure services and equipment from the private sector. There are many challenges in creating and maintaining this infrastructure. The government is not ready to do that and the private sector can do this much more efficiently and also provide the type of service level, which people expect. The services can not come without proper infrastructure, people, maintenance and many different dimensions have to be worked together. Putting all these together becomes a challenge for the private sector.

Most people have shown willingness to pay a token fee for the highly efficient service. The service orientation has created a revenue potential with e-Governance and that potential in many cases far exceeds the costs. Therefore, different business models emerge. So, in a sense it works well for everybody.

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Yes, in many of the projects, the causes of failure is the key people have moved at critical point of time. In order to solve this issue, under NeGP we have proposed proper project management team with a stability of tenure. This should help improve the situation.

The other key point that I want to bring out is that in India, we have roughly about 3000 people as IT professionals working with the government and we have little over 1 billion people outside the government. Take the case of CSCs; We are talking about 100,000 people for one project.

Getting IT trained human resource for implementation of this project will be a challenge. I would see a huge role for private sector. But I would also say that even the private sector is not ready today and to a significant extent they are unprepared.

Building up the capacity is equally a big challenge for the private sector. It is a learning process for both the sides.

Another key stakeholder is the civil society, how are they involved in the ICT arena?

The civil society has a major role in the scheme of the things envisaged under NeGP. In the NeGP, the core infrastructure at the front-end, which is the CSCs, the government, private and developmental services are merged together. This brings out efficiency in a cost effective manner. The cost is very important in rural areas. The role of the civil society organisations becomes extremely critical in developmental efforts. The quality of services like quality of teaching, quality of medical care, level of compassion of health worker are better handled by civil society organisations especially locally based organisations. When you look at the large dimension of ICT for development, which is, to some extent in CSCs, the role of civil society ogranisation becomes very important.

The second aspect is that we have already witnessed the emergence of Right to Information (RTI) in the country and higher level of public and media awareness created on governmental information and governmental services. The civil society organisation becomes a watchdog in this area.

An effective implementation requires appropriate role of government, private sector and civil socety organisations.

Transfer of the key people leading e-Governance project is cited often as a key factor hampering e-governance project in the country. How does NeGP plan to solve this problem?

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If by any chance NeGP program is halted, how will it impact the e-Governance implementation in the country?

To answer this question, once has to understand what are the forces propelling e-Governance. Is it government approval of the scheme? Is it a policy of the government?

Or Is there larger underlining force which is inbuilt in the society? It is very clear to me, as I see it there are very powerful highly dispersed and fairly ubiquitous setup propelling it. This is evident by the fact that today if you see the government it does not matter whether you have a government of any political view, you take the entire spectrum of politics in India. All governments in the states are seeing merit and pursuing them. May be with different degrees of effectiveness, but all of them are pursuing it. I will not be concerned, whether the NeGP will go or not, but e-Governance as a movement has come. In fact, it has given a shape to a longstanding desire everyone has, how to change the system. This has been articulated through NeGP. In any case NeGP is not a program, it is just a framework which provides routes and unified framework for a number of projects to be implemented in a concerted manner.

Is there a need for making e-Governance mandatory by law?

It has two different dimensions, one aspect is providing legal basis for e-Governance services which is absolutely critical.

In fact we have a working group on standards on legal issues.

For example, a service which provided at a kiosk how to ensure that the document provided there has the same legal validity. There are many solutions that different states have tried out. But, a more pervasive legal basis is the necessity yet to be fully documented. There is a group which is going into this issue headed by former high court judge. This part is not only important but very urgent.

The second part is making e-Governance mandatory like RTI. I think it is still a pre-mature. One day it may be required, may be the day is not far off, but today if you ask me it is still premature. But I do agree, there may come at certain point of time, where it need to be legislated. Attention must be given to the ability to implement and enforce the law. It would be fair to see that in e-Governance projects, the limiting factor is not money or the intention of the government. It is the ability to execute from conceptualization to post-implementation.

This is been the case, the law itself is not going to help.

Which government departments will emerge as leaders in e-Governance and which will not?

The government departments which have direct interface with the citizens are taking a lead in implementing e-Governance.

But several other departments, which are engaged in developmental activities may take longer to implement e-Governance. This is an area of concern.

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egov > VISION

e-Governance- The Strongest Tool for Advancement J Satyanarayana, CEO, National Institute of Smart Government (NISG) You have recently received 2007 United Nations Public Service Award in the category of “Improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the Public Service” for “e- Procurement Project”. Please tell us about this project and how it has impacted the public service?

In terms of the project specifically with Andhra Pradesh, the e-Procurement is now close to 100 percent. The tender system is totally online now. It has brought a lot more transparency and has reduced the waiting time. It has enhanced the competition in terms of bids received for each tender. These are some of the advantages of the project.

How important is e-Governance for improving public services, especially in context of India?

I think e-Governance is now recognised as one of the strongest tools for advancement in India. Any e-Governance project would be service oriented and citizen centric. One has to be able to identify what kind of services will be eventually delivered through the initiative before going ahead with that initiative. One has to be clear with what is the service and what is the service level. So this change of the paradigm has happened at place and this is for the good. Its no longer equipment of hardware, software and network to include public service but it is more with what kind of services you would like to deliver to the citizen. Thirdly, the structure and design of the whole programme is to be so that everything is service oriented.

How do you rate the current public service delivery in India. Where do you think IT can play a role to help improve this scenario?

There is no actual limit to the number of sectors where IT can play a revenue pattern role. But I would put this in a broader sense that it is the e-Governance and not the IT that has to play a role. I would like to make a distinction between the two because IT as its connotation, is more of a technologyhardware, software, network whereas e-Governance is beyond all these as it in includes issue like process transformation, re-engineering, change management and then tracing up of corporate implementation model. It is all in domain of management, other than technology management. So eGovernment is the right concept to be used as it plays a very vital role in transforming public services. Not really IT. Public service delivery system varies across the various segments so it is difficult to give a direct answer to this question. But I would say that in sectors where e-Governance has been deployed effectively, like the Ministry of Corporate ov

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J Satyanarayana is an Officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of the 1977 batch. He is responsible for shaping the NISG as a Centre of Excellence in e-Governance at the national level, especially in the areas of architecture, project development, and capacity building for e-Governance. He has pioneered the implementation of popular projects like e-Seva, CARD, and e-Procurement in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Affairs (MCA21) project has eventually transformed the way people file the company’s details from time to time. It all happens online today. As a result companies are left with much less hassle and concentrate on other areas and can divert their resources from this aspect. It is only one example. Several other efforts are on the way like National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) itself has 27 mission mode projects (MMPs). If all these 27 projects are brought to completion it will make a fantastic difference in terms of public service delivery. But let me tell that in terms of rating, is a composite number, as some of the MMPs projects are at the national level, some are at the state level and some at the local level.

So it is a kind of disaggregation and one has to make the best use of these in the country.

What is the vision and mission of NISG and how is it different from NIC which has been involved in IT implementation in government?

NISG mission is to channelise more and more private sector in India. It is basically a kind of conceptualisation and project development that we perform. We do not implement any project ourselves. But we help the ministries and state government to design project. We are not in implementation stage per se. We are predominantly in the design and architectural stage of the project. Since the past four years, we have been associated with over 40 small and big projects.

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We take a project’s idea, blow it up, sell it and document it in such a manner that it is an implementable project. Converting an idea in a project is what we do.

NISG is not in conflict with the kind of work NIC does. NIC infact is all over the country and it takes care of infrastructural requirement of state and central government to a large extent.

So there is no overlap between what we are doing and what NIC is doing. We are complimenting each other.

What is your opinion about the NeGP of the government of India? What are some of the opportunities and challenges in its implementation?

NeGP has about 27 offer heads termed as MMPs and they identify a lot of priority areas for transforming of public services and making them function in service oriented way.

We think NeGP creates opportunities to bring best practices in terms of the service level, in terms of the processes adopted to deliver those services, process re-engineering and in least taking the advantage of technology. So this is a great opportunity because there is a vision at the national level, there is a momentum, there is encouragment and acceleration. The different departments at the state level could take advantage of this situation and transform themselves. While some ministries are taking full advantage and poking the head but the pace is not equally uniform across the states. Some of the projects are programmed at a fantastic pace like MCA21 or Transport Seva Project currently in some states.

From the citizen perspective, till now we do not see much progress in service delivery. Do you thing that e-Governance has taken off in India or is there still a long way to go?

The visible impact at the citizen level is not seen much at this point in time except in certain areas. The most recent is the Common Service Centres which are at Gram Panchayat level and 100,000s are planned in the coming period.There is a sensible enthusiasm and pace in implementation of these programmes at various places. The CSCs are providing the delivery channels which need not be separately created by ministries and departments. There is a shared infrastructure that has been created.

From the citizens’ perspective, CSC is very beneficial as they do not have to go to different places for different things.

Most of the commonly used services are available here. My own several estimate is that by the end of December, 2008 programmes should be operational in all the states. At village level what is regularly needed is a backend of the various departments, which is encompassed under NeGP and other MMPs. What according to you are the key barriers and drivers for e-Governance implementation in India?

The single biggest barrier which we face is the lack of adequate capacity in the country. Implementing an e-Governance initiative requires tremendous skills in the area of project development, that is conceptualisation and documentation before one can think of implementation, for which capacity building is required. Another bottleneck at this point in time, is in terms of the policy makers and middle level managers 18 }

in the government who need to be sensitised, trained and be really convinced about the relevance of the process. As a result of this, the decision making becomes slower because of lack of trained people to advice the top-level policy makers on these issues. I do not think resources are that big a problem. Even outreach of technology becomes a problem many a times. The biggest driver is the lot of expectation and the hope built around the plan. The environment is amenable and there is political acceptance, desire and motivation to execute the plan. Second is the capacity that India has at both in the software and the management sector. The globally spread private sector is fully variable to craft the appropriate public- private partnership model.

How important in your opinion is the role of PPP in NeGP and how does NISG facilitate establishing the right partnerships to implement the different MMPs? PPP is a big driver for National e-Governance Plan. Larger number of initiatives are now being designed in the PPP mode because of its sustainability, cost-effectiveness, efficiency and service orientation. As state itself tries to implement various intiatives, in majority of cases PPP mode should be preferred. Moreover, the mandate of NISG is to promote PPP. In the area of e-Governance and in all the projects we derive appropriate business model/implementation model and very significantly we design the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for various projects. The private partner gets paid in relation to the quantity and quality of services delivered to the end customer.

PPP is a kind of a template which can be used for any and every project depending on the project’s requirement and service level objectives. One has to derive the best of the PPP model which are feasible, viable and acceptable to the ministry and the department. We have to put in effort to use PPP model for each initiative and in each sector.

Do you think e-Governance is a hype? Will it burst like the dot com of the 1980s or do you think it is actually here to stay?

It is going to stay. It cannot be exactly compared to dot com because here we are talking in terms of public services which are going to stay. On the demand side, there is no doubt that demand will exist and probably will increase as the population increases, requirements would increase. So it is not like dot com kind of situation here. The challenge now is how can we match the supply side to the demand. Secondly, there is the question of pace. It is the felt need and the felt demand which plays a major role. Where there is felt need, the ministries and departments are acting pretty fast and probably where the felt need is at surface, then no forthcoming start is there in the city. From this perspective I do not say its a bubble. eGovernance areas are going to be more sustainable for a very large period of time.

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ANDHRA PRADESH

egov > STATE-SPEAK

Connectivity Down to Village Level Necessary for e-Readiness Suresh Chanda, IT Secretary, Andhra Pradesh

http://www.aponline.gov.in/apportal/index.asp

What is the approach adopted in implementing the Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of the implementation?

In Andhra Pradesh, we are implementing four Mission Mode Projects, one is the Common Service Centre (CSC), other is the State Data Centres (SDCs), third is G2G State Wide Area Networks (SWAN), which are Government to Government Wide Area Networks and the fourth is the e-Districts. Our CSCs are in an advanced stage, for which a tender has already been passed and very soon we will be selecting the implementors for the CSCs. We have already started the construction for housing the State Data Centres. The e-Districts are still in an initial stage but we have identified the districts for e-Districts projects and are now waiting for government clearance on it.

For SWANs, we already have the consultants on the job.

The SWANs would be available from headquarters to districts to mandals (blocks) and from mandals to villages, which will also be done on the basis of Public Private Partnership.

Suresh Chanda is an Indian Administrative OfďŹ cer of the 1985 batch.

He has held several administrative positions in the government of Andhra Pradesh (AP). He was the Special Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Hyderabad and Secretary to Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, Revenue Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh. His current responsibilities include implementation of e-Governance in AP, providing IT Infrastructure for Government and citizen services through IT.

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What are the services being delivered or planned to be delivered through the Common Service Centres? What are the steps being taken for a better user experience?

The Common Service Centres Scheme is now being implemented throughout the country. Andhra Pradesh, however had an exactly similar scheme in 2005 itself. We called it the Rajiv Internet Village Scheme. Under the CSCs, there is a subsidy component which is implemented by the Government of India. But under the Rajiv Scheme there was no subsidy component. Other than that, in terms of content and spread, the Rajiv scheme was exactly like the CSCs. However, our experience with the Rajiv Scheme was not that good. We had planned about 8000 kiosks to be set up in Andhra Pradesh. But we could not do more than 450-500 kiosks in the rural areas. The number of transactions taking place was very less, so the viability itself was a big question.

We have realised that we can use IT kiosks as an outlet for providing other services and not only IT services. We could also look for services beyond government services as Rajiv Scheme concentrated on government services and government services are limited in rural areas.

So our experience is that CSCs could focus more on B2C services in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh. Another issue we faced during the Rajiv Scheme was the problem of connectivity, any service can only be provided if there is connectivity

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between the kiosk and the government department or any other agency. For the success of CSCs, in my view the State Data Centres are very important. Without SDCs like we experianced in Rajiv Scheme, connectivity of CSCs is a big issue. Therefore, connectivity, State Data Centres and focus on services that are beyond government services like B2C services certainly make the CSC Scheme more viable.

What is the status of SDCs and SWAN in your state?

We started the SWAN in 2000 itself and we were one of the first states to start it. We had connectivity from state headquarters to districts but it stopped at the districts and it did not go beyond that. We are using the SWAN for videoconferencing, data connectivity, Internet and applications but now we are going for a higher level of G2G SWAN with Government of India funding through the districts upto the village level which will be able to come by December 2008.

As far as the SDCs are concerned, we have already requested the Government of India for clearance of SDCs . In the mean time we have already started the civil construction work as the construction is to be done by the state government and the electronic part will come under National e-Governance Project.

Could you tell about some of the best PPP practices in your state?

From the very beginning we have been using the PPP model. e-Seva was the first project that we had put up on a PPP model which was started in Hydrabad and now we are planning to take it to 190 municipalities. This project was done with no funding from the government’s side. Except for the infrastructure, all the other things came from the third party. Our e-Procurement system is also entirely on the PPP model, wherein the server, the application and connectivity is all provided by the third party. We believe that any service, that is a citizen centric service, where there is a possibility of transactional charges, should go for a PPP model. The third party will put its investment which is recovered over the time through transactional charge.

Could you tell us about the capacity building programmes being planned or implemented in your state?

That is a very important area and we have been working on it since 2001. We have been training the officers, through what you call the CIO programme- the chief information officer.

Every department should have atleast one CIO officer, who will be trained in management of IT services. This is a three

month programme that has been funded through the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and partly done at our other institute in Hyderabad where our officers are sent for training from time to time.

What are the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects? How are they overcome?

Basically it is the mind-set that is the biggest challenge.

Leadership is required at the highest level. As long as the vision that IT is useful, is available at the highest level, things can move very smoothly. There will still be the challenge of changing the mind set at the middle and the upper middle level. In my view, we here are trying to create a stakeholder, for example in railway reservations. Once the citizen realises the advantage of IT in it, the project becomes much more sustainable.

What is going to be your main focus over the next few years?

Our focus in the coming years will be on citizen services.

We are identifying what are the services provided by each department for the citizens and whatever has to be done to provide those services. The focus is on citizen services rather than computerisation of the departments. We start with identifying the services and work at the entire cycle with providing those services. Since most of the services are available through Internet, we will be working on providing connectivity upto the village level. For G2G services, connectivity through the SWAN connecting all the departments is planned. Thirdly we will be working on the State Data Centres, as that is a critical point to provide good services.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

For any state to be e-Ready, it needs to have connectivity down up to the village level and a good internet penetration, the human resource without which it is very difficult to sustain IT initiatives and the PPP model, which is also very important to make the model sustainable. We have done a good job in terms of connectivity. We have a good human resource and we have a good system of PPP. So, all the elements important for making a state e-Ready are already available in Andhra Pradesh. However, connectivity still has to reach beyond the district level. We also have to go a long way in changing the mindset of the people.

e-Procurement Tops in 7 Surveyed e-Governance Projects in Andhra Pradesh The Government of India has got 39 e-Governance projects in the country assessed by independent agencies. Out of these 7 projects have been taken up for the assessment in Andhra Pradesh (AP), which are Computer–Aided Administration of Registration Department (CARD), Citizen Friendly Services Of Transport Department (CSFTD), e-Procurement, Integrated Financial Information System (IFIS), e-Computerised Operations for Police Services (‘eCOPS’), Saukaryam and CaringGOV. ‘e-Procurement of AP’ scored the maximum marks 83.87 among all the projects assessed. The project has resulted into more revenues for the state government and brought transparency in the entire process . The scores of the other 6 e -Government projects from AP are as follows: Extremely Good : CSFTD (72.08), Soukaryam (71.20) and CARD (71.06), Good : IFIS (68.04), eCOPS (62) and Caringgov (61.87).

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egov > VISION

A Long-Term Partner Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.

Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India is responsible for Microsoft’s marketing, operational and business development efforts in the country. In partnership with the leaders of Microsoft’s other business units, Venkatesan provides a single point of leadership for the company, playing an integral role in defining Microsoft’s relationship with policy makers, customers and business partners across Microsoft’s six distinct business units in India.

How important do you think e-Governance is for India?

The role of technology in helping governments achieve necessary policy outcomes of improved service delivery, help drive increase in tax revenues base, reduce the incidence and impact of the informal economy in emerging markets, while at the same time strengthening transparency, is well established and documented now. For developing economies like India, technology integration in government gains even more relevance since this is the most effective way to reach out to individuals in remote areas, at the grass roots, or even those residing at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

With IT integrated in the governance process, it is possible to achieve greater transparency and overall efficiency in the administrative process.

I believe that a connected infrastructure is a critical foundation to address policy challenges. Technology has evolved beyond being a ‘factor of production’ to being one of the most powerful policy levers available to government.

It is a critical tool for India to avail in order to achieve her potential as a superpower. ov

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How is Microsoft helping this concept grow? How are you helping this idea propagate in the country?

Microsoft is a serious and long-term partner for India with a strong India focus and commitment. We continue collaborating with the Indian Government to provide innovative e-Governance solutions that help take IT to the grass root level and enable affordable access to the technology by the vast majority in rural India and ultimately help eliminate the digital divide.

We have a vision for e-Governance wherein we are working towards enabling the public sector and governments to lead the information society by leveraging information technology for delivering effective citizen centric services and ushering in a more participative and transparent form of governance.

The Microsoft Connected Government Framework (CGF) illustrates the value of interoperability in the delivery of Government e-Services: Government-to-Government, Business-to-Government and Citizen-to-Government. This framework helps describe the many issues involved in achieving successful interoperability programmes – together

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will lead to a successful e-Governance in India.

It is equally important that the e-Governance IT applications are affordable, accessible and relevant to the citizen needs and are available in the local language.

Governments are now starting to get concerned about OSS v/ s Proprietary software.

Also standards and interoperability issues are gaining importance.

How is Microsoft with the tools, technologies and standards that help make this possible. It also provides a core model for interoperability, expressed across six distinct levels - Infrastructure and Networking, Data Access, Service and Component, Service and Process Integration, Security and Identity Management.

Having been the pioneers in the Indian e-Governance space with a long standing relationship with both central and State governments, the Microsoft platform currently supports over 300 e-Governance applications across 14 states in India. We are committed to extending the reach of IT and making it all pervasive by ensuring availability of affordable, relevant and local language based technology solutions that are easy to adopt. Look at Project Bhasha, for instance: realising the language diversity needs across various states in India, we are working together with Indian governments for local language application development and promoting computing in the local language.

Or take the ‘Microsoft e-Governance Awards’. These awards recognise the most successful e-Governance applications designed on the Windows platform that have significantly enhanced delivery of citizen services and have ushered in a more participative and transparent form of governance. Our focus for the last 17 years continues to guide us: to work with the Government to leverage technology as an ally in a conscious movement for ushering in economic, social and rural-urban equity.

What are the key barriers for increased usage of IT in the government? What are the key drivers for the same?

The primary issue around e-Governance has not been technology related, but capacity building. The consensus that is emerging is clear: e-Governance is not so much about the ‘e’ but more about the ‘governance’. More and more governments are now focused on capacity building initiatives and also training the grassroots government staff to enable the adoption of IT. We believe this is a common issue across all developing countries.

A close alignment with the government’s IT policies and ensuring adherence to the criteria of total cost of ownership of any IT deployment, security and interoperability while bringing in overall transparency in the administrative process 24 }

addressing this aspect?

The best policy, in my opinion, is for governments and all public sector organisations to pursue neutral software procurement policies that rank technology on its merits, providing all available technologies an equal playing ground.

Since 1999, some individuals and organisations in the OSS and ‘Free Software’ community have lobbied governments to change public sector procurement policies to create barriers for the purchase of proprietary software. Recently, these barriers have included ‘preferences’ for OSS over proprietary software. Other policy changes or proposed legislation are even more subtle in that they purport to rely on objective criteria for software selection, but in actuality they do not.

For example, they may establish a preference for software whose immediate acquisition costs are the lowest, rather than focus more properly on Total Cost of Ownership.

Such procurement mandates or preferences for specific technology solutions are best avoided since they impede competition and slow the pace of innovation. Such preferences also unfairly favour one vendor or IT business and/or licensing model over another, impose unnecessary micro-management that prevents a government body from

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) mission directly correlates with the Microsoft vision. The Microsoft global vision is to reach the benefits of Information technology to the five billion people currently untouched or underserved by it. In India, out of a population of over one billion, access to Information Technology is available to only a 100 million people and Microsoft India is committed to bridge this divide

securing the best technical solution available, hurt local IT companies, and may be inconsistent with international trade rules on government procurement.

As far as interoperability goes, Microsoft’s approach is to help customers focus on the issues most important to their

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business and operational needs - increasing productivity, improving business processes, connecting with customers, collaborating with other organisations, and reducing costs.

Microsoft delivers interoperability by building it directly into its products, engaging with the broader IT community, providing access to its technologies, and supporting technology standards.

We also actively engage with standards-setting organisations and support thousands of technical and industry standards that encourage interoperability between Microsoft and nonMicrosoft technologies. The Microsoft ‘Interoperable by Design’ initiative shows that interoperability can be dealt with effectively only by using a multi-pronged approach.

For instance, to add to the library of standards available, the document standard Open XML - developed as part of a cross-industry collaboration that included Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, The British Library, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, Toshiba, and the U.S. Library of Congress, among others - is currently undergoing the standardisation process with the International standards body ISO. Multiple standards essentially ensure choice for the industry and customers; as well as the government being able to pick the technology options that best meet its needs.

The government has come up with the National e-Governance plan. How is Microsoft planning to play a role in the same?

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) mission directly correlates with the Microsoft vision. The Microsoft global vision is to reach the benefits of Information technology to the five billion people currently untouched or underserved by it. In India, out of a population of over one billion, access to IT is available to only a 100 million people and Microsoft India is committed to bridge this divide.

The NeGP seeks to make all government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of common man. Microsoft is committed to build on the foundation laid by NeGP to provide the impetus for long term growth of e-Governance within the country.

We believe utilising our core competencies and providing the necessary training and tools will help create social and economic opportunities that can transform communities and enable millions of Indians to realise their potential.

Government is a key facilitator and one of the most important constituents for ensuring a nation-wide impact of any development programme.

Do you really believe that technology can help India’s poor? If yes, how?

Every single day, Information Technology continues to transform business, communications, education and entertainment around us. But for the millions who subsist on less than a dollar a day, access to technology is obviously not the most pressing need - clean water, health care, food and shelter are so much more urgent. However, there is compelling evidence that access to information is critical to expanding social and economic opportunities, and alleviating poverty. ov

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Broadening information access is central to development; and the wide deployment of cell phones, telecommunications, PCs and software solutions is important for boosting productivity, reducing transaction costs, improving transparency and giving people access to education, public services and markets. Ironically, in many ways, information access may be even more critical to poor people and it is therefore essential to bridge the digital divide.

Take the eight Millennium Development Goals that define the collective challenges the world faces and must deal with: poverty eradication, universal education, gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating diseases and ensuring environmental sustainability.

Each of these to be scalable and successful will need to harness the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). We can contribute to every one of these goals, either directly - through extending access to information, training and providing opportunity and voice, or indirectly - through creating new economic opportunities that lift individuals, communities and nations out of poverty.

We believe utilising our core competencies and providing the necessary training and tools will help create social and economic opportunities that can transform communities and enable millions of Indians to realise their potential

In India, the larger part of our population still remains on the other side of the digital divide – untouched by the IT revolution that is changing so many lives. The vote is unanimous – the government, public and private non profit organisations, and businesses today realise that something fundamentally different needs to be done. If more than a billion Indians are to realise the benefits of technology, new thinking around making IT relevant, affordable, and accessible is imperative. Microsoft, for instance, is in sync with India’s unique environment. To increase relevance we are working with governments and local partners to create rich local applications and content – in areas such as agriculture, governance, rural education and for creating services based new revenue streams. Affordability and access are issues that are largely addressed through partnerships with the government, and innovation around form factors such as rural kiosks.

Today, we have several successful India specific programmes like Project Shiksha for accelerating IT literacy; Project Bhasha for promoting local language computing; Project Jyoti for empowerment of women and marginalised communities, Saksham for enabling the rural ecosystem; and Project Vikas for IT empowerment of Small and medium businesses in manufacturing vertical. These initiatives are not only corporate social responsibility initiatives, but fundamentally sustainable and replicable models for effecting overall growth leveraging the power of IT to add value to the lives of more and more people.

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egov > VISION

e-Governance in India Challenges and Opportunities Prof S Sadagopan, Founder Director IIIT, Bangalore

Professor S Sadagopan is the Founder Director of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bangalore, a new generation Institute, promoted jointly by the Government of Karnataka and IT industry in 1999. Professor Sadagopan had taught for more than two decades at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, (IITK), considered to be the No. 1 Engineering School for decades and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, (IIMB).

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India today has perhaps the most ambitious e-Governance plan. At the highest level in the Government, there is a separate Secretary-level official, there is an approved budget of more than billion dollars at the Central Government; there are Secretary-level officials in every State Government with additional (though small compared to Central budget) budget.

There are annual e-Governance conferences at the Regional, National and even International levels. Major Indian IT service majors (TCS and Wipro, for example) and MNC firms (IBM and Sun, for example) have dedicated teams to address the growing e-Governance market in India. Thanks to some early success - e-Seva, CARDS, Bhoomi, Bangalore-One and Passport office computerisation, for example - there is enough media coverage – both print and electronic media - with at least two magazines devoted exclusively to e-Governance. There is an Institute NISG (National Institute of Smart Governance) set up in public-private-partnership model with Government of Andhra Pradesh and NASSCOM. Having covered so much ground one would expect the health of e-Governance to be ‘pink’; unfortunately, it is far from true. Many e-Governance projects suffer from political instability that is rampant throughout the country. A country that has one of the highest levels of corruption, finds it easy to ‘dump’ e-Governance projects to the ‘dustbin’ taking the easiest excuse to ‘justify’. With lots of money available there is more interest in ‘procurement’ of expensive hardware / software / network, but hardly any interest in ‘utilising’ the scarce resources that have been acquired. India has monitoring mechanisms like CAG (Controller and Auditor General) who check ‘spending’ excessively, but rarely question ‘utilisation’.

The net result is awards ceremony, award winning projects and huge budgets, yet no major success stories; India’s rank in most e-Governance rankings remains rather low for many years now.

The Central Problem e-Governance can only help when there is governance!

Many States have serious governance issues; crime, violence and terror are increasingly showing their ugly heads; the nexus between ‘mafia’ and politicians, low-level government staff and even the general public, coupled makes ‘mafia’ powerful.

With weak government at the Center (thanks to coalition partners either pulling the government or threatening to ‘pull out’ of the governments) and at many States, the ‘mafia’ are having a field day. Naturally, governance is at a record low level.

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The Way Forward One hopes that the voters will elect governments that enjoy comfortable majority and punish the ‘aya ram, gaya ram’ (those who comes and goes) leaders. That is badly needed for the country, if India is to progress. Without parties with clear mandates, there cannot be strong leaders and without strong leaders there cannot be governance.

What e-Governance can do is to utilise the ‘people will’ to ‘immunise’ projects from the changing mood of the leaders.

For example, there was resistance from the political class to the widening of the scope of Railway Reservation system originally developed by CMC. But the people at large (aam admi) felt the benefit directly, and as a whole they could articulate their desire that no political class could resist. Today, Indian Railways is the largest e-Commerce service provider in India surpassing even ICICI bank. What other e-Governance

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projects like Bhoomi, e-Seva, CARD and Bangalore-One should do is to quietly ‘build’ the ‘people support’ that would ultimately make them into sustainable services available to everyone, year after year, with better features, convenience, scale and scope (the way Indian Railway Reservation system is). Only then will e–Governance make a difference to the average citizen; after all, ‘electronic’ (computers, mobile devices, broadband, open source, 24x7, universal access and Indian language computing are mere buzzwords) governance is merely a means to achieve ‘efficient’ government, ‘effective’ government and ultimately ‘every citizen’s’ government.

Hopefully, India will reach there and that and that alone, will make India’s IT professional feel that we have contributed something to the Nation-building. When this magazine celebrates its 10th year, one hopes Indian e-Governance would have arrived! Best wishes.

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egov > STATE-SPEAK

CHATTISGARH

Chattisgarh has Several Firsts to its Credit http://www.chhattisgarh.gov.in/

Aman Kumar Singh, Secretary-in-charge (IT) & CEO ChiPS, Chattisgarh Aman Kumar Singh is an Indian Revenue Services (Customs and Central Excise) Officer of 1995 batch with an Engineering Background (Regional Engineering College, Bhopal). He is presently Chief Executive Officer of Chattisgarh infotech and biotech Promotion Society (CHiPS) and Secretary-in-charge (IT) of Government of Chattisgarh.

What is the approach adopted in implementing the state mission mode project (MMP). What is the progress of their implementation?

Approach in Implementation Government of Chhattisgarh’s mission is to accelerate the economic development of the state of Chhattisgarh, through appropriate application of modern technologies and standard management practices in administration. Government of Chhattisgarh has ensured that government departments, organisations and institutions in the State of Chhattisgarh formulate strategies that encourage private sector activity, increase investment, reward good organisational and individual performance, increase productivity, promote accountability and use and manage resources more efficiently. A major component of this strategy has been to rebuild, strengthen and modernise the delivery system of Public Service. Central to this developmental transformation have been programmes to use modern information and communication technology tools for leadership, administration and management to bring about qualitative changes in governance. Chhattisgarh is a ov

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state where choice of application is not urban focused and the needs of poor have been specifically targeted.

Progress in MMP State MMP project including CHOiCE, Land records, e-Procurement, Treasury automation, Commercial Tax automation, Smart Card based Transport Management System etc are in advance stages of implementation.

The CHhattisgarh Online information system for Citizen Empowerment (CHOiCE) is a revolutionary approach to citizen services and provides one stop solution for anywhereanytime based government. CHOiCE project works on Public Private Partnership model with the help of private persons appointed as CHOiCE agents. After successful rollout in the capital city it is now in advance stages of state wide rollout covering 5 districts.

A Geographical Information System (GIS) having 70 layers was developed with technical help from RRSSC, Nagpur for land records in the state. This was done using satellite data.

Natural resource mapping has been carried out on 1:50,000 scales based on satellite imageries and digital processing.

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Chhattisgarh is the first state in India to develop such a comprehensive GIS with 70 layers and Georeferencing of 20,379 village (Cadastral) maps in more than 48,000 sheets was accomplished. eProcurement project automates the whole purchase cycle in the entire state and major works departments, which include indent management, e-Tendering & e-Auctions, contract management, catalogue management, e-Payment, centralised supplier registration and MIS. The project is implemented on a Public Private Partnership model adopting a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model.

Entire treasury operation and the commercial tax in the state has been automated. After successful pilot in state capital, tendering process for selection of PPP partner for state wide rollout of smart card based transport management system is going on.

How would you rate your state’ progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

Chhattisgarh, with wide-ranging socio-economic disparities is now witnessing the ongoing Information Technology (IT) revolution. The Government of Chhattisgarh visions ‘Vikas mool mantra, Aadhar loktantra’ (‘Driving Development through Democratic Governance’) and believes in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which is particularly an important medium for the state in reaching out and improving livelihoods especially for its 44% of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe population, which has largely remained untouched by modern development.

What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance Project in your state?

Public-Private Partnership is being thought of for all the upcoming IT projects being planned for the State. Currently, CHOiCE project uses the decentralised PPP model or Entrepreneurship model where local people become small entrepreneurs. eProcurement is the first state wide project to be implemented on a PPP model. We also intend to implement our ambitious Chhattisgarh State Wide Area Network project on PPP model. Similarly other flagship e-Governance projects including CSC, Smart Card based Transport Management, State Data Centre etc. are going to be on PPP model.

What are some of the best PPP Practices in your state?

Project CHOiCE is the flagship project of the state and is among the best PPP model for creating multiple delivery points for citizen services which are self sustainable and do not require recurring government support annually. For the first time in country, private citizens have been notified as public servants under IT Act. This enables CHOiCE agents to process government documents. It is therefore not surprising, that given the low penetration of Internet and resource constraints, CHOiCE portal has become a popular delivery model as this has created service centers in urban and rural areas where operators working with computer terminals, deliver on line services to citizen.

Even illiterate and poor citizens are able to benefit from such applications, at the same time the state does not have 30 }

to make any expenditure for creating multiple delivery nodes all across the state. e-Procurement is another example of best PPP practices.

What are the services that are being delivered / planned through Common Services Centres (CSCs)? What are the steps being taken for better user experience (e.g localisation etc) CHOiCE is an ideal application to be used for Common Service Centres (CSCs) project. CHOiCE already has more than 30 G2C and numerous G2B & G2G services. All these services are ready for us to be deployed for the CSC project.

In fact, Chhattisgarh is in an advantageous position because the successful CHOiCE project in urban areas with the help of CSC project now would be rolled out in rural areas.

Services like Birth/Death Certificate, SC/ST Certificate, OBC Certificate, Local Resident Certificate, Income Certificate, NOC of Nazul Land, Ration Card, Public Grievance, Payment of Electricity Bill, Payment of Property Tax, Rickshaw License, Permanent Cracker Shop License, Obtaining Nakal of a Document, Mutation of Property, Building Construction Permission etc. will be offered through the CSC project.

Please share with us, the capacity building programmes being planned/implemented in your state?

Special thrust has been on capacity building so there is internal capacity in government departments and organisations for eGovernance project conceptualisation and implementation in the state. Government of Chhattisgarh is endavouring this in collaboration with leading management and technology institutes in India. Further to make independent impact assessment of what has worked, state has institutionalised mechanisms for change management and impact assessment.

The initiatives on capacity building focus, not only the top most layer of the administrative machinery pyramid i.e. the political executive but also the humble class IV employees of the government. In a very ambitious IT training programme, all the government officials including the political executives, senior bureaucrats and various classes of government employees including class IV has been trained. A scheme of incentives was introduced to motivate all the government employees to become computer proficient. NISG (National Institute for Smart Government) and other leading institutes have been identified as organisations to help ‘train the trainer’ to create a resource pool within the state for this e-Governance initiatives. So far more than 4000 employees and officials have been trained. IIM Ahmedabad has assisted in training of key resource person in complex area such as IT-Project Management, Government Process Re-engineering etc.

We have paid a very systematic and focused attention on the capacity building starting from the school children.

Chhattisgarh Soochana Shakti Yojana provides free computer literacy to all the schedule caste & schedule tribes girls. The scheme has been highly appreciated and has won awards at national level. Also, the first e-Class Room in country was inaugurated in Raipur Engineering College (now NIT) in conjunction with IIT Kanpur. One more e-Class Room is already functional in Bilaspur Engineering College. We are also setting up 4 more e-Class Rooms in Science Colleges of

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Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Kurud and Kawardha. We had done capacity building programmes of MLAs, ministers and senior government officials.

What are the evaluation and monitoring techniques you are adopting to monitor the progress and to assess whether the proposed benefit are being delivered to the citizen? e-Governance is desirable, yet it is estimated that only one of every six e-Governance projects succeeds. Chhattisgarh state was first to identify that success of e-Governance project requires: (1) Participatory approach & cooperation by all stake holders, (2) Dependable institution and physical infrastructure, (3) Legal framework and (4) A right mix of technology with respect to realities and adaptability.

Chhattisgarh has emerged as a leading state which delivers eGovernance projects to the most ambitious scales for its citizen.

The focus of the applications is on both internal efficiency and service delivery to citizen. Impact of e-Government is being assessed in a systematic way in Chhattisgarh and this is done on continuous basis, reports now indicate that direct cost of access to service by citizen does get reduced. Citizens also experience greater convenience, but it is difficult to measure the impact on transparency and corruption. Institutions such as IIM-Ahmedabad, NISG, IIT-Kanpur are engaged by the state for such activities. The state IT team is going to be the first ISO certified government organisation in the state which indicates our commitment towards process standardisation and continuous evaluation mechanism. The state is also in process of EPM (Enterprise Project Management) server implementation as per PMI standard for monitoring ongoing IT Project. For impact assessment of e-Governance projects, IIM-Ahmedabad has been engaged and state is also exploring a long term mechanism for continual relations with premier institutions to assist the state in such matters.

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance project?

Chhattisgarh is a young state but it is doing tremendously well in the field of e-Governance and has several first to its credit. To cite a few examples: • The first Human Development Report of Chhattisgarh was prepared by CHiPS. This report was adjudged best report globally and received UNDP Human Development Award in ‘Excellence in Participation and Capacity Building Process’.

• First state in India to develop a comprehensive Geographical Information System (GIS) which includes 38 thematic maps layers. The layers also included forest cover, soil types, demography, drainage, mineral, irrigation, watershed etc.

• First state in India to digitise and geo-referenced cadastral maps of land parcels for the entire state.

• First state in India to provide facility of e-Challan and e-Return for commercial tax department.

• First state in India to prepare a comprehensive IT Road ov

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• • • •

Map for the state.

First e-Classroom in the country established in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.

First state in the country to initiate Rural Computing at Panchayat level using Simputer under e-Gram Suraj Project.

First state in India to organise a workshop on Smart Government for political executives of the state at NISG, Hyderabad.

Second state in India to implement e-Procurement for Governments procurement.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance project? How are they being overcome?

Chhattisgarh being mostly a tribal state, the availability of right skilled personnel for the right task is a key challenge.

Also, the mindset and attitude of the government staff to shift from the existing manual working system to an electronic working system is a slow transformation process as it involves change management. The terrain of Chhattisgarh is also a key challenge as nearly 50% of the State is under thick forest cover. Another very important challenge is to get right kind of IT people at the kind of salary we can offer in the government. This challenge assumes a new proportion while dealing with issue of attrition. Low level of IT infrastructure is another challenge. However, even with all these constraints, Chhattisgarh is taking innovative strides under the able leadership of our Hon’ble Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh.

What is going to be main focus for the next few years?

Chhattisgarh is the first state in India which is strategically developing an IT Road Map. The task of framing an eGovernment Road Map has been initiated in order to identify the various IT needs and priorities of the departments.

In phase one of the e-Governance Road Map, the Vision, Strategy and Blueprint were prepared. A series of meetings with various departments were held as a part of the vision.

The second round of meetings with the departments has been conducted as a part of strategy.

Phase two and phase three of the e-Governance Road Map deals with e-Governance Programme and the Ecosystem which would be taken up subsequently. At present, the focus is to build a strong institutional framework in order to sustain the e-Governance projects being initiated. The individual-based decision making is being transformed into an institutionbased decision making so as to ensure continuity and uniformity in the process of ensuring sustainable working of e-Governance projects.

We are in the process of implementing CSC projects and these CSCs would act as an extension of government by providing suitable front end. Our successful choice would be the application to support all government services. It will piggyback on our State Wide Area Network (SWAN) which is also under implementation. SWAN will seamlessly connect to propose State Data Centres which will house mission mode application like CHOICE, GIS, e-Procurement etc. These would take us closer to the reality of e-Government.

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egov > EXPERT-SPEAK

e-Government in Developing Countries Moving from Window Dressing to Real Transformation

Nagy K. Hanna, Development Strategy Consultant Dr. Nagy K. Hanna is a senior international development strategy consultant and Senior fellow, University of Maryland. He is an international development strategist with extensive experience in advising countries and aid agencies on designing and implementing programmes to leverage Information and Communication Technology ( ICT) in support of competitiveness, national development, and public sector reform. Dr. Hanna led the World Bank’s practice in applying ICT for development, as the Bank’s first senior advisor on e-Strategies, and the founder and chair of the global community of practice on e-Development. Established and chaired the World Bank’s global seminar series to develop e-Government capacity and CIO leadership. He has pioneered and designed e-Sri Lanka, the first World Bank lending operation in support of comprehensive ICT-enabled development.

INTRODUCTION

The benefits of the information revolution can be fully realised only if governments play a central role in this transformation.

It is imperative that they reassess their roles and functions, both to transform the way they function and how they relate to internal and external actors. To play this central role, governments need to begin by embracing their own transformation. This is not an easy task in any country. But it is in developing countries where the institutional context is most challenging: weak governance and democratic institutions, high transaction costs in dealing with public agencies, and corrupt practices. Understanding this institutional context is necessary to move e-Government beyond ‘window dressing’, to manage the underlying institutional change process, and to realise the potential benefits of transformation.

Most developing countries have so far focused on the relatively easy phase of e-Government, developing websites, piloting a few applications, and putting these services online. But as governments shift from computerisation of isolated applications to deeper transformation, process & service innovation, and back-end cross-agency integration, the challenges of e-Government shift from technology 32 }

management to political and institutional leadership and change management. As e-Government programmes mature, countries move beyond concern about front-end electronic delivery of services, and start to rationalise and integrate back office processes and the entire value chain, and to fully integrate e-Government into the governance framework and activity of each sector and agency. There is also a mindset shift from inside-out, agency-bounded perspective to outsidein, client perspective of service delivery. In the process, the role of e-Government leadership institutions also changes from top-down solutions to playing catalytic roles for service innovation and integration. The aim is to facilitate public service reform and innovation at all levels of government, institutionalise and scale up process innovation, promote collaboration across boundaries, engage more stakeholders and disseminate best practices and thus achieve deeper transformation and sustainable, public sector performance improvements.

Whether e-Government will bring about transformation processes or merely reinforce existing power structures and governance systems is a key political and societal choice. We propose that public sector reform efforts should harness the strategic role of new technologies as enablers of public sector

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transformation, as indispensable instruments that open new options and enable the creative design of reform processes, better adjusted to the challenges faced by governments today.

This is the tough next phase of e-Government programmes in most countries.

The proposed transformative role of ICT in the public sector is indispensable to address some of the most important flaws of governance and public sector institutions in developing countries. It is also essential to prepare governments to confront the challenges of globalisation. Governments face a rapidly changing world in which information flows freely.

This challenges the capability of a government to control activities even within its own borders. The competitive pressures of the global economy, demand immediate action.

A common scarcity of public sector resources coupled with an increased demand for social services is building increasing pressures on governments and unstable democracies.

Already inefficient government organisations are stretched even more by choking budgetary constraints. Embracing new technologies as transformation tools is also crucial for transparency, anti-corruption, and decentralisation efforts. It is also critical to have timely access to information to support decision-making at all levels, to train the new generation of civil servants, and to manage a growing volume of contracts and partnerships. e-Government is essentially a political, not a technical project. Managerial and institutional reform must accompany technological change. e-Government is conditioned by the political and institutional context of its application—more than by other concerns such as technical standards and infrastructure. Understanding the political and institutional nature of e-Government provides the key to seeking appropriate measures and entry points to realise the transformational potential of ICTs for governance and public service performance.

This article first draws on the experience of the private sector in realising the productivity potential of ICT investments. It then examines the differences in realising similar productivity improvements in the public sector and singles out the role of incentives and leadership in this process. It focuses on key transformational roles of ICT in the public sector: It then analyses the international benchmarking scores for the majority of developing countries and points out that they are lagging or falling behind the developed world. It identifies the policy challenges and proposes a new paradigm for public sector reform and a shared vision of a connected and transparent government. The focus of the paper is not on specific applications or countries, but on providing a global perspective for sharing and scaling up successes and moving beyond these exceptions to government-wide transformation.

LESSONS FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR

It is useful to draw on the experience of the private sector in emphasising the importance of institutional innovations and managerial improvements to realise the productivity potential of ICT investments. Businesses, particularly in ov

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advanced countries, have moved in stages in using ICT in their operations and transaction, from mere automation of isolated processes, to improved access to information, to re-engineering and integration of various processes, to knowledge management and fundamental transformation of relationships along whole value chains. Moving along these stages was enabled by increasingly proactive leadership and managerial innovations. Experience has shown that productivity increases were marginal, compared to the costs involved when ICT investments were not accompanied by managerial improvements and institutional transformation.

Productivity improvements became substantial only when business organisations co-invested in ICT and managerial and institutional innovation.

A recent study conducted by McKinsey of 100 companies in industrial countries quantify these differences in productivity and provide insight into the potential role of ICT in improving performance in the public sector organisations when combined with managerial improvements and institutional reforms (Figure 1). Additional spending on information technology can raise productivity, but only in well-managed companies.

Figure 1 - Does IT improve performance?

While this lesson holds much promise for public sector modernisation and transformation, it is not easily transferable.

The pressure of market forces and profit making provides clear incentives and bottom lines for business organisations.

Managerial innovations have moved slowly into the public sector, particularly in developing countries. Reforms and change in public organisations require public pressure, political commitment and an authorising environment.

Fortunately, ICT can do more than increasing productivity; it can enhance transparency and accountability, and thus can generate more pressure on public sector institutions to reform and innovate.

The image of modernisation and the appeal of ICT as a key to the future may also attract political leaders to invest in the new technologies to facilitate difficult transformations. e-Government can thus become a tool not only to redesign

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processes and substantially increase productivity of the public sector, but also to improve governance and facilitate broad and sustained institutional reforms.

the virtual realm, separating individual action from routine processes, and creating new levels of accountability. iii) Enablement of effective decentralisation

Roles of e-Government in a developmental context e-Government models being replicated in the developing world were inspired by the pioneering initiatives in developed countries, especially Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. While these initiatives have inspired similar efforts in developing countries, they have ignored the fundamentally different initial conditions of their public sector.

Current approaches to e-Government in developing countries result in delivering services online without internal process changes or deeper public sector reforms.

The current crisis of political institutions and democratic governance, in many developing countries can be construed as a unique opportunity to review the framework that inspires and shows how new technologies can assist and guide in designing an integral reform process of the public sector.

The current democratically elected governments of the Latin America region are particularly vulnerable to charges of corruption and of failure to deliver basic public services in equitable fashion. Social and political forces are exerting strong pressures for decentralisation while economic forces are exerting pressures for integration with the regional and global economies.

For governments in the developing world plagued with inefficiency and corruptive practices, using new technologies to improve delivery of information and services is a key step forward. But the analysis of current e-Government initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean will show that these efforts are not enough to improve a country’s chances of effective insertion into the global knowledge economy. To make a difference, information technology ought to become increasingly central to governance and public sector reform. e-Government may have the potential to generate enormous benefits in four critical areas of special relevance to developing countries: i) transformation of public institutions and service delivery; ii) promotion of transparency; iii) enabling of effective decentralisation; and iv) increment of global competitiveness and integration. i) Transformation of public institutions and service delivery

How is this different from the mainstream approaches to eGovernment? A new vision of e-Government would begin by assessing current capabilities and determining the new roles of government. How new technologies can enable the new roles or transform the way a function or service is delivered. ii) Promotion of transparency

Employing new technologies as tools of transformation can assist governments to fight corruption and also to institutionalise transparent public sector practices. In addition to providing information to all interested parties, digital transactions can be traced from origin to point of delivery, and the time it takes to complete them can be accurately measured. All decision-making processes are “visible” in 34

New technologies can support effective decentralisation and expand its benefits without undermining integration or stability of weak states. They create new relationships and enable collaborative work across time and distance.

They create better conditions for the decentralisation of resource management as integrated financial information systems (IFMS) allow for shared and timely management of information, traceable transactions, and the implementation of various accountability measures. iv) Increment of global competitiveness and integration

The potential of full e-Government transactions across borders remains unexplored. The use of online services to better support the diaspora can range from voting online to mobilising knowledge and networks for export opportunities, to initiatives to capitalise on over US$ 450 billion in remittances over the next decade.

A very interesting set of options emerges when considering the impact of e-Government reforms on business environment. New technologies applied to the transformation of government procedures among trade partners have the potential of lowering transaction costs between government and business. In turn, this can increase the competitiveness of local industries as well as attract foreign investment. New technologies can be invaluable instruments in the design and implementation of seamless customs and border crossing transactions, lowering transaction costs and providing support to the business sector to effectively integrate into global markets. e-Government across borders would involve collaborative endeavors among developing countries in the daunting task of building the strategic infrastructure of the knowledge society.

It would help adopt compatible and adequate regulatory environments, and promote horizontal knowledge sharing to facilitate the development of the information society at the regional level. This is also an effective strategy to deal with the emergence of webs of governance as ‘in the contemporary information age the decisions that deeply affect citizens are often made by entities (such as other governments, NGOs, MNCs) that exist at least in part outside the citizen’s home country’.

BENCHMARKING DEVELOPING COUNTRIES e-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

The World Economic Forum publishes a “Global Information Technology Report” (GITR) with the objective of tracking progress of about one hundred countries’ preparation to function in the “new economy”. This progress is measured using a Networked Readiness Index (NRI) that combines availability of infrastructure and maturity of the regulation framework with both the actual level of readiness to use ICT and the actual level of usage by individuals, businesses, and government. (Table 1)

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Table 1 – Networked Readiness Index Components COMPONENT

DEFINITION

METHODOLOGY

ENVIRONMENT Availability of key access infrastructure and human READINESS resources; laws and regulations USAGE and their enforcement on the development and use of ICT Capability of main economic Measured at three levels: agents to leverage the potential individual, business and government readiness. of ICT resources Levels of adoption and degree of usage of ICT resources

POLICY CHALLENGES

Source: GITR 2004-2005, WEF, pages 7-9.

One conclusion from GITR rankings is that there is common progress among developed countries, and a few middle income countries who leapfrogged into advanced eGovernment, but much slower advance for the majority of developing countries at the bottom of the rankings. In the Readiness Subcomponent, the rankings for Government Readiness is lower than the country’s overall NRI. Another conclusion emerges from analyzing the rankings of Government Readiness and ”Government Online Services” part of the Government Usage subcomponent. Most of the countries score higher on “Government Online Services” than on Government Readiness. This indicates that the approach to e-Government has focused on front-end online services, but little use of technology by government in re-designing and transforming back-end processes.

For the last four years, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and its Division for Public Administration and Development Management has published the results of a Global Survey on e-Government (GSE-G), providing analytical comment on the level of readiness and access opportunities of its member countries. In 2005, for example, the United States ranked number one in the world, with a score of 0.9062. The world average for 2005 was 0.4267. The GSE-G indicates progress has been made since 2003 in terms of consolidation and improvements on e-Government programmes in some of the developing countries. But the great majority of countries remain at the initial stages of development, offering only limited information about government agencies and processes, and a very small percentage of transactions in 2005.

An analysis of various benchmarking of country and e-Government readiness indicates: The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) worldwide rankings shows the great majority of developing countries are lagging behind in the implementation of adequate measures to promote readiness and the actual use of ICT in the acceleration of the development process.

When analysing the subcomponents of the Networked Readiness Index, scores for both government readiness and government usage are significantly lower than the overall country NRI in most cases. Low e-Government readiness is a clear drag on the countries’ networked readiness and their integration into the global economy The comparison among rankings for “government ov

January 2008

readiness” and “government services online” clearly indicates that governments have placed emphasis on establishing a web presence and offering services online. However, the evolution of e-Government initiative remains at these initial stages.

In terms of service delivery, there has been some advance in the lower stages of e-Government evolution. Most countries have not progressed beyond informational websites and few transactional services.

Constraints to adopting and adapting best practices range from weak coalitions and political will for sustained public sector reform, to lack of qualified human resources to lead the process, bureaucratic resistance, to weak ICT governance and inadequate legal and policy framework. Although these challenges are common to developing countries, they stand in stark contrast to progress in telecommunications liberalisation and technological competencies in many countries, including India and China.

Adopting best practices require a committed team to lead the effort. Foreign consultants without specific knowledge of the legal, normative and organisational constraints in the country cannot lead the process. The existing bureaucracy needs to be mobilised to provide the necessary information, manpower and feedback for implementation. Yet, civil servants, their managers and other key stakeholders are often excluded from the initial design, practically guaranteeing their lack of cooperation through the implementation phase.

And finally, sustainability is key, beyond the initial phase of a pilot or a single e-Government application.

External coalitions for e-Government and public sector reforms are needed to complement the efforts of internal change agents and public managers. But in many countries civil society organisations are weak or exclusively focused on own service delivery. Private sector associations may be engaged in short term narrow interest lobbying. Universities and think tanks in developing countries remain ivory towers, distant from action. Public servants remain averse to such cross-sector coalitions. Yet, public sector reforms demand sustained efforts and such efforts demand strong crosssector coalitions.

LACK OF A CADRE OF e-LEADERS

As with any transformation process, the role of leadership is crucial to success. In the particular case of e-Government, leadership has been lacking at the highest political levels.

The great majority of initiatives have been managed by mid-level managers. Ad hoc committees were created to work with and guide the technical staff. In most cases, there are plenty of rhetorical references to the role of new technologies have for development, but very little guidance on realising this potential. Most political leaders have only a limited understanding of the potential role of new technologies in public sector reform, and others see no political incentive in

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embarking on such a demanding reform process.

Most governments in the region have left in place a traditional MIS organisation centered on technology management, usually one per ministry or agency. These departments are usually headed by a systems’ analyst or similar mid-level staffer, in most cases possessing technical but no managerial skills. They are usually disconnected from the executive levels and have limited understanding of the sector or business strategies of the ministry. e-Leadership is needed at many levels. e-Leaders include the political, executive and legislative branches, and within government, several layers of management that are informed about the role of information and communication technology as well as the business strategies or institutional processes that such technologies should support or transform. These leaders are not just technology mangers or chiefs of the MIS organisation. They are a hybrid breed of leaders who understand both the demand (business or development) side as well as the supply (procurement and delivery) side of ICT. Many countries are trying to address the e-leadership gap.

Korea has given early (as early as 1998) and special attention to creating such a cadre, with the CIO office close to the minister and with enough authority in areas of budgeting and restructuring. In some countries like Turkey, these leaders within government agencies are called ‘transformation teams’, and in Sri Lanka, ‘Chief Innovation Officers’, to emphasise the process innovation and transformation roles of ICT. Many countries have recognised this challenge rather recently, but for most, a coherent response has yet to emerge. However, providing appropriate labels for this new cadre may be helpful, but not sufficient turn CIOs into a powerful force for ICT-enabled change and transformation. e-Leaders need to be recruited, developed and equipped with the necessary skills, attitudes, knowledge and experience to lead institutional and process change.

WEAKNESSES IN CIVIL SERVICE

The need to reform the civil service is on the regional agenda.

Embracing new technologies to transform the public sector requires that information tools be in the hands of the service providers and not just the technology savvy staff. But public service providers too must be motivated to innovate and improve services and be skilled to play their new roles. e-Government should be viewed as a joint investment in ICT, process re-engineering, and the corresponding skills and proficiencies for public managers to manage change and knowledge processes and for knowledge workers to play their new and empowered roles. Moreover, mobilising citizen demand for better services is a key to create the pressure and incentives for public managers to adopt new practices.

LIMITED FUNDING RESOURCES

The integrated reform approach recommended here requires considerable investments in the technology platform, training 36

of human resources and creation of access channels for citizens for online services. This calls for a review of resource allocations, especially those earmarked for isolated information systems that can be now combined around shared priorities and needs. The budget process is often short term and fragmented across established sectors, with little incentives for joint investments in shared information infrastructure and data bases. Priority setting and resource allocation are seldom guided by results or based on a continuous feedback of the reform’s success. Public sector managers have looked exclusively to funding from the government or donors for e-Government projects. Public-private partnerships to mobilise financial resources and private sector know how should be effectively tapped.

ICT GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES

Most legislators, public sector leaders and specialists in the region have yet to engage effectively in creating the necessary policy environment for a networked and connected government, including policies concerning privacy and security. Most governments also need to improve the quality and reliability of their technology infrastructure to enable back-office process transformation and integration, government-wide information sharing and citizen-centric service delivery. Decisions about technology are currently left in the hands of technical staff, with very limited or nonexistent leadership and guidance from the political level.

When the top political authority in the public organisation gets involved, it is because of the amount required and not to promote a debate on whether the chosen technology contributes to the strategic objectives of the organisation.

This results in a series of expensive technology acquisition decisions. Lacking standards, ICT governance framework, and top management involvement in setting priorities or enforcing standards typically results in a completely fractured technology platform, rarely driven by current priorities or future vision of public sector reform.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The choice of whether or not governments ought to embrace new technologies in the transformation of the public sector no longer exists. The reform of weak, inefficient and corrupt political institutions of the developing world is not possible without deeper understanding of the role of information and communication and taking account of the strategic role of ICT in development. Just as the transformation of the global economy was made possible by ICT, the transformation of governments, especially in the developing world, needs to rely on information technologies as the new enablers of reform.

In the meantime, investments in ICT without corresponding investments in institutional reforms and process changes will lead to limited benefits and unrealised potential. Only when e-Government involves joint investments in institutional and technological change, would deep transformation of the public sector and significant payoff from ICT be possible.

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How should this new e-Government vision be implemented?

There will be as many models to inspire this transformation.

The following recommendations draw on key lessons learned from leading countries.

Informed and Committed Leadership: e-Leadership should be nurtured at the highest political levels by raising awareness about the potential transformative role of ICT in government and the role of leadership in realising this potential. But eLeadership must go deeper and cut across all sectors of society. NGOs can provide such leadership and encourage information proficiency and ICT entrepreneurship among the communities they serve. They should be encouraged to articulate community needs for e-Government services and help build pressures on governments to become transparent and responsive. Leaders of think tanks and academic institutions should engage government and provide the intellectual leadership for reform. Perhaps most critical is the creation and continuous development of a cadre of CIOs who are able to bridge the gap between the political and executive levels who manage the development strategy and public reform process, and those responsible for managing the supply and absorption of the new technologies.

Incentives for Reforms and Sustained Institutional Change: It is important to manage expectations about e-Government programmes and their ability to impact the life of ordinary citizens in the short term. Often there are ‘killer’ applications that could have wide and powerful impact such as the computerisation of land records and making land certificates available to the millions of small farmers in Andra Pradesh. But many investments in e-Government will take long gestation periods to show results and these are often of institutional, infrastructural and transformational nature. Since e-Government is about transformation and will inevitably encounter resistance and doubts, it is important to balance investments between those ‘low hanging fruits’ or quick impact applications, and those investments necessary to build the platforms for wider impact and transformation.

Prioritisation and phasing of investments should thus take account of the incentives and time horizon of various stakeholders to ensure adequate incentives for a sustained public sector reform process. A compelling long term vision, one that excites politicians, citizens and civil servants, is often an essential ingredient to overcoming painful transition costs and temporary setbacks.

A Vision, a Strategy, a Plan and a Budget: The e-Government strategy needs to be embedded in public sector reform strategy, and vice versa. Most critical aspect of this is to prioritise ICT applications across sectors and levels

of government in line with the overall public sector reform strategy, for example, to facilitate decentralisation, promote transparency and accountability, extend and improve public services to rural areas and the poor, etc. Once such priorities are set, then ICT can be integrated with mutually reinforcing measures to change polices, skills processes, investments, and incentives in support of these specific reform objectives.

An Adequate Enabling Environment: Enabling policies need to be addressed at the highest political level in order to create the appropriate environment for a networked society.

These include: opening markets to competition to improve connectivity, improving opportunities for citizens’ access to new technologies, investing in the necessary education and training resources to improve the workforce, and addressing infrastructure needs. Many of these policies and enabling conditions cut across sectors and ministries.

Private Sector Participation: In many countries, the private sector is further ahead of government in deploying ICT for their own business process transformation and service delivery. Its experience in deploying ICT can be adapted and shared with governments. Private sector participation in e-Government projects should mobilise not only private financial resources but also private sector expertise in project management and business process re-engineering. The highly-successful Chilean online public procurement, for example, is operated by a consortium that includes Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and the local private sector company, Sonda. Private sector participation can further reinforce the drive of policy makers and public managers to change the bureaucratic culture of government into customer-focused service.

Evaluation and Performance Measurement: In most countries, information on actual allocation of resources or government expenditures is not widely disseminated, and very hard to understand. Performance and outcome measures are seldom monitored. Yet, monitoring of progress and evaluation of development impact of e-Government programmes are critical to scaling up innovations and learning from success and failure. Monitoring and evaluation should be designed upfront, as an integral part of overall e-Government strategy. Learning and accountability should be embedded into pilots and overall programmes. This is particularly critical for a transformative role of e-Government, as changes are more complex and benefits diverse and unpredictable. Participatory approaches to monitoring and evaluation should be encouraged as they engage clients and users of e-Government services in learning, provide continuous feedback for timely adaptation and demanddriven investments, and help citizens apply pressures to realise the benefits of reforms and investments.

Alaska Power & Telephone Brings Broadband to Rural Village Alaska Power & Telephone Company (AP&T) has collaborated with the Organised Village of Kasaan (OVK) to provide wireless broadband technology that will bring telemedicine, distance learning and other benefits to the people of Kasaan in Alaska. OVK will provide Internet access for the rural community. The Village procured US $1 million in grant funds under the Federal ‘Community Connect Broadband Grant Programme’ that helped build the infrastructure necessary for the village to gain high-speed access to the outside world. Under this project AP&T will provide variety of technology such as access to telemedicine, distance learning, connection to other tribal organisations, reduction of travel costs and personal skill-set training in computer and data technologies.

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egov > VISION

Looking Back and Moving Forward National e-Governance Plan Neel Ratan, Executive Director, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, India A LOT HAS HAPPENED …

Neel Ratan is the ED of PwC, India, which is the leading e-Governance consulting company in India involved in several state and national level projects. Neel has been in the sector for long. Long enough to give some sound advise.

It has been more than two years that I wrote an article, in this very magazine, about the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

This article about NeGP had described it as a comprehensive ‘programme’ of the Government of India that was ‘designed to leverage the capabilities and opportunities presented by the ICT to promote good governance across the country. The reason for using the terms ‘designed’ and ‘programme’ for the national plan was then deliberate as I had opined that gaps existed between the design and the institutional mechanism required to ensure that the objectives of NeGP are translated into reality and therefore, it still had a ‘long way to go’. I propose to articulate my thoughts in this article i.e., evaluate the progress made by NeGP, as requested by the publishers, against the above background. ov

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A lot has happened in the last two to three years. October 2004 was the time when NeGP in its current form started to take shape - World Bank identification mission visited India in October 2004, which was followed by State Consultations

by Department of IT, Government of India, on NeGP in early 2005. During this intervening period, there were three key achievements that I would want to talk about: Endorsement by the Government: The cabinet approved NeGP in May 2006, with it comprising 27 Mission Mode Projects, 8 components, an implementation strategy and a management structure. There is on-paper, a management structure which is endorsed right from the top i.e. the Prime Minister and an e-Governance advisory group headed by the Minister – Communications and Information Technology.

Awareness on Good Governance: Possibly it is biggest achievement till date. In the last three years, e-Governance has progressed beyond the realm of seminars and workshops and is now part of the government priority at all levels – central, state and local. I also feel that most of the states and many of their secretaries understand the whole concept of e-Governance and its linkage to good governance. This is no small achievement.

Service Orientation: Another key achievement for many IT projects in government (may not be true for all IT projects and all government departments) is the increased structuring of projects aimed at ‘procuring services’ and not ‘procuring hardware and software’. This has helped create structures and models that better leverage private sector expertise and management. I see large number of projects where payments are no longer made upfront but are annuity based, linked to performance and service level agreements. This is indeed a very positive outcome of the NeGP.

WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND…

An important indicator of the success of any programme is action’ on the ‘ground’ and it is indeed worthwhile looking at the progress across some of the 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs). I have categorised these into three groups. The reason for this categorisation is two fold. One, it allows the readers to evaluate the pace of progress of individual MMP’s and second, it can help policy makers formulate separate

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strategies for MMP’s in different categories.

Category 1: ‘Delivering Service’ - Many of the projects under this category are Central Mission Mode Projects that have been driven by individual ministries and their relative success may be largely attributable to the ministries concerned and not necessarily to the NeGP. Primary among these are MCA21, Pensions, Central Excise, Income Tax etc.

Most of these projects are what I would refer to as “delivering service”. Having said that, I do believe that NeGP provides a framework to closely look at the relative successes and design of these projects and align them to the service orientation (service and service levels) goal of NeGP. This would facilitate leveraging common infrastructure, common standards and policies which are required to move closer to the ultimate goal of “connected government”.

Category 2: “On the right direction” – The second category of MMP’s are those which I believe can deliver services within the next twelve months. What is important for this to be achieved is “dedicated and continued leadership” on the part of the owner ministries. MMP’s that would fall into this category include State Wide Area Network, Common Service Centres, State Data Centre, Passport, Standards etc. Management structure of NeGP can play a key role in “supporting” the owner ministries implement MMP’s in a time bound manner by “regular monitoring”.

Category 3: “Still Not There” – A large number of MMP’s would fall into this category, namely the MMP’s that are still discussing and defining the project scope/ coverage / roadmap / implementation modalities etc. These are MMP’s which I believe that NeGP Management Structure needs to focus on.

Success of NeGP cannot be achieved without the success of these MMP’s. MMP’s in this category include Municipalities, Land Record, Agriculture, Commercial Tax, eDistrict, Unique ID, Police, Gram Panchayat, Employment Exchange, eOffice etc. Many of these mission mode projects are caught in the “government procedural cobwebs” which the NeGP intended to address.

Going forward, it is important for government and in particular for the department of IT, Government of India and the Apex Committee, to undertake a serious stocktaking of what we can learn from the experience so far – what has gone well and what has not and how can we translate ‘mission mode’ projects into ‘time-bound’ projects. I say this only because NeGP was designed to be different - different from previous initiatives because it looked at ‘programme’ and not ‘projects’, ‘mission leader’ and not ‘administrative owner’, ‘outcome’ and not ‘output’, ‘integrated’ and not ‘insular’.

The next section highlights some of the key limitations that I believe are limiting the pace of implementation and the impact of NeGP. Are We Happy with the Progress We Have Made…Is There Still a Long Way to Go? I believe, though not surprised, that most people are also not too satisfied with the pace of progress so far. I do feel that they have made significant achievements and need to be applauded for the same while simultaneously appreciating the long road ahead. According to me, the following five 40 }

aspects of the ‘programme’ require focused attention: Capacity and Bandwidth: I think this is the biggest issue that is limiting the envisaged progress. The lack of capacity and limited bandwidth to conceptualise and implement is not just limited to the government but extends to the service providers also, although it is much more acute in the government. The delay in the finalisation of the capacity building component of the NeGP has further accentuated the problem.

Funding: Funding continues to be an issue. In my interactions with the states, I have come across multiple occasions wherein e-Governance initiatives did not see the light of the day because of the lack of state finances. Funding from NeGP/centre has not been forthcoming as most mission mode projects are still finalising the contours of the projects (category 3) and thus unable to fund any projects. Further, funding from the World Bank is still to happen as the bank undergoes its elaborate fiduciary and the due financial diligence process before releasing the funds.

Limited Early Success: There has been limited visible success attributable to NeGP. This is to some extent because of the unrealistic expectations that the states had built up because of the initial hype around the NeGP, the framing of state eGovernance plan etc. While it is difficult for the centre to focus on few states as it has to be seen as ‘equitable’, I do think ‘nothing succeeds like success’ and the policy planners’ need to selectively focus on a few states (that have the capacity, motivation and leadership) to visibly show the success of eGovernance. This would serve as the best advocacy tool for NeGP and e-Governance.

Sensitivity at the Top: In the beginning of my article I did congratulate NeGP for the awareness it had created, especially in the IT departments of states. However, I also believe this awareness is much less pronounced in the ‘political leadership’ of states and within the owner ministries at the central levels.

This needs to be addressed to improve the pace of progress.

Ownership / Procedural Cobweb: Although NeGP espouses ‘centralised planning and decentralised implementation’, there seems to be a lack of ownership at individual ministries / department level, as the programme is seen as driven by IT (in many cases wrongly perceived). This together with the procedural delays in government is impacting progress. The delay in implementation of some of the core components i.e. core policies and standards, e-Office, common infrastructure, capacity building etc., have contributed to the problem.

IN SUMMARY

Well begun is half done. I think the progress of NeGP is best summarised by this. Having said that, the 2nd half of the journey is long and arduous. It is also a time to review the progress till date. Such a review, especially with respect to the issue of capacity to manage such a programme would be useful for transiting the planning phase of NeGP to ‘realising the benefit’ through the NeGP. Disclaimer: The views in this article are that of the author and may not reflect that of the company. The facts and figures indicated in this article are based upon information publicly available and the author has not separately validated these facts and figures.

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egov > EXPERT-SPEAK

Empowerment through ICT Oleg Petrov, World Bank What is your vision for the role of ICT in improving people’s life in developing world?

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is performing the role of universal equaliser, enabler and integrator. The most important and revolutionary aspect of ICT is their potential to shift the balance of power in the society, governance and economy towards the common people, the disadvantaged groups, the poor, the women and youth. Today, ICT can help achieve the dream of a more just, inclusive and equitable world in a most peaceful way.

Hundreds of millions of lives were lost during last century alone to seek a better world through revolutions, wars and political struggle. Despite all these sacrifices, we still have poverty, inequality, corruption, and social exclusion everywhere. Fortunately, with the help of ICT, this dream can come true much sooner without any more violence. ICT is reformer’s, social entrepreneur’s and innovator’s best friend.

We can see many examples of ICT-enabled empowerment and social inclusion achieved in the developing world over last 10 years. Human potential is being taken to the next level and I am very proud to be part of this digital revolution.

What is your suggestion towards incorporating ICT into the overall public sector reform strategy?

Today, no reform strategy can ignore the role of ICT. We increasingly live in the digital world and digital solutions are required to solve many current problems. This affects public sector as much as anything else, if not more. Public sector reform strategy, which does not take into account the digital dimension, the Internet, the mobile and other technologies will be outdated upon arrival. Why think in terms of 20th century realities when we live in the 21st century for 7 years already? The private sector understands that very well.

Competitive pressures in the private sector are very strong, and are increasingly coming from the global marketplace, which is largely operating in the digital environment.

Public sector agencies are less subject to these modernising competitive pressures and hence are more likely to become “dinosaurs” of the 21st century. It is critical, therefore, to share knowledge and information between countries, between government agencies, between public and privates sectors, which can show new ways of doing government business much better than in the past and thus, create some degree of competitive pressure.

ICT should be incorporated into public sector reform strategy design from day one and not as an afterthought, as is often the case. Knowledge of the new possibilities created

by ICT will affect design of the reforms. Administrative processes and public services may need to be restructured quite differently if the objective is to move them online ov

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Oleg Petrov is Programme Coordinator, e-Development Thematic Group, Global ICT Department, World Bank. afterwards. ICT is an entirely new dimension, which cannot be taken for granted but has to be kept in mind throughout the public sector reform cycle. It is critical that reform strategists fully appreciate the implications of the new technologies for public sector transformation. This requires that a new cadre of Chief Information/Innovation Officers (CIOs) is created within the civil service who can combine domain knowledge, strategy development and process reengineering skills with understanding of ICT. It is also important to emphasise once again that e-Government cannot be handled outside of public sector reform agenda. One should not put the cart ahead of the horse. e-Government should be the enabler for public sector transformation, and as such it has to be an integral part of administrative reform program rather than a stand-alone initiative.

The vision of ICT-enabled citizen-centric government can be best realised by following several tactical principles:

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whole-of-government perspective, single window approach, multi-channel delivery, e-Inclusion-for-all, re-engineering before automation, and public-private partnerships.

The World Bank has come up with an e-Development framework, which moves beyond the incorporation of ICT segments in sector specific projects towards e-Development projects that achieve synergies by coordinated ICT investments in a number of sectors.

Please tell us more about this framework. e-Development framework is a holistic approach towards using ICT for development of the country. When we coined the term ‘e-Development’ we were just looking for a shorter/ simpler version of ICT for development phrase to make it more understandable for broader audiences. These terms have since been used interchangeably. There is no single “official” e-Development framework used at the Bank or elsewhere. The idea is that such a framework should include several key pillars, which are strongly interrelated and need to be dealt with in parallel and in a well-coordinated fashion. According to one classification developed by Nagy Hanna, former Bank’s Advisor on National ICT Strategies, this includes (1) policy, institutions and leadership aspects, (2) access infrastructure, (3) human capacity, (4) ICT applications, especially e-Government, and (5) IT/ITES industry development. Alternatively, these can be presented in just three pillars: (1) access, (2) mainstreaming and (3) innovation/entrepreneurship. This simplified framework is used at present by the Global ICT Department (http://www. worldbank.org/ict) of the World Bank.

It has been suggested that there are so many synergies between these components that they could be best pursued as part of an integrated program or project. World Bank has been piloting this approach of integrated e-Development and e-Government projects in a number of countries, including Sri Lanka (first project of this kind), Vietnam, Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Romania. It is too early to say whether integrated (horizontal + vertical) approach works better than the more traditional sectoral (vertical) approach.

However, one could already argue that without investing in cross-cutting areas such as human resources, shared access and delivery infrastructure, legal, institutional, policy and interoperability frameworks, sector-specific investments will not be as effective and are subject to duplication, incompatibilities and inefficiencies.

To promote the concept of integrated approach to ICT in development e-Development Thematic Group (http://www. worldbank.org/edevelopment) was created in 2003 as a global community of development professionals interested in the role of ICT. You have been involved in promoting the ICT for development and e-Government agenda at the World Bank and in the client countries by initiating and coordinating a number of programmes and initiatives. Please tell about your experiences of e-Government implementation in the emerging economies in Asia.

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network of Country Gateways, including a number of them in Asia. I could mention Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Country Gateways as being among the more successful in this global network as the principal gateways to development information on these countries in the last 6 years.

I was also part of the team, which prepared e-Sri Lanka project, first integrated e-Development project supported by the World Bank. During the project implementation phase, I coordinated the program of e-Government champions training delivered via videoconferences and workshops from May 2006 to June 2007 (http://go.worldbank.org/1ODC0UGWK0).

It is also important to emphasise once again that e-Government cannot be handled outside of public sector reform agenda. One should not put the cart ahead of the horse. e-Government should be the enabler for public sector transformation, and as such it has to be an integral part of administrative reform program rather than a stand-alone initiative In March 2005, we organised e-Transformation conference in New Delhi, which brought together many e-Government officials from Asia and all over the world. Most recently, we have been connecting multi-stakeholder audiences in Asia, including India, to our ‘Global e-Government Dialogues’ via videoconference.

How is India placed in terms of e-Readiness, as compared to the other developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region?

India is unique in many senses, including in terms of e-Readiness. It is a country of contrasts. Some parts of the country are among cutting edge implementers of e-Government and e-Development programmes. Andhra Pradesh, for example, is world-famous for its e-Seva programme and rural broadband initiative, both implemented as public-private partnerships. Of course, Hyderabad is one of the outsourcing and IT capitals of the world. Bangalore is yet another. On the other hand, many Indian states are falling behind in terms of ICT development overall, and e-Government readiness in particular. Therefore, overall e-Government readiness of India is rather low, according to the UN Global e-Government Readiness Report 2005, which ranks India as #87 out of 179 countries. The Union Government is trying to address this divide through the National e-Governance Plan and other sectoral programmes and I am very optimistic that they will achieve good results in the near future. World Bank is working closely with the Government of India to prepare e-Bharat project in support of the National e-Governance Plan.

Do you think India and other developing countries in the path to e-Governance, need a national CIO (chief information officer) to bring-in the change management focus and capacity?

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I believe that something like this is needed in every country even though it can be called differently and have different institutional setup from country to country. What is essential is to have an office and an individual in charge of it who are empowered to coordinate and ensure quality and impact of ICT investments across the public sector or at least in the central government. Some countries chose to give more executive authority to such an office/individual, some countries preferred to give only advisory authority. In any case, national CIO needs to be empowered to play a role of government transformation champion.

In his note on ‘The Emerging Role of the National Government CIO’, John Kost from Gartner Research provided a comparative analysis of 20 national CIO offices.

Gartner believes that “every national government can benefit from having a CIO to help set IT policy, direct the transformation of services, coordinate IT investment and strategy, and minimise IT expenses. A CIO, regardless of the responsibility given to the position, can be successful only if the government’s political leadership and senior executive management understand the role of IT and empower it for the management of IT and its effective utilisation. Creating a CIO position that is ignored or not empowered can be worse than not having one at all”. I could not agree more with this statement.

The National CIO can play a unique role in transforming public sector into a joined-up, multi-channel single window government, which is both citizen-centric and citizen-driven.

How do you see the role of mobiles in government reaching out to citizens and vice versa? Do you think developing countries need to give more emphasis towards m-Governance?

Mobile services are quickly emerging as the new frontier in transforming government and making it even more accessible and citizen-centric by extending the benefits of remote delivery of government services and information to those who are unable or unwilling to access public services through the Internet or who simply prefer to use mobile devices. In theory, many government services can be now made available on a 24x7x365 basis at any place in the world covered by mobile networks, which today means almost everywhere. The nearly ubiquitous use of mobile telephony (with over 250 million mobile users in India and 3 billion worldwide and over 70% of world’s population covered by mobile networks) gives this technology the potential to make government services more accessible to vast majority of citizens.

Governments in developing countries like India should take a much closer look at the potential of mobile technologies to enable better access to public information and services for the masses and adjust their current strategies, programs and processes accordingly. In one recent interview, R Chandrashekar, Additional Secretary (e-Governance), Department of Information Technology, mentioned that up to 60% of public services in India could be provided via mobile channel. This is a great example of a visionary approach which is critical for making m-Government happen in the near future. ov

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We at the e-Development Thematic Group of the Bank believe in the bright future of mobile services and therefore, recently organised a videoconferenced Global Dialogue on m-Government between audiences in 11 countries. You can access all materials:www.worldbank.org/edevelopment/mgov2 Tell us more about e-Development Thematic Group at the World Bank, which you coordinate.

The e-Development Thematic Group (eTG) is a global community of professionals interested in the role of Information and Communication Technologies in Development and is open for participation and partnerships to all individuals and organiasations. The eTG is currently chaired by Samia Melhem, Senior Operations Officer at the Global ICT Department (GICT), which is hosting the e-TG team. GICT is the ICT anchor unit for the World Bank Group (including International Finance Corporation). Previous chairs included Nagy Hanna (founding chair), Robert Schware, Robert Valantin and Bruno Lanvin.

We try to promote effective use of ICTs by facilitating knowledge sharing on new approaches and good practices and enabling a policy dialogue among a diverse community of practitioners to discuss new frontiers in the ICT for development agenda and how ICT can empower societies, economies and individuals to seek a brighter future.

Creating a CIO position that is ignored or not empowered can be worse than not having one at all”.

I could not agree more with this statement. The National CIO can play a unique role in transforming public sector into a joined-up, multi-channel single window government, which is both citizen-centric and citizen-driven We conduct 5-10 ‘Global Dialogue’ knowledge sharing events per year that bring together global experts, client country officials, World Bank staff, and the development community at large in Washington DC and other cities via videoconferencing, live webcast, and online discussions. A typical event connects 5-10 countries on 3-4 continents with 200-250 participants. Over 100,000 professionals receive information about our events. The topics cover cutting-edge ICT4D issues in regional, country or thematic contexts, in order to equip e-Government leaders and champions in developing and transition countries with the knowledge necessary for designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating successful ICT programs, projects and components. Examples of recent topics are m-Government, CIO Leadership, Single Window Government, e-Gov Strategies et al.

Disclaimer: In this interview, Oleg Petrov has shared his personal opinions which may not reflect official position of the Global ICT Department, the World Bank and its Board of Executive Directors on these issues.

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egov > INDUSTRY-SPEAK

Focusing on Institutionalising e-Governance Tanmoy Chakrabarty, Vice President & Head, Global Government Industry Group, Tata Consultancy Services

Tanmoy is responsible for Sales and Business Development for the Government industry worldwide for TCS, which is the largest Asian IT service provider. He talks of his global experience in the sector and the gaps India needs to plug in FAST.

What is the e- Governance vision and strategy of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)?

The group that we have in TCS is called Global Government Industry group. This group is responsible for all of the government works that TCS does in the world. Essentially we divide the government into federal, state and local government, defense, public sector, education and health.

Our entire focus is not on input of technology but on outcome and how TCS as a systems integrator can put together hybrid technology, services, products and create a solution that is going to bring end impact. For us that is where we really score the success of technology deployment in government, not in so far as how much technology we have built up but what is it really doing for the people or the stakeholder that is really the focus. It is definitely to bring in transparency in operations. We believe today that government is all about doing more with less. You have voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), scaling down or reduction of government. At the end of it, you have increasing population base, increasing aspirations of the people. So how do you fulfill these. Proleme increase if you do not take technology to enable your operations. That is what we focus at TCS. It is essentially to look at an inclusive approach of technology deployment for government. Very often in the past, there would be technology deployment programmes which would only cater to small pockets of society and mostly it would satisfy the internal needs of the 44 }

government. How can I get a report from the system was more important that what does the system really do to my customer which is the citizen. How do you bring about this paradigm transformation of the thought process, is what we are really working on. Thus, in the government industry group of TCS , we are dealing more with mind than with technology because its really about changing the mindset.

Technology is the least important factor in this process. It will simply enable what you wish it to achieve. We are trying to determine and find out what is the will of government and what is it that they wish to achieve. Once that is ratified and determined, then putting a technology enabled solution to reach that is least of the challenges. That is the way we look at government.

We are focusing more on institutionalising e-Governance as compared to individualised e- Governance that has happened in the past. And you will find some of the examples like MCA21 which is a national Mission Mode Project which, regardless of whoever comes or goes, has been established as the new way of doing things in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. So that is an example of institutionalised e-Governance as compared to the governance enablement of IT through individual spirit of very motivated civil servants .

The other philosophy we believe in, is we would like to build the solutions in India, respond to the challenges of e-Governance in India and take this as an showcase and

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replicate this across the world. We believe that if one is in a position to solve complex issues such as the ones which exist in India, it would be very easy to take that as an example and replicate around the world. So unlike other companies which are basically trying to bring in solutions, we want to build in India and replicate around the world. This is the other philosophy we believe in. TCS being the largest IT services company of Asia and Africa today, we try to tell the government to stop buying IT (hardware, system software, network). Do not look at the IT as a commodity to procure.

Look at IT as a service to avail. Once this mental paradigm transformation can take place, we believe that a lot of programme will actually succeed.

Not until the recent past, nobody considered citizen’s requirement to be playing any part whenever an IT programme was being developed. So the citizen never featured. It was always the intra and the inter government requirements that were considered in designing the solutions. Today, if one needs to deploy IT, one needs to look at outcome and impact first. And that is the way we look at things.

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has now concretised the plan and the goal of the Government of India. What is your take on this?

The e-Governance goal definitely has been specified and lot of hard work has gone in making the NeGP roadmap . Very correctly the government has focused on core foundational programmes to be the part of the very heart of the programme which are essentially State wide Area Network (SWAN), the Common service Centres (CSCs), and the Common Data Centres (CDC). These are three definite foundational infrastructural pre-requisite to bring about a technological enablement of government. But we believe that along side these three extremely necessary infrastructural inputs, there is a need to parallely think of applications and solutions that are going to be exploiting these infrastructure. Otherwise what good is an infrastructure when it is laid out and there is nothing else to do. So this kind of an approach of putting the cart before the horse has to reverse on its head. One has to now think of applications ahead of infrastructure, because applications exercising its computational requirements should determine an infrastructure. Not the other way round. There is a need to look at application roadmap which is also going to co-exist and we have no time. India has to catch up.

Today India is respected the world over as the IT destination. ov

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But when we look at our own adoption of IT, there is a huge dichotomy and gap. We are perhaps the least users of IT when it comes to governance compared to the world. I have some statistics which show that we are spending per citizen every year in cents in governance and e-Governance as compared to some countries which are spending multiples of tens of dollars per person. Very often one finds argument that India is so diverse that nothing can work. My counter argument to it is that infact that is the first factor which should cascade the dire need for bringing in automation and IT enablement.

The other phenomenon that we have here is the gross underestimation of our own citizen’s capability of adopting technologies by our government decision makers. Let us take the examples of ATM. Who has taught your plumber or my driver to use ATM? Who has taught him to send an SMS on the mobile phone? And who has taught him to go to the portal and buy a railway ticket? Nobody has. It is just that the ambience has been created. The environment of technological enablement has been created and people have readily adopted to it. How did India adopt to buying and selling of shares by these absolute traditional share brokers who knew nothing else but writing it on a piece of paper to a completely 100% technological enabled share market? Today we have a paperless share infrastructure in the country. Not a single piece of paper is moving yet crores of rupees of shares are bought and sold. So I think the decision makers should stop doubting the capabilities of the people and only focus on creating that enabled environment which is going to bring about adoption, usage and transformation.

What do you think regarding the PPP mode of implementing of the NeGP? How can the private sector add value in NeGP implementation?

We firmly believe that it is beyond the wherewithall of the government to do these things on their own. There is a complete need of PPP after 40 years of the history of Indian IT industry. Though it has the respect of being the global IT powerhouse, it is time for the government to start looking within the country, looking at our own IT industry and getting them to share the superior skills and technical expertise that we are respected for all over the world. A case in example is that TCS has implemented an electronic visa system for the Kingdom of Bahrain but we are not able to do it for our own country. A state-of-the- art system which involves biometrics, real time connectivity across all the airports and seaports and all of that, is what we have implemented around the world but we are not able to do it for our own country. There has been many many projects of this kind which, has been done by the IT industry in India for people around the world. This is basically because of the inability of our government to look in its own backyard instead of trying to search for things in the whole world where it exists in the country itself in terms of capability, skills, innovative capacity, absolute unique way of the engagement models that we propose and have engagements with customers world wide. It is, I would say, the inability to look at all of that.

If we look at it historically, National Informatics Centre (NIC) was created to be the IT services provider for the government and the time it was created, it was absolutely appropriate

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and a completely right decision to do so. However, over a period of time, there has to be transformation in the way this engagement is approached and it cannot be done in the same way it was done 20 years ago because a lot has changed. So therefore, we believe that the NIC should ideally become the programme manager for government projects and engage the IT industry in India to fast track and completely bring transformation to some of the government initiatives that are being taken around the country.

Therefore, we believe that there has to be a re-think of the strategy and a much more active involvement of the Indian IT industry in e-Governance initiatives by NIC to fast track the process. That is the real Public- Private- Partnership to us.

The Indian IT industry is absolutely ready to bring expertise, investment, money, skills, the relationship which we have with several countries around the world and we are keenly interested to bring IT to our own bretherens. TCS and many other companies have emanated and have originated, grown globally from here. We need to demonstrate this responsibility to the government that we are interested in bringing about transformation in government through IT technologies. An example is the Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting where rims of papers are generated in parliament for a two hour meeting, which has all the members and as soon as the meeting is over, all the papers are put in the dustbin.

Isn’t there a technological enablement for that process? We believe that there is. But it has not been done in the past 60 years. Government works on files. The whole process can be digitised. The Right to Information Act has strengthened this requirement.

Please tell us about some of the projects of TCS- MCA21, AP Online and so on- implemented for the government sector to fulfill the latter’s goal to achieving transparency and efficiency. What has been your experience working with the government and what are your suggestions for them for more such private sector ventures?

The projects mentioned are runaway success that have not only brought about transformation in their respective areas (company administration for MCA21 and citizen services for AP Online) but have also ushered in increased transparency and efficiency.

For instance, it is now possible for banks to check whether a company that approaches it for working capital loan against hypothecation of the same asset that it is now offering, thereby obviating fraud.

Similarly, the availability of a proposed name for a company can be ascertained online without multiple meetings with MCA officials. In the case of AP Online citizens now directly contact the chief minister fo the state to redress their grievances. This has definitely brought about speedier grievance redressal and faster resolution to pressing citizens’ problems.

How can India Portal mission mode project facilitate the vision for ‘single-window’ for all G2C/G2B transactions?

There is a crying need for a single window for all G2C and G2B transactions. Currently, businesses and citizens have to approach muliple agencies for a single transaction, which is counter-productive. Foreign businesses often complain that they have to navigate a bureaucratic maze for establishing and running a business in India. This is not in our interest and results in reduction of Foreign Direct Investment, something that India needs acutely.

The MCA21 project is a step in this direction but more needs to be done. The government should explore the possiblity of using a single gateway for all G2B transactions and must not create multiple gateways otherwise the purpose will not be met.

How is TCS leveraging in cross-organisation process and system integration expertise to help government bodies worldwide be more efficient?

TCS levarages its global experience to implement best practices in governance gained by working with governments worldwide. This is possible because there is a commonality in government working across the globe. For instance, governments of Commonwealth countries all follow similar processes embodied in the Witehall and Totenham system of administrative processes.

How big is the e-Government market worldwide? What are your plans to expand TCS market in India and abroad?

The e-Government market worldwide is very significant.

If you add the present and proposed spend by goverments in this area it is a significant figure. We are focussed on implementing replicable solutions across governments that not only reduce cost of ownership but also mitigate risks associated with large IT implementations since these solutions have been implementated in multiple places and are robust and evolved. Also, our focus is outcome based implementations that seek to achieve certain outcomes as compared to just deploying IT.

West Bengal Government Plans to Refurnish e-Government Portal with TCS The Information Technology Department of West Bengal (India) is planning to refurnish the official e-Governance portal, Banglar Mukh. West Bengal Government has called Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to manage the portal. The Government is looking for a moderate cost structure to make the state a hub for e-Governance activities and TCS is playing a major role in establishing e-Governance initiatives in state.

The government is also planning to create various value-added services for future common service centres to come up across the state.

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egov > STATE-SPEAK

GUJARAT

Key Infrastructure in Place for e-Governance

http://www.gujaratindia.com/

Raj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Gujarat What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

In case of Gujarat, we have already proceeded much ahead of Government of India Mission Mode Project and as a matter of fact other policy framework under the project is an enabling factor as we have created line departments, IT Committee. We have implemented e-Governance projects in their respective departments. For instance, land records mission mode project is already functional for a long period and likewise several projects have been undertaken by police department for computerising the entire police set up. So the number of such initiatives have already been undertaken because of the enabling framework and structure we have since the beginning.

As Secretary to Government of Gujarat in the Department of Science and Technology, the responsibilities of Raj Kumar include policy making and implementation for attracting private sector investments in the high technology areas such as Information Technology (IT) and Biotechnology (BT) and promotion of scientiďŹ c temper among children and students community.

In addition, he is also responsible for promoting e-Governance across the government departments and provide common infrastructure for the same.

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What are the services that are being delivered/ planned to be delivered through Common Service Centres (CSCs)?

Today, we are in a position to start services of land records, ration card, employment registration for the unemployed. Then through common service centres, we are identifying and contemplating to provide services like providing caste certificate, widow certificate, character certificate, income certificate, and so forth. In addition we are providing services to Gujarat Higher Secondary Educational Board to issue marks sheet, board certificate, change of names, duplicate certificate, verifications. Similarly, we have also gathered information for below the poverty line families as per the need available. Then assistance to widows and old age pension scheme have to be provided through the CSC. Likewise we also want to integrate it with the insurance scheme currently with the state government. There are number of facilities provided from Government of India like railway reservation centres and passport facility on the Internet, which could also be used by the CSCs. What is the status of SWAN and the SDC in your state?

SWAN is already in place for last 6 years. Around 14000 users are connected. We have 225 government

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Civic Sector initiative. Even the operational SWAN projects are following this practice.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

Now our focus is mainly on extending government services and delivery of those services to the citizen through CSCs and such kind of outlet. Large number of people should be served. Another focus would be on integrating the existing services at health and education set up.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

I think we are quite ahead in e-Governance initiatives as compared to other states. Basically, what we do is that we initiate a process for all those policies which we implement.

We do not have projects for one district or several district.

Couple of projects are taken up and the sample project is undertaken throughout the state. website in various line departments. They have become very significant in the past six years and we have taken up projects enhancing abilities of SWAN. In State Data Centre, we have gone ahead with the infrastructure development and the developmental services.

Please share with us the capacity building programmes being planned / implemented in your state?

In terms of capacity building we have taken two major initiatives. As a matter of policy we have made it compulsory for all government servants to fulfill minimum computer proficiency for their promotion. For new recruits the minimum qualification is basic computer literacy. Even trainings are provided for the same.

What are the evaluation and monitoring techniques you are adopting to monitor the progress and to assess whether the proposed benefits are being delivered to the citizens?

As such we have 100 percent local delivery points for monitoring at the block level. Here, we are monitoring regarding how long does it take for a government service to be delivered.

This itself shows that people are getting the services and the benefits.

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

One of the best example of PPP that I can give you is that of Income Registration office as the entire process is done in a Public Private Partnership mode. Similar model is there in

we have 100 percent local delivery points for monitoring at the block level. Here, we are monitoring regarding how long does it take for a government service to be delivered. This itself shows that people are getting the services and the benefits What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance project running in your state?

Most of our projects are through private sector partnership.

Companies likes TCS and Wipro have taken many of the rural projects. A lot of IT companies have come with several initiatives.

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance projects?

The key achievement has been that we have been able to create an atmosphere in which the key infrastructure is placed. Secondly, the key policies which enable key line departments to undertake implementation of e-Government project in respective domain are in place. The human resource development services are intact. The government’s vision is basically to maximise governance through minimum governance. For achieving these, our technology as well is in place. So, I think we are moving on the right path.

Gujarat Wins the Award for Best e-Governed State Gujarat has received the Best e-Governed State Award for 2006-2007 year at the convention of 42nd Computer Society of India (CSI). Gujarat received awards in four categories; best e-Governed state, best e-Governed Department (health and family welfare) and the best e-Governance G2B project for e-Procurement and also for VAT Informations System. In the convention ceremony, Goa, Jharkhand and Kerala were declared as joint winners for the ‘Progressive e-Governed State’’. While the Department of Electricity of Lakshadweep, and Department of Health and Family Welfare, Gujarat were declared joint winners under the ‘Best e-Governed Department’ category. IRCTC also won the award for its Web-based rail reservation while PESO from Nagpur was the runner up for the best e-Governance project G2B.

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egov > EXPERT-SPEAK

The Future of e-Government Knowledge Engineering for Results

Gianluca Misuraca, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Gianluca Misuraca is a Research Associate at the College of Management of Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), as well as a lecturer and scientific advisor, (former Managing Director) of the Global Executive Master in e-Governance of EPFL. He is also an Associate Partner of Gov3 - Government for the Third Millennium (Ltd-UK); a Managing partner of Praxis Research Europe, (V.B. The Netherlands) and the Vice President of KITE International (Knowledge, Innovation, Technology, Empowerment), (NGO-Switzerland).

INTRODUCTION

It is heartening to know that ‘eGov’ magazine has completed three years of successful publication. In this period I had the opportunity to closely analyse the global developments and trends of e-Government worldwide, and all the various denominations given to this phenomenon, as well as experimenting, in several cases, the application of the concept in reality, through practical researches and concrete projects in the field.

I have done this with the passion of the practitioner on the one side, and the critical perspective of the researcher on the other side. In general, what I have seen on this ‘learning journey’ around the issues of e-Governance is often a combination of failures and rhetoric; this is why I believe that new approaches are still desperately needed. Another element that is not clear in the picture towards development is the miscasting idea that ICTs are always positive and that in the ‘Information Age’ it is sufficient to provide access to everybody to instantaneously make development happen. This is false and dangerous, especially for developing countries.

What I want to stress here is that, instead, a new knowledgeoriented approach is required, which cannot be a linear or straightforward task, but which often appears, on the contrary, as a complex process quite demanding of new skills and new forms of local development-focused policies. I am now exploring, together with friends, colleagues and academic institutions, new ways of analysing and implementing knowledge-sharing and transfer mechanisms that may support the emergence of practices and projects producing effective results in developing and emerging countries.

e-GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT TRENDS

The integration of ICTs into governmental operations gave rise globally to the e-Government phenomenon which has ov

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emerged since the nineties and has been seen by many as the ‘silver bullet’ that would change the way government operates and transform the relationship with businesses and citizens. It has often been considered as a panacea to public sector reform and automatically linked to improvement (or even creation of) good governance.

Up to now, this assumption is more a wishful thinking than proven and documented reality. So far, in fact, the main effort in e-Government has been dedicated to the digitisation of existing information and procedures, addressing in a hopefully more efficient way a variety of administrative functions and service delivery options. Beside inherent costs and shortcomings often typical of easy win operations, and which have to be evaluated intrinsically, the deficit of cross-functions, seamless operations in which non-Statestakeholders can truly play a proactive role seems to be only superficially reduced. However, many policy makers, practitioners and researchers made a claim that a paradigmatic shift of e-Government solutions, as a driver of transformation of the State, was underway: in this perspective, G2G, G2B and G2C were considered as the components of the magic equation that would eventually lead companies and governments to success, but not without investing enormously in ICTs, and in many cases without even having the possibility of monitoring the return on investment or the socio-economic impact of ICTs and e-Government in the “real world”.

This wishful thinking approach can be particularly dangerous when it comes to developing countries, where formulas such as e-Government for Development (eG4D), ICT for Development (ICT4D), and more recently Knowledge for Development (K4D), have been applied as if it was a ‘plugand-play’ easy solution, exported from the North to the South and too often without considering the need of customisation to the local context and environment, and therefore often resulting in waste of money and limited results.

As a matter of fact, behind the high-tech glamour of most complex ICTs projects and e-Government initiatives lies a

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dirty reality: the majority of these projects are failures, and the so-called ‘leapfrogging’ effects to be realised by introducing ICTs, predicted for emerging and developing countries, is not actually taking place. These failures come at a high price for the world’s poorer countries, and a key problem among e-Government practitioners and policy-makers is a lack of awareness regarding these costs. Of course, due to the political implications of such failures, there are very little data about rates of success and even more so of actual failure of e-Government projects.

Still, e-Government is often an effective starting point to initiate transformative process, bearing in mind that the result is not automatically achieved by the mere digitisation of existing administration procedures. We have to recognise the value of this ongoing achievement. At the same time, the underpinning assumptions, methods and philosophical biases that have been used to support that type of change (that we call change I or change of the first order) bear some cost and to some extent, prevent an easy move towards more ambitious transformations, such as suggested by the higher stages of the Gartner maturity model in particular and in any case by an effective local development involving grass-root motivations and projects. One of the reasons behind this paradoxical barrier is the success and productivity of the process-minded approach.

Once recognised the high cost and the complexity of e-Government and ICT-related activities in the public sector in general, governments worldwide have realised the need to look for ways to reduce risks and understand the external and internal barriers to e-Government, in order to overcome failures and successfully implement changes. New catchwords and immediate solutions came out, with Business Proces Reengineering (BPR), strategic business and IT alignment, as imperative modus operandi for ‘transforming government’, giving particular importance to change management techniques and focusing on organisational culture and human resources empowerment.

Invoking a sort of ‘return to the future’, many scholars started exploring the possibility of e-Governance to realise the paradigmatic shift that e-Government did not realise.

But just changing terminology, even when introducing new concepts and multi-disciplinary perspectives, based on 50

Attempts to bring the citizens closer to the decision-making process are increasing and examples of collaborative platforms and interesting innovative experiences exist in several countries. These type of initiatives are rapidly growing and it is most likely only a beginning. This ongoing process is also likely to benefit from upcoming technological convergences, such as the one concerning seamless interoperability between the wireless domain and the mobile telephony one (the ‘next generation’ leitmotiv, also known as Mobile Internet)

solid theoretical frameworks, does not necessarily produce practical solutions.

New ‘value drivers’ have been given significance, not limiting ICTs and e-Government to reach efficiency gains but focusing more on effectiveness and ‘openness’, as well as looking at the socio-economic implications of interventions, and the involvement of all stakeholders as a key for success. In this context, and linking to the more recent explosion of Web 2.0 technologies and innovative researches and experiments about the potential of online community of users, several governments around the world, Canada in primis, and Germany in particular leading the EU towards that direction, introduced the concept of Next Generation e-Government, or e-Government 2.0.

However, beyond the rhetoric of e-Gov 2.0, borrowing on the fashion of Web2.0 as if it were a sufficient generic attribute, we can find in the current trend some interesting elements and perspectives. Social networking can both exert its dynamic effect at the local level, supporting the activity of specific communities and projects, as well as more crossboundary or even global communication and constructions, creating the conditions for a variety of options, with a knowledge tuned in tight relationship with bottom-up social initiatives. It looks like the ideal communication channel for socialising at regional level or at a broader scale when needed, for a variety of specialised socio-economic activities, projects and goals.

Attempts to bring the citizens closer to the decision-making process are increasing and examples of collaborative platforms and interesting innovative experiences exist in several countries. These type of initiatives are rapidly growing and it is most likely only a beginning. This ongoing process is also likely to benefit from upcoming technological convergences, such as the one concerning seamless interoperability between the wireless domain and the mobile telephony one, (the ‘next generation’ leitmotiv, also known as Mobile Internet).

However, many questions still remain open; in particular it is not clear yet what the role of government will be, and how it will it be capable (or not) to take advantage of this potential.

Another trend that is rapidly growing is ‘Mobile Government’ (or ‘m-Government’). This relatively new phenomenon, whose potential is largely unknown and unexplored, is however already considered to be the most important subset of future

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e-Government services, and identified as one key component of a larger ‘m-Society’ way of life. Indeed, mobile services and technologies have rapidly, and in some cases astonishingly, evolved. Mobile technologies belong to the emerging trend and tend to accelerate and reinforce this process (more users and more places for more types of applications), involving in addition a strong proximity-based set of options, propitious to local development projects and forms of knowledge, what I like to call “Knowledge 2.0”.

In this context, I should emphasise the need and possibility to support a true ‘multicasting’ construction of relevant skills, key partnerships and meaningful choices for a suitable and sustainable society. Mobile Internet-based services, in principle, can push this claim even further, for quantity of users, as well as the diverse territorial and sectoral anchoring of their activities. Mobile Internet services, which can pass through portable devices of various kinds, but mostly mobile telephony, are undoubtedly closer to the user, including their relevant environment and reactivity potential on a day-to-day basis, especially in emerging countries. Several experiments have been initiated worldwide to make best use of mobile and wireless technologies towards better service delivery, including eventual co-production of solutions.

This emergent behaviour enabled by the convergence of personal communications and publishing technology with massive private and government data sources could indeed empower individuals in their relations with governments.

This provides a potential opportunity for government agencies to explore the ways to enhance the outreach of e-Government services with the use of mobile and wireless technologies. However, despite all its promises, it is wise to keep our minds open and at the same time fully explore this new option but also keep some rhetoric reserve, in particular asking ourselves whether m-Government will be an ‘e-Gov 3.0’ type of paradigmatic shift or just another fancy catchword likely to quickly fade away? As a matter of fact, this remains to be verified by actual observations and facts.

All these aspects suggest that there is room for a different type of steering that the e-Government promotes; a wide form of governance and knowledge management in connection with ICT development.

UNCOVERING ISSUES AROUND THE GOVERNANCE OF ICTs

In an attempt to advocate a ‘muddling through approach’ or even better an innovative strand rather than an idealistic one, and in this, supported by fieldwork evidence, the analysis of e-Government developments and trends can be summarised by saying that not all e-Government developments matter the same, and that priority should be given to: • Those services or interfaces which serve the most intensive clients of the administration (impact-oriented); • Those services or groups for which the learning curve can have a spill-over impact on other domains or activities (triggering a collective mastering progression or learning); • Those services which innovate, thanks to a niche feature or a new technology, and deliver or facilitate problemov

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solving of a new kind (pilot activity), conveying some strategic or even cultural potential.

In addition, these recommendations mean that for each technological implementation, for each e-Service delivered, beyond their obvious instrumental level, there is an organisational and institutional dimension, more governanceoriented, to be taken care of, in which ICT-deployment must be defined within the framework of a policy-compliant and inter-stakeholder knowledge management-effective perspective. This is what would suggest an institutional and even paradigmatic slide from e-Government to e-Governance.

Differently from e-Government, e-Governance can be seen as the expression of a ‘dynamic tension’ between institutional frameworks and ICTs. The fact is that among these solutions,

Differently from e-Government, e-Governance can be seen as the expression of a ‘dynamic tension’ between institutional frameworks and ICTs. The fact is that among these solutions, that have at all costs to be found and managed, there are quite a few ones which have to deal with the ICTs themselves and not only the productivity but also the stakes and controversies they convey that have at all costs to be found and managed, there are quite a few ones which have to deal with the ICTs themselves and not only the productivity but also the stakes and controversies they convey. At this level, it is important to stress that there is a basic asymmetry between the two side of the coin that define, according to me, e-Governance as governance with and of ICTs: where ‘with’ means basically ‘bureautic’, web-based and connective type of technologies and applications or better said mediation-supportive technologies and applications; meanwhile governance ‘of’ ICTs rather means dealing, in terms of innovation and regulation with all the technologies of the Information Society. While the Governance with ICTs can basically be linked to the e-Government type of applications, Governance of ICTs, can also be considered as a knowledge creation and management practice, and therefore, a learning type of dynamics, involving internal forces of organisations, as well as outside or across the board of socio-economic actors, in a meso-societal type of change process, with a diversified array of necessary knowledge to be triggered and enhanced.

As a matter of fact, this e-Governance scheme fits a larger evolution pattern of ICTs and the Information Society as a whole, and in particular all aspects dealing with the growing user-driven influence on the forms, ethics, business models and technological choices at stake in the development of the Internet and all the applications linked to it, including such dynamics as Web 2.0 and the various types of e-Mobile services. We pass here from change I to change II or change of the second-order (emphasising ‘how’ more than ‘what’, with the underpinning learning that goes with it) or even change III (open-ended, hyper-complex) when conditioned

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by or aligned with the agenda of the Knowledge Society as a whole.

UNDERSTANDING HOW TO MOVE FORWARD PROGRAMMES THAT ALIGN EFFICIENCY AND VALUES

Beyond all easy Information Society rhetoric, one of the main problems we are confronted with nowadays, is that we are not sure that we are indeed, thanks to ICTs, changing our life for the better. Are not we unwillingly, at the same time becoming a society of addicts to (or slaves of) ICTs in the Internet era, or generating new problems (digital divides, environmental impacts, health issues, political paradoxes) at least as great as the problems we are resolving and the productivity increase we are triggering?

This is why the two sides of the coin are equally important (governance with, but also of ICTs), with then not only change I types of operations, but also cultural, institutional and political adjustments of the same strength, investment level and determination. While a minority of the world population is following the last device-fashionable trend, at the same time, the majority of the world’s population has no access to the Internet and ICTs and is struggling for surviving.

Perception of social benefit and organisational efficiency is therefore relative, as well as is the urgency of replying to email or buying the last PlayStation for our kids. Ideally, the above mentioned change III level of knowledge should also be able to integrate and cope with that level of issues, in particular not idealising the fact of providing Internet access to more people, but on the contrary emphasising the risks associated with the opportunities of introducing ICTs in different contexts and different ends. The development of e-Government and e-Governance in fact takes place in a very specific environment and contextual pressure which we must understand and learn in order to unfold it at best.

One of the pivotal points for this to happen, is the ‘unbundling’ of the information/knowledge blurring, both concepts being often understood as being more or less equivalent. In reality, information is not knowledge, neither competence. Information access and sharing, as well as expert data handling, necessitate a lot of knowledge. Information is not the first stage towards knowledge, neither the precondition of it. Often it is quite the opposite.

Similarly, the increase of participation in the usage of ICTs is no automatic and linear step towards effective, sustainable or democratic evidence. On the contrary, one has to stress that in order to carry out a collective learning of some significance through ICTs, more horizontal processes, empowerment and trial and error linked with experience sharing must somehow take place, ‘upstream’ or at least be considered quite early in an ICT-based project, so as to constitute a democratic enhancement chance.

In this context, I introduce here a new concept, Knowledge2.0, a concept based, by analogy on the forces that are shaping today the Web.2.0. It is by no means an exact copy or a part of it, but a converging trend belonging to the same cultural evolution and concerning the specific area of 52

knowledge constructions and interactions, to a great extent user-defined. Finally, although encompassing a specific set of dynamics, Knowledge2.0 is partially supported by Web2.0 processes insofar as ICTs are helping communication, processing and storage of knowledge.

Knowledge2.0 makes use of the same driving forces as Web2.0, such as social networking, virtual communityanchored knowledge sharing and reputation-based evaluation systems. Altogether, it is important to stress that just as in Web2.0, what matters is not the circulation of information, but the predominantly user-centered construction of specifically relevant and possibly operational knowledge. In this sense, Knowledge2.0 addresses more the kind of issues that will shape the Knowledge Society of tomorrow than being a pure product of the Information Society, as it is recognised today.

Knowledge2.0 makes use of the same driving forces as Web2.0, such as social networking, virtual communityanchored knowledge sharing and reputation-based evaluation systems.

Altogether, it is important to stress that just as in Web2.0, what matters is not the circulation of information, but the predominantly usercentered construction of specifically relevant and possibly operational knowledge. In this sense, Knowledge2.0 addresses more the kind of issues that will shape the Knowledge Society of tomorrow than being a pure product of the Information Society, as it is recognised today

REINVENTING LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND SOCIETIES

In this perspective, the future of e-Government is therefore not so much linked to how we will make the administration more electronic, which seems to be a trend of its own and well underway, but how more sharable and adaptable knowledge options and creative interactions become possible between government agencies and their various representatives on the one hand, and the citizens, users of the administrations of various kinds (individuals, enterprises and civil society organisations) on the other hand, so as to really innovate and solve incoming problems.

Web2.0 types of knowledge processes involved in e-Government as it nowadays develops, to enhance the administrative sphere of activities, are not meant to be a substitute of existing procedures, but on the contrary, enriching and complementary to, sometimes corrective of such procedures. In the case of Citizen to Government communication, however, it can be quite innovative, adding potential to the existing channels and modalities.

In general terms, and although we must still learn to make the best out of it, by expressing and consolidating reputation in a user-centered manner, such as for example through the evaluation and social-network- or community-based opinion-

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building forms of citizen to government relationships, we are getting increasingly closer to a knowledge2.0 leveraging capability of e-Government developments.

At the same time, one can observe, in a quite similar manner as with Web2.0, that new business models are also emerging, with both disintermediation and re-intermediation trends, corresponding to direct and indirect forms of marketing, both capable of triggering expectations and economically meaningful behaviours.

What is at stake, basically, is the emergence of a new cultural paradigm, more open (a variety of innovation patterns are underpinned by this essential philosophy), reactive and defined to a great extent by the users -intermediate as well as end-users- in a multiplicity of ways.

This whole new field of opportunities is quite complex and generates all sorts of knowledge engineering patterns and options, and to cope with that, we need to create, enable or support the conditions for new forms of intermediaries to emerge, the knowledge broker and the knowledge entrepreneur.

Cross-cutting and systemic stakes will be dominant in the future, therefore exchanges of ideas should contribute to the identification, sharing upon and development of: 1) experiments and learning processes that can further trigger new motivations and innovative collaborations in a variety of local contexts, on issues ranging from the remediation of most acute current societal problems to various forms and levels of economic entrepreneurship; 2) relevant cases typically documenting robust, sustainable problem-solving capacity of local actors, that can be shared and form the source of new learning and skills acquisitions. e-Government of the future, in this sense, must not be just a logistics arm or legal supervisor for public service delivery or complex but uncertain societal interactions, but also a

facilitator of initiatives as well as more routinely yet effective activities taking place in those diverse domains.

Within this context, global and local actors preoccupied by development have an unprecedented opportunity to harness networked communication and knowledge sharing to improve outcomes. I postulate that mobile information and knowledge sharing have the potential to 1) render traditionally closed institutional boundaries and walls more permeable, 2) facilitate greater collaboration on development policies, products, and services, 3) position development practitioners closer to the action where more accurate observations and measurements can be made,4) transform dysfunctional bureaucracies into service-oriented platforms, and, therefore, with some reasonable expectations, dramatically reduce operating and transaction costs for organisations and individuals alike.

Prospective partners must identify zones of mutual interest in terms of project goals and outcomes, and the tangible and intangible benefits the partnership offers each participant.

Trust among partners is earned and maintained by delivering on expectations. Third party affirmation of beneficial outcomes achieved will also strengthen trust among partners, and should be a primary component of ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

While in broad terms most elements for success are known by now, their interpretation and application must be reinvented locally. However, it is generally recognised that if a public administration, especially at the local level, does cross the ‘digital divide’, it opens formidable opportunities that are practically inaccessible by any other means. This is true for all public administrations in the world, regardless of the level of economic development, human capacities, and social and cultural context prevailing in the community or country concerned.

Over 10 Million Citizens to get Wireless Internet Access in Kenya More than 10 million Kenyans who still lack access to the Internet now stand to benefit from the planned wireless Internet connection to public pay-phones by June, 2008. TelKom Kenya is targeting to provide Internet services to 90 percent of Kenya’s population by January, 2008. The company has urged the government to gazette bans on the trade in copper and aluminum as a way of stemming the vandalism of Telkom wires across the country. Through a broadband video streaming service, Telkom Kenya also plans to provide television services through its wireless technology in the near future. Africa Online, subsidiary of TelKom will launch its Africa Online ICT in Schools, a CSI initiative, which aims to make a contribution to the communities in which they operate. During the launch, Africa Online will announce its adopted school to which it will donate computers worth Rs. 70 000.

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Red Hat Open Source Solutions

VIEW FROM THE TOP

The Future is Open!

Over the last five years, Linux has become pervasive on servers across India. Despite all the fear, uncertainty and doubt that proprietary vendors have tried to spread, the growth of Linux has been unstoppable.

We believe that open source is now ready to spread its wings beyond the operating system and become a more integral part of the enterprise IT infrastructure.

By Mr. Nandu Pradhan President & Managing After establishing itself on servers, Director, Red Hat India Linux is now making rapid progress on desktops. Linux now has very user friendly interface. Productivity applications like OpenOffice. org have matured considerably in the last few years and the availability of desktop applications has grown. The Linux desktop today offers much of the functionality of proprietary desktops at a fraction of the cost. Our flagship software, Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Desktops is now available in eleven Indian languages - Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. Several e-Government and education projects have begun opting for the Linux desktop because of its affordable nature, ease of deployment and superior protection from viruses, malware and spyware.

Red Hat Development Model

Red Hat recently acquired JBoss, which is famous for its acclaimed middleware stack. This gives enterprises the ability to develop and deploy applications in open source. We also launched the Red Hat Exchange which gives users the ability to compare and buy a whole range of open source applications from one single web site. This includes applications in areas like Customer Relationship Management, Business Intelligence and others.

There are several mature open source applications that are rapidly growing in popularity. In the recent past, venture capitalists have pumped in more than $500 million into open source startups. Therefore, we will see increased amount of open source software and infrastructure tools emerging in the next few years.

At Red Hat, we have no doubt that the future is open!

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 5 SERVER

RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 5 DESKTOP

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is available in two variants for servers. A base Red Hat Enterprise Linux server is designed for small deployments while Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform is designed for mainstream customers and provides the most costeffective, flexible, and scalable environment. Both versions are based on common core technology.

Both include a comprehensive suite of open source server applications and virtualisation capabilities.

The cost of keeping proprietary desktops secure is rising. Then there’s the cost to deploy.

And update. Not to mention administrative costs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop is an attractive and highly productive alternative for client systems like desktop and laptop computers. An environment that sets the standard for client operating systems in the focused areas of security and management.

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ADVERTORIAL SUCCESS STORIES

Red Hat Success Stories in Government Red Hat helps Government of Maharashtra reach out to over a million citizens Government of Maharashtra reaches out to over a million citizens with e-Governance applications running on Red Hat Linux.

Government of Maharashtra (GoM) has set up an IT department in its attempt to modernise the administrative infrastructure of the state. In line with its vision of increasing the transparency of the various administrative departments and making information easily accessible to citizens, the department recently deployed Red Hat Linux in its various applications. The solution has been implemented for various e-Governance projects including Land Records Management System, Treasury Management System (Kosh Vahini), Document Journey Management System, and Computerisation of Citizen Facility Centre.

Kerala Government and Red Hat team up to democratise technology Red Hat and the Government of Kerala recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under which Red Hat will support Kerala’s deployment of open source software that will accelerate e-Governance and e-Literacy efforts in the State of Kerala. Under the MOU, Red Hat will work with the Government of Kerala to conduct capacity-building programmes around open source software. Red Hat will train the technical staff of various government organisations to help them develop and maintain open source applications. Red Hat will also train school teachers in Kerala on Linux desktop skills under a “Train-the-Trainer” programme.

The project will set up digital inter-connectivity between all the courts from the taluka (block) level to the Apex Court, videoconferencing facilities at the courts, digital archiving and creation of e-filing facility. 15,000 courts across the country will be connected through a wide area network to enhance the efficiency of the judicial system. At the launch function, President Kalam gave judges five years ‘’to bring down the pendency’’ to almost a third of some 30 million cases at present.

SREI selects Red Hat for West Bengal CSC project One of the most ambitious e-Government projects of the Department of IT, Government of India was kicked off recently when SREI won the Common Service Center (CSC) project for 4,937 locations in West Bengal.

The CSC project is an ambitious attempt by DIT to deliver eGovernment services to all 6,00,000 villages in India. Under this project, there will be a 100,000 CSCs dotting rural India, each serving a cluster of six villages. The roll-out of this project will be under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with private players like SREI providing the front end services like birth certificates, utility bill payments, tax collection etc in the villages, while the government provides the back end services. For rural citizens, the CSC project promises to make life easier by cutting down the time taken for accessing e-Government services. For this prestigious project, SREI chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the desktop operating system after extensive testing and evaluation. “Ours is a very wide deployment across almost 5,000 rural locations and we wanted to minimise our vulnerability to viruses, trojans and worms and that’s one reason we chose Red Hat. We conducted an extensive evaluation and testing of Red Hat on our desktop systems and were pleasantly surprised with its reliability and stability. The features of Linux and bundled applications like Open Office are fantastic. Users just need to spend some time to discover and use its capabilities,” says Dr. Azim of SREI.

Indian Judiciary now on Red Hat The e-Courts project launched by President APJ Abdul Kalam recently has selected Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the operating system for the 15,000 notebook computers delivered to judicial officers across India. The e-Courts project is to be implemented in three phases spread over a period of five years at a cost of INR 8540 million.

As part of its CSC effort, SREI is also building a next generation data center with mail-messaging, IPTV and video-conferencing capabilities on Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers. The data center takes advantage of Red Hat’s advanced server features like Cluster Suite. The System Integration has been done by Wipro with able assistance from Red Hat’s technical team.

CONTACT DETAILS

JBOSS ENTERPRISE MIDDLEWARE

RED HAT INDIA 1st floor, C-Wing, Fortune 2000, Bandra Kurla Complex Bandra (East), Mumbai, India 400051 +91 22 3987 8888 (main) +91 22 3987 8899 (fax) www.in.redhat.com Email at marketing-in@redhat.com

Simple. Open. Affordable. JBoss Enterprise Middleware is enterpriseclass open source software to build, deploy, integrate, orchestrate, and present web applications and services in a Service-Oriented Architecture.

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JHARKHAND

egov > STATE-SPEAK

Committed to Provide Host of Government Services to Citizens

http://www.jharkhand.gov.in/

R S Sharma, Principal Secretary, Information Technology Department, Government of Jharkhand R S Sharma, joined Indian Administrative Service in 1978 and was allocated to the Bihar cadre. In Bihar, he worked in various positions from 1980 till 1995. In 1995, he went on deputation to Government of India and worked there in the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance. He has been advocating use of IT tools for improving Governance since 1980’s.

What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

Over the past few years, the concepts of government and governance have been dramatically transformed. There is an increased pressure and expectation from the citizens about not only the way the government functions but there is an expectation that government should be more open to democratic accountability. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have a valuable potential to help meet good governance goals in the country. The Government of Jharkhand recognises the power and potential of ICT and the effect it can have in transforming the government processes. It was found essential that the State Government adopts a strategic framework for the achievement of its e-Governance vision for which it was required to focus upon customers, services, delivery channels, e-Governance 56 }

infrastructure, people (institutional framework), processes and policies.

The State has been pro-actively trying to implement many e-Governance initiatives during three years or so. Jharkhand is a pioneer State in the country to have a backbone network (State Wide Area Network, rechristened as JharNet) for voice, data and video communication. It connects the State headquarters, all 24 Districts headquarters, 35 sub-divisions down to Block level with 2 Mbps connectivity. Further, Jharkhand is again the first State to set up 4,562 Service Centres (CSCs) throughout all the panchayats to provide Government to Citizens (G2C) and Business to Citizens (B2C) services.

We have a single point entry portal for providing government’s information and services to citizens and business. To improve the transparency and information, digitisation of the registered property documents and

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computerisation and networking of all registration offices along with the index registers is complete. Further, we have also computerised all the treasuries in the State and have not only linked them together but also provided their connectivity with banks. This has ensured an extremely efficient system of financial management, thereby eliminating possibility of forged withdrawals.

Various e-Governance initiatives and projects which seek to make the district administration more responsive and accessible are very high on our agenda. e-District is one of such projects. Decision Support System for Disaster Assessment and Management, Tourism Information System, Tele-medicine, Tele-education are few projects going to be roled out in near future As far as computerisation and networking of government departments are concerned, commercial taxes department, transport, municipal services, employment exchange, public distribution system, district consumer Forum etc. are already computerised and functioning. We have also made considerable progress in space technology applications with the help of remote sensing and GIS techniques. Solutions have been systematically adopted in various government departments and value aided services are being provided in different sectors like agriculture, environmental conservation, forestry, geology, soil, urban planning, etc.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

While Jharkhand is the youngest State in the country, its ICT initiatives like limited computerisation of some departments date back to the period when it was part of Bihar. However, after creation of a new entity in the form of a full-fledged State, I recognise that Jharkhand’s initiatives in the area of application of ICT in improving service and governance have been scaled up considerably to harness the advantages of ICT applications. While the State has been pioneer in establishment of SWAN and CSC projects its progress in computerisation of key-applications like treasuries, commercial taxes, etc. has also been noteworthy.

In addition, we are pro-actively trying to push for computerisation of operations in almost all the state departments so as to have an absolutely integrated service delivery system in near future.

What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance projects running in your state?

The State has developed the IT policy keeping in mind the enhanced opportunity that IT will unleash over the next decade with the help of private sector. Incentives to the IT industries are provided to ensure conducive environment for its establishment and sustained growth in Jharkhand.

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regulatory Acts and Rules are also undertaken to create an investment friendly environment in the state.

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

The State is committed to provide logistics, infrastructure, investment and fiscal incentives to ensure ample and conducive business opportunity in implementing e-Governance projects.

The relationship between public/private sector organisations with the government in Jharkhand can be summarised as (a) use pre-established services like registration, licenses, etc. (b) use post-established services like payment of taxes, filing of returns, employ welfare, etc.

The government is focusing more on regulatory functions and implementation of welfare schemes. Some of the activities have been outsourced to the private sector so that the technology adoption in the system is faster and this shall promote more employment generation opportunities.

However, in a State like Jharkhand, PPP models, especially in the areas which are not of infrastructure development or other commercial operations and which are traditionally thought as exclusive legal prerogative of the government are not very common. Despite these limitations, we have been able to successfully establish and run the computerisation and networking of registration department which has not only given a transparent system of functioning but also provided a significant process change and tremendously increased facilities to the citizens. People are able to take the delivery of property documents within 30 minutes, encumbrance certificates are issued across the counter and even on the internet with automatic indexing of documents with volume and page number. I think this is a significant achievement of the PPP model and the process changes brought in the system.

What are the services that are being delivered / planned to be delivered through Common Service Centres (CSCs)?

What are the steps being taken for a better user experience (e.g. localisation, etc.)?

Jharkhand takes the pride of being the first State in the entire country to implement the scheme of Common Service Centre (CSC). Steps have been taken to set up 4,562 CSCs throughout all the panchayats in the State in first phase and 872 CSCs in second phase to provide e-Governance and other value aided services. These CSCs, named Pragya Kendras in Jharkhand, seek to transform rural areas through the use of ICT and deliver all hosts of government and private services to the rural people at their doorsteps.

Most government to citizens (G2C) services can be grouped in 3 broad categories (1) information services, (2) services that require an interaction, (3) services involving transaction.

Issuance of birth certificate, death certificate, caste certificate.

Income certificate, etc. from the Block Offices is being facilitated now through the CSCs. The rural citizen now needs to file a request for these and the Kiosk Operator would do the necessary procedures to procure the certificate from the Block Development Officer (BDO) and give it to the citizen after a few days. This a major initiative and a starting point to provide e-Governance services to the rural citizens. I wish to emphasise here that CSCs will be front-end enablement

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context elsewhere, measurement would be done for such usage. It would cater to economic dimensions, accountability and transparency of the government, and the quality service provided. The state has already begun the process of such impact studies to evaluate and monitor its various projects.

MAP OF JHARKHAND

for a complex and challenging digitisation and e-Governance plan that aims to address these challenges in totality. Using Pragya Kendras as a vehicle to deliver government services is expected to transform the way governance is carried out in rural India. For better user experience, service delivery platforms are being enabled to simplify process, faster turnaround time and increase awareness of citizens towards developments affecting them.

Please share with us the capacity building programmes being planned / implemented in your state.

Successful implementation and sustenance of e-Governance programmes for the State will depend on support, guidance and direction from the top staff of various State departments.

The need was felt to train officials occupying decision making levels and managerial posts who will be trained as ‘e-Champions’ and to be equipped with necessary skills to lead the successful implementation of e-Governance projects in the State. Jharkhand has planned to train at least 25 to 30 e-Champions and to make them responsible to implement the e-Governance roadmap of Jharkhand. It goes without saying that implementation of e-Governance projects will create a totally transformed work-environment for employees in all departments and will radically re-define the way services are offered to citizens and businesses. Therefore, employees at all levels in the departments are being equipped with the necessary skills and abilities to perform in accordance with the changing requirements.

What are the evaluation and monitoring techniques you are adopting to monitor the progress and to assess whether the proposed benefits are being delivered to the citizen?

The State plans to carry out an exercise of assessment and impact of various e-Governance projects using stipulated assessment framework and all measurements on the basis of a sample of client for each major services availed by him.

Measurements would be done for electronic delivery of services as well as for the earlier mode of delivery of same services. In cases where alternate (non-electronic modes) are currently being used by the same set of users in similar 60 }

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance projects?

The State SWAN, nicknamed JharNet is the State Information and Communication Network and also the Data Super Highway for Jharkhand, is one of the largest e-Governance networks in South-East Asia and also has unique distinction of being the first fully IP based SWAN in India which has become operational as the DoIT’s first SWAN Project. Further, Jharkhand takes the pride of being the first State in the entire country to implement CSC scheme. Apart from these two pioneer efforts, State is also committed to provide a host of government services to its citizens in the field of education, health, and tele-medicine, financial administration, etc.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects? How are they being overcome?

The government has drawn up an ambitious plan to use the power of Information Technology to effectively deliver information and services to its citizens. However, the task for the government is to build on various e-Governance initiatives and develop them into a comprehensive plan for achieving the benefits more widely on behalf of all the citizens. The primary challenge before the government is to re-engineer the processes, improve decision making systems for better interaction within the government and to reduce bottlenecks.

It is a real challenge for every level of government in the State to connect to our citizens through the use of technology and to respond to their needs in new/innovative ways. Further, improvement of policies and frameworks to strategise and set the ball rolling on the e-Governance initiatives needs special emphasis. Essentially, policies and guidelines would need to be made that are both specific to the department or the process as well as the policies that may be wide ranging in their scope. It is also important to institutionalise certain performance measures to continuously monitor the progress of all e-Governance projects.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

Various e-Governance initiatives and projects which seek to make the district administration more responsive and accessible are very high on our agenda. e-District is one of such projects. Decision Support System for Disaster Assessment and Management is also being conceptualised. It has also planned to devise a Tourism Information System and a web-based cultural Atlas of the State. Tele-medicine is also going to be a milestone in the area of medicine apart from another ambitious project called Tele-education to provide basic education in a mission mode. In a nutshell, information technologies are being envisaged to deliver a variety of information services to the citizens effectively and efficiently in near future.

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egov > EXPERT-SPEAK

Ten Practical Online Steps for Government Support of Democracy Steven Clift, Chair, e-Democracy.org Steven Clift, Ashoka Fellow, is an online strategist and public speaker focused on the use of Internet in democracy, governance, and community. For the last decade he has been working to fundamentally improve democracy and citizen participation through the use of the Internet. One of world’s leading experts on e-Democracy, he is actively networking people around the world determined to make a difference with this new media.

Does e-Government have anything to do with democracy and citizen participation?

Let’s get straight to the point. Not yet.

Should it?

Yes. Government should be leading the charge into an increasingly and fundamentally interactive web. If you believe in government of, for, and by the people, then government — both representative and administrative—should be leading a charge into the increasingly and fundamentally interactive web.

Access to information, considered the safe starting point for government accountability online, now mostly presents the public a daunting needle in a huge haystack. Not only are governments excluding themselves from the increasingly interactive public lives of citizens, but the fundamental information access system is so complicated that the valuable and substantive information that government produces is often ignored in our increasingly online lives. The lack of real and effective online access to governance will substantially increase cynicism about and distrust in government among a public that demands a more participatory representative democracy.

A bit of context: In the early days of e-Government, I coordinated e-Gov initiatives for the state of Minnesota. As a citizen, I independently started e-Democracy.Org, which created the world’s first election information and discussion website in 1994. When ‘services first, democracy later’ enveloped most e-Government projects, I skedaddled in ov

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late 1997. Since then, I’ve spoken and consulted across 26 countries on e-Democracy. Here are the 10 things I would do in government at every level to help rescue our democracy in the information age.

1. Provide timely, personalised access to information that matters. Government decision-making information is not really public or relevant if people cannot act on it when it still matters. Give people tools like personalized e-mail alerts based on keywords, location, etc. and eliminate the “nobody told me” backlash government often receives due to poor public outreach.

2. Help elected officials receive and sort, then better understand and respond to e-mail. The number one complaint I hear from elected officials around the world is about e-mail. Most officials want to respond effectively, but simply are not given the tools they need. If there ever was an opportunity for open source collaboration among governments, this is it. In general, our representatives and representative institutions must start to invest in online infrastructure that allows them to connect directly with the public they represent.

3. Dedicate at least 10 percent of new e-Government developments to democracy. Let’s define democracy starting with public input. In an e-Service initiative, the 10 percent should start with citizen focus groups to guide the design of the service. Tools could include usability testing, studies to generate user input and accountability, and posttransaction user surveys. If the investment is a new content management system for information access, then use the 10

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pecent to add personalisation and survey input features or democratised navigation—those nifty menus that show you the top 10 articles or downloads for that week.

4. Announce all government public meetings on the Internet in a uniform manner. All public meeting notices, agendas, handouts, and digital recordings must be online.

The system should be standards-based and tie state-bystate systems into a national network covering federal, state, and local government public meetings. This is the only way for people to ask to be pro-actively notified of any government public meetings within a certain geographic area that are addressing topics of specific interest to them.

5. Allow citizens to look-up all of their elected officials, from the very local to the national, in one search, along with the ability to look-up all public meetings.

Just before elected and appointed officials assume office, every government unit should be required to enter contact information for those officials into a national database.

Announce all government public meetings on the Internet in a uniform manner. All public meeting notices, agendas, handouts, and digital recordings must be online. The system should be standards-based and tie state-bystate systems into a national network covering federal, state, and local government public meetings. This is the only way for people to ask to be pro-actively notified of any government public meetings within a certain geographic area that are addressing topics of specific interest to them

6. Host online public hearings and dialogues (or ‘econsultations,’ as they are known outside the U.S.). As in-person public meetings begin to incorporate live online features, governments should consider more deliberate online exchanges to improve the outcomes of the decision making process. If a government agency hosts five public hearings across the country or in a state, it should host the sixth hearing online and improve the format as part of the process.

In 20 years, the legislatures, commissions, and city councils that do not hold hearings online will be in the minority.

7. Embrace the rule of law by mandating the most democratically empowering online services and rights across the whole of government. Technology itself is not forcing real institutional democratic change. I estimate that

90% of the democratic innovations online that really share power are based on a political tradition or law that existed before the Internet arrived. If we want all citizens to benefit universally from a more wired democracy, then now is the time to update our legal requirements and fund core online democracy services.

8. Provide access to raw data from decision-making information systems. Let’s explode decision-making data— like congressional information and rulemaking-related content—into bits via XML and open standards and make it easy to re-use public government data from many sources to create views and searches that provide insight, understanding, and accountability. Think ‘Web 2.0’ interactivity built on top of government data by those outside of government.

9. Fund open-source sharing internationally across governments. Sharing and supporting open source software takes resources. e-Democracy tools are an ideal starting point, so open-source initiatives that seek to reduce technology costs and build systems for eventual use by multiple governments make the most sense. Efforts to place modules and customizations out for community use will be key. Government and vendors who sell to government must contribute code back for the wheels of reciprocal value to start turning.

10. Local up. To build e-Participation momentum, citizens need to experience results they can see and touch. By investing in transferable local models and tools, more people will use the Internet as a tool to strength their communities, protect and enrich their families and neighborhoods, and be heard in a meaningful way. Every community needs an “online town hall,” e-Democracy. Org calls them Issues Forums, for agenda-setting discussion of public issues. Comparative evaluation of access and participation related online service and content indicators will introduce efforts for an online ‘Democracy Tune-up.’ This same tune-up concept should be applied at the state and federal level as well..

Conclusion In the early days, folks thought the Internet was inherently democratic. Parts of it are, but that mistaken sense of technological determinism has not carried over to make constitutional and legally-based representative processes more open and responsive. Today, online “politics as usual” may actually make things worse. Civically conceived e-Participation efforts may first need to counter such negative trends and also dispel the notion that “online politics” is just an extra option. Preservation of democratic rights is an important outcome. e-Democracy has the great potential to support, fulfill, and enhance this function. Stephen Clift leads the Online Consultation and e-Participation online community of practice at DoWire.org.

Join us in the Deliberations on India’s March Towards Transforming Public Sector Delivery www.eINDIA.net.in/egov 29 - 31 July, 2008, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi 62

For further information contact: Gautam Navin (Mob: +91-9818125257 email: gautam@csdms.in)

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egov > INDUSTRY-SPEAK

Go for National Level Projects Satish Kaushal, Country Manager- Government and Education, IBM India Likewise MCA 21 with the use of IT, is now serving the corporate India with much greater efficiency and the Bhoomi prjoect in Karnataka, all these projects over the period of time have used Information Technology. So, once people start using Information Technology, the business process re-engineering happens, greater efficiencies are introduced, people get better services and the expectations are higher. They start leveraging the technology and with the help of technology people get services on their finger tips from anywhere and at anytime.

The process of reaching different government functionaries are being reduced to a significant level and the services are being delivered directly to the customer. In that way, it brings in transparency, it brings in efficiency and it brings in a level playing field for the people.

Satish Kaushal, works very closely with Central, State and local Governments across India and the sub-continent. He has been associated with ICT adoption in the government sector for the past 10 years.

How IT can be leveraged to improve the efficiency and transparency in the government?

Information technology today, if used approporiately, is one of the best tools to bring total tranformation in government service delivery. We can see the successs of some of the projects in India as well as overseas. Indian Railways after introducing e-Ticketing system has been able to provide a complete relief for millions of passengers in the country. ov

January 2008

What is your suggestion towards incorporating ICT into the overall public sector reform strategy?

At a policy level, three elements have to be achieved. One is that the entire e-Government framework should be supported by the legal framework. We can not think of just introducing technology without the appropriate laws supporting the outputs of any e-Government project. Second, greater emphasis has to be given to training of the people. A policy level decision should be taken that no e-Government project should be deployed unless and until there is significant investment towards training people and government employees to remove the fear factor. Third, the technology adoption around open standards. Government should have the choice on usage of products, which brings in greater innovation, which can come only through open standards.

In summary, legal standards, open standards and training are need of the hour. Lastly, as a policy matter, if we have to take the e-Government to the next phase, the procurement processes of the government have to change drastically and the government should introduce e-Procurement.

How do you see the current e-Governance scenario in India? What are the key barriers for increased usage of IT in the government?

If we go by the worldwide e-Readiness, we are somewhere at the fifteeth at the global level. It means, quite a large number of countries out of 110 countries, countries are above us. In e-Readiness we take large number of factors like connectivity, training, content etc. So, it is a sum total of many elements.

From a statistical perspective, we are way behind and lot of things to catch up.

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But, yes, things are improving. Our connectivity after the SWAN is poised for a much better adoption of technology as well as lower tariff on the connectivity. This would give a catalytic push to the government to percolate Information Technology upto the village level. Secondly, today the business environment, which helps e-Readiness, has proven that our own set of people have shown tremendous adoption without training on ATMs, mobile phones. From that perspective, the business environment is changing and that is going to force Information Technology adoption as well as delivery from suppliers at a much better pace. Therefore, we think that in years to come, with government investing in NeGP and people ready to do business with the tools of IT, India’s e-Readiness ranking will improve drastically.

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is being implemented through Public-Private Partnerships. How is IBM facilitating the government in establishing the right partnerships to implement the MMPs under the NeGP? In view of the current scenario, I think the momentum which, was there few years back, seems to be slowing down a bit. I am not saying it hass slowed down, but it seems to be. India is earning today one of the best foreign exchange, it is because of our IT companies, whereas the technology adoption is far below than many other countries. It is strange to see that, while India is sending its developers, project managers, consultants, they have changed their skill sets from just a infrastructure provider to a value provider in terms of foreign exchange. But the technology adoption in the country is not moving in the same pace. This is a cause of worry and it needs urgent attention. The government can accelerate this development.

I think the government should spend lot of time towards educating masses by providing nationally implemented projects rather than state sponsored pilots. If there are clear cut visible national projects, then there will be a very big momentum coming from the end users itself. Second, more focus must be given to e-Learning and e-Training, so that in the local language people in the rural areas of the country start demanding the government services with much greater speed and that would be a very clear pull factor for technology adoption in the country. The third area is the cost element.

The cost of infrastructure should really come down. It is still on the higher side, for that Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Open Standards are the real answer rather than re-writing the same application softwares again and again. If SOA and Open Standards are leveraged, then whatever has been developed they should become real objects for the next set of applications. This development should take to the next level of e-Governance applications.

What is your priority areas as Country ManagerGovernment vertical in IBM India?

We are focusing largely on public safety and security projects.

We are working closely with municipal corporations what we call it as e-Municipalities, through which the local self governance improves. We are focusing on training and education projects, so that we can ensure a high quality education in the country. This is the biggest focus we are 64 }

having currently. We are looking at projects like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or School Education Projects and find out how information technology can be best used in these projects.

Fourthly, we are focusing on workforce improvement. We are also working closely with governments in the area of portal development so that they can have a national portal and portals in the area of education, health and agriculture.

These are some of the initiatives we are undertaking.

What is your opinion regarding Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode of implementation of NeGP? Our view is that, IT use by government for better service delivery to the citizens can best be arrived by involving all the stakeholders and PPP is the only answer. We do not think that government should keep on spending on building applications alone. The best model could be that there are organisations who are ready to put in their spin on the game and provide services. Government does the best what it is known for ‘governance’, and if the private sector or NGOs or communities can come forward and bring to table the value which they have experience in, this will be a true public private partnership. IBM is collaborating with organisations which are ready to take large projects to the masses by putting some investments and IBM provides them the technology at a lower cost with an International experience, so that the upfront cost is low. We strongly recommend that public private partnership, in which IBM becomes a thought leader, IBM becomes a good technology provider.

What are some of the challenges in deploying open source solutions in India? How can these be overcome?

IBM provides solutions based on open standards. Our partners adopt them and build services among them and as per the requirements of the government align with the government.

When we put in solutions around open standards, there is a typical mindset that we should use only the same product or the same platform which we have used before. This mindset should change. Second, we do not have a very clear policy or guideline from government of India on standards so far. So, a lot of time goes in educating most of the people regarding what should be the platform to use to build the applications.

What is your opinion regarding m-Governance in enhancing the reach of government services to the citizens?

Using mobile technologies for delivering government services is helping citizens adopt and understand the benefits of technology. But, governance through mobile devices, I think we are far away from that. If governments can provide services to citizens uniformly throughout the country through citizen services centres or through various other government projects, I think that would be a good step to move forward in the next five years.

What is your message to the policymakers for IT usage in the government?

Adopt open satndards, change procurement processes and go for national level projects.

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egov > NeGP > CENTRAL MISSION MODE PROJECTS > MCA21 PROJECT

MCA21 Project www.mca.gov.in

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he MCA21 project is the flagship e-Governance initiative of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India. Envisioned to provide anytime and anywhere services to businesses. MCA21 project was the first mission mode e-Governance project implemented in the country.

The MCA 21 project was initially launched on pilot basis at Coimbatore on 18th February, 2006 and then at Puducherry, and Ernakullum. The project was launched at Delhi by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 18th March, 2006. It became operational at all 20 Registrar of Companies (RoC)

offices by the end of July, 2006. And 48 Registrar Front Offices have been established across India to facilitate filing for the stakeholders. All services of the RoC offices, Regional Directorate offices and Ministry of Corporate Affairs are now available online through the www.mca.gov.in portal. The portal gets an average of 3.5 million hits a day, making it one of the most popular government portals.

The e-Filing of all documents, using digital signatures of authorised representatives of the companies was mandated under law with effect from September 16, 2006. The MCA21 has led to automation of processes related to the proactive enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act, 1956. The project has both the virtual and physical front office. The physical front office is a replacement to the existing RoC counters. The user can avail the following services on MCA21 portal: e-Filing, viewing public document, requesting certified copies, registering investor complaint, tracking transaction status.

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About 3.5 lakh filings have been made till date by about 2 lakh companies, and the Ministry is available to the stakeholders anywhere and anytime on a 24x7 basis. The Ministry has mandated e-Filing for all companies from September 18 onwards with the use of digital signature certificate (DSC) by the authorised signatories of the companies and all filings now are being done with digital signatures of authorised signatories. Once e-Filing has been successfully processed by the MCA21 system, all data is extracted into an MCA corporate database. This database will serve as the base for various analysis and MIS reports for the Ministry — this will be done on a continuous basis.

National Institute of Smart Government (NISG) has been entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the MCA21 project. TCS has been selected as the implementation partner for the end-to-end implementation on a build-own-operatetransfer (BOOT) model till 2012.

The biggest challenge in implementing the project was e-Filing, which eliminates the physical interface. More than 100 awareness sessions were conducted at approximately 40 cities across India, with one-to-one interaction of the TCS team in collaboration with key stakeholders such as company secretaries, chartered accountants, and cost and works accountants.

Initiatives are being taken to revamp the cadre management of Indian Company Law Service (ICLS). A proposal to set up “Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs” has been included in the eleventh five year plan with an estimated outlay of INR 2110 million. The institute would function as a think tank for the ministry of corporate affairs, provide a single window service to various stakeholders including corporate and professionals and take up training and capacity building measures for the ICLS. An accounting and records management project has been undertaken in the official liquidators offices in the four metros to computerise the complete accounts of the companies which are under liquidation in order to enable an effective control over the inventory – cash/bank balance, stock, plant and machinery, land and building, debtors etc.

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egov > INDUSTRY-SPEAK

India Must Lead Open Source Movement Nandu Pradhan, President and Managing Director, Red Hat India

Nandu Pradhan brings in over 25 years sales and management experience in the IT Industry. In his role as the head of Red Hat’s India operations, Nandu is responsible for Red Hat India’s current businesses and also spearheads the company’s future investments in India.

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January 2008

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source solutions. What is the vision of Red Hat with regard to open source software and open document formats?

We believe that open source has permanently changed the dynamics of how knowledge is created and distributed.

Software is the first area where the impact of open source is visible due to the success of Linux, Apache and many other software programs. In the world of content, Wikipedia has become the world’s largest encyclopedia due to adoption of an open source model. Recently, Dr. Samir Brahmachari, the Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) called for an “open source” collaborative effort to create medicines for TB and other diseases so that we can deliver more affordable drugs for the poor.

We believe the open source principles of community, collaboration and the shared ownership of knowledge are in tune with India’s knowledge traditions like yoga and ayurveda, which are free and open to every one. The term “intellectual property” is rarely applied to yoga or ayurveda because the belief is that knowledge belongs to all of humanity and cannot be the exclusive property of an individual or corporation. We have successfully built commercial models on top of open knowledge traditions as can be seen from the proliferation of Ayurvedic spas and the fact that yoga is a $30 billion industry in the US. Therefore “open knowledge” is a matter of freedom, not price. Open source proves that the age old adage that we all grow richer by sharing knowledge still holds true in the Internet era.

We believe that open source can lead to a renaissance of the knowledge traditions of India that gave birth to Nalanda, the world’s first university; the discovery of the zero and the decimal system that plays a fundamental role in the binary language of computers; and the many advances in literature, linguistics, mathematics, astronomy and other fields of inquiry. Interestingly, the term, “Nalanda” itself means, “One who gives without reservation.”

Therefore, we believe that India must not just embrace the open source movement; it must lead it. Red Hat has more than 14 years of experience in building successful business models around open source. We are working with leaders in academia, government and industry to apply this powerful philosophy and transform India into a knowledge superpower.

With new deployment models and technologies, applications can no longer be tied to a single server. What are the solutions that Red Hat offers to government and enterprises for making the systems interoperable?

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Technology keeps advancing all the time and users are realising that getting locked into a technology platform or a file format can be a costly mistake. In a world of seamless interconnectivity, users want to run any application on any server, at any time.

We have recently announced a Linux Automation Strategy which allows an application certified on Red Hat to run a wide variety of architectures, from x86 to the IBM Z series to the emerging ‘cloud computing’ platform. Our platform strategy allows users to configure, deploy, and manage their infrastructure with one common set of tools.

Governments are increasingly moving to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to unify diverse applications that have been built at different points in time. In this space, we recently acquired the JBoss middleware that helps governments make SOA - Simple, Open and Affordable. With SOA built around JBoss, users can achieve easier integration, faster time to production of new applications, reduced development costs and rapid component reuse. This helps governments integrate diverse software programmes and information sources across departmental boundaries.

We also support open standards like Open Document Format (ODF) which ensure that government data remains accessible forever. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop is available in 11 Indian languages which are Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu and we are working on adding more Indian languages. This will help the government by enabling it to speak to citizens in their own language. In our localisation efforts, we have followed the Unicode Standard which is widely accepted.

The virtualisation capabilities in Red Hat Enterprise Linux will also contribute to greater interoperability. With virtualisation, users can run multiple operating systems (including Windows) as guest operating systems within Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Government agencies across the world are now adopting Red Hat technology solutions to enable them to meet budget constraints while providing improved citizen services to constituents. Please tell us some of the success stories of your company?

We have executed more than 70 e-Gov projects across India.

The e-Courts project launched by Hon’. APJ Abdul Kalam, when he was President of India, selected Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the operating system for the 15,000 notebook computers delivered to judges across India. We are working with SREI on West Bengal Common Service Center (CSC).

This is one of the first CSC projects to take off in India and we are deploying around 30,000 Red Hat desktops, many of them in remote villages. The India Portal built by NIC runs on Red Hat. We are working with the Kerala Government to support their e-Governance and e-Literacy efforts through knowledge transfer and Train-The-Trainer programmes. The Kerala Government’s IT Policy draft has identified Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) as a major strategic component in its efforts to build an inclusive information society. At least eight state governments run their treasury operations on Red Hat. We are involved in mission mode projects like National 70 }

ID, ePost, Income Tax, Land Records, Municipalities, Commercial Tax and many others.

Globally, e-Government is one of the largest verticals for us and we have many success stories in this segment. Overall, more than 160 governments have adopted open source in their e-Government initiatives, so these are exciting times for both open source and Red Hat. How do you rate India in the adoption of open source by governments and enterprises here? What are the benefits of using open source?

India’ has advanced very rapidly on the open source adoption curve. We started Red Hat in India in 2001. The fact that we have done 70 e-Gov projects in just six years is proof of this.

Many government agencies are shifting to open source and this is good for the country because software is the foundation of an information society. Open source gives us the freedom to shape this foundation because of the ability to modify the source code. Why should we build our digital foundations on proprietary platforms that we cannot control? As we keep adding e-Government services, the need for software will keep growing. If we keep using more proprietary software, we will go down a path that will be expensive for the country.

Instead of investing money in expensive proprietary licenses, we should invest in building skills around open source tools because that ensures the creation of jobs and investments within the local economy.

To cite another example, in areas like GIS, proprietary software programmes are extremely expensive and this is where open source GIS tools like GRASS etc. should be encouraged. We should leverage the demand within our country to actually shape these technologies to Indian needs.

Why should we always be “downloading” technologies?

With the kind of talent available in India, we can contribute immensely to open source development worldwide and can be a net giver (open source contributor) very soon, if we provide a political and financial framework to promote open source software.

Politically, the benefit of open source is technology independence and leadership. At an economic level, the benefit is the creation of jobs, the retention of value within the local economy and encouragement of software services in the domestic market. For those involved in implementation, the benefit is that open source lowers CAPEX (due to subscription based model) and OPEX (due to improved flexibility, manageability, security) which suits the BOT model being adopted by governments today. Therefore, India should use open source software wherever possible and contribute to its development.

What are some of the challenges in the adoption of open source?

To popularise any new technology, one needs to go through the 3A cycle—Awareness, Appreciation and Adoption.

Building awareness in a vast country like India is a huge challenge. Apart from awareness, one also needs to invest in building skills so that users are comfortable with using open source software. We have invested our time and effort in these activities and this has resulted in the growing acceptance

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Are you satisfied with the adoption of Red Hat Enterprise Linux by the government of India?

Yes. We are proud and happy of the fact that we are involved in many Mission Mode Projects that are important to our country.

of open source and Red Hat, especially in e-Government, Banking and Financial Institutions (BFSI), Defense and other market segments in India.

For the adoption of any technology, the availability of skill sets is absolutely essential. To create the skill sets around Linux and open source, we have partnered with training institutes across the country. Today, there are around 400 centers across India that provide training on Red Hat. We have more than 10,000 Red Hat Certified Engineers(RHCE’s) across India and are talking to the government to make open source a part of the curriculum in schools and colleges. Since open source software like OpenOffice are available under a royalty free license, educational institutes can impart skills and also freely distribute copies of the software to their students. This would ensure faster adoption of IT which would benefit students and society as a whole.

What is your opinion regarding the National e-Governance Plan of the government of India?

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is a vast and complex effort that can totally transform the interactions between the Indian Government and its citizens. The architects of NeGP have been far-sighted and pragmatic enough to look at eGov in a long-term perspective. For example, DIT’s emphasis on open standards is important because the government is the custodian of citizens’ data and needs to ensure that this data is not held hostage by any vendor. For example, land records may need to be retrieved 400 years later and if they are not stored in open formats, it could be impossible to recover them.

Some of these plans are extremely ambitious and it it heartening to see the government involve the private sector in these initiatives. For example, the Common Service Center (CSC) project that aims to provide e-Government services to our country’s 600,000 villages by setting up 100,000 kiosks.

By inviting the private sector to provide the last-mile services in the villages, the government has taken a good step towards ensuring the sustainability of the project. This is probably the first time in the world that any government in the world has tried to reach out to its citizens on such a large scale using the Public-Private-Partnership model. We feel that overall, the NeGP is headed in the right direction despite the vast complexities and challenges faced by the government. We will extend all possible support to the government in making e-Government meaningful and beneficial to Indian citizens. ov

January 2008

What are some of your future plans to expand your market in India?

We will invest in expanding our partnerships across the country. We are increasing our reach by partnering with System Integrators, Channel Partners, Independent Software Vendors, OEMs and Training Partners. Our entire ecosystem is growing rapidly because of the growth of open source in e-government, BFSI, Telecom and other sectors. This will help us increase our depth and reach in the e-Government segment.

We are also constantly growing our portfolio of products.

The virtualisation, security, clustering, middleware, data management and other products now enable us to provide an end-to-end IT infrastructure.

We are expanding our Global Engineering and Support Center located in Pune. In Mumbai, we are setting up a Global Services Centre, which will build and implement open source enterprise solutions and services for Red Hat’s global customers in close partnership with global Indian software services companies.

On the technology front, we recently launched Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 (RHEL5.1). With this we are aiming at extending the open source collaborative principles to customers, so they can drive down software acquisition and management costs. RHEL5 will also help in driving down the costs in other parts of the business, including services and systems management The enhancements in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 include fully integrated & commercial-strength virtualisation capabilities, additional performance, scalability and security features, extensive new hardware support, expanded development environment and tool set, improved interoperability with Microsoft Windows and Unix.

Since the acquisition of JBoss last year, we were able to accelerate our shift to service-oriented architectures (SOA) and enable the next generation of web-enabled applications running on an affordable, secure open source platform.

This will help government agencies that seek to establish a presence on the web and we need to communicate its benefits aggressively.

We will also increase our focus on customer satisfaction.

Red Hat has been named the leader in vendor value and satisfaction by Ziff Davis’ 2007 “CIO Insight Vendor Value” study, which polls IT executives on the value and reliability delivered by vendors. This marks the third time in four years that Red Hat has been ranked first of all global vendors evaluated in the study, and the fourth consecutive year Red Hat has been named the most valuable software vendor.

In the long-term, we aim to redefine value for our e-gov customers with open source as the enabler. At a policy level, we will work with Indian leaders to apply the open source principles and make India a knowledge superpower.

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egov > NeGP > CORE INFRASTRUCTURE > CSC

Aiming to Service the Citizens at their Door-Steps Syedain Abbasi, Director, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT

Syedain Abbasi, an ofďŹ cer from the 1990 batch of Indian Administrative Service joined the Department of Information Technology in February 2004. Currently he is handling the preparation and monitoring implementation of the National e-Governance Plan.

Please tell us about the vision of the Common Service Centres (CSCs). What implications does it have towards making government services available at the door-steps of the citizens?

CSC is really a front end mechanism for the delivery of private and government services at the door steps of citizen. While earlier some efforts at privatising citizen service delivery were being taken by individual departments, for the first time, the Government of India has sanctioned a scheme in which it is clearly stated that government services would be provided through a private front end across departments, across the country, which is a very significant change from the past.

Earlier, If you had to get a birth certificate you had to go to the collector office and take it. If you had a public grievance and wanted to bring it to the notice of the collector, you had to go to collectors officer and give the application, etc. But with the implementation of the CSC scheme one can get this done through CSCs. So, the situation of government services being provided from a government physical space, would no longer hold true.

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What is the budgetary outlay for the CSC programme component of the National e-Government Plan? What is the central and state government share in the total cost of the project?

We had estimated that we require INR 57,420 million to set up this infrastructure and run it for over a period of 4 years. Out of this total outlay, the government expected to provide INR 16,490 million of which INR 15,860 million would go to the SCA, i.e., the bidder who bids for setting up this CSC infrastructure. The government of India and the state government share the support to be provided to the SCA equally. INR 600-700 million is required for programme management and monitoring assistance etc. The balance out of the Rs 57420 Million was expected to be brought in by the private sector. However, the picture emerging from the actual bids is that the the government investment would be half or slightly higher than what has been estimated, which comes to be INR 7000-9000 million instead of INR 15,860 millions earlier estimated. Agencies bidding to become SCA are being very competitive and they are reducing the support they are requesting from the Government. A lot of agencies are very positive about being able to make this work with minimal or no support from the Government.

What is the implementation strategy being adopted?

As far as the implementation process is concerned, the state government manages the bid process for selection of service centre agency (SCA). SCA could be an NGO, a corporate entity, a trust or society with reasonable financial strength to sustain capital and operational costs. The government provides only financial support, and that too only after the centers are setup and start delivering services.

Till that time the entire investment is made by the SCA. Once the agency gets the bid, it is given between 9 months to one years’ time to select and train Village Level Entrepreneurs (the actual CSC operators), set up the infrastructure and start delivering services from these centers. Once the infrastructure is set up and services start to be delivered the financial support is released by the government on a quarterly basis.

There is a financial penalty also to be imposed on the SCA in case he fails to meet his commitments and deadlines as agreed to at the time of award of contract. We are currently also working on an online monitoring system which would enable us to know whether the centers are actually up and functioning.

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any support, only people who really believe in the long term business model participate. Generally one feels that the model is sustainable, provided people do not bid just for the sake of winning the bid. The risk is when you are not bidding on the basis of your business model but on the basis of what you think others will bid. In such cases the business model has a high risk of failing. Another risk is if you overestimate the revenue potential of rural areas.

AS ON 30 th NOVEMBER 2007

What is the current stage of progress? What are the various services planned to be delivered at the CSCs? Actual implementation is on in five states: Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana and Tripura. The actual work will start shortly in Gujrat as well The bid process has been completed in a number of states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, Sikkkim,MP, TN, AP, etc. Bids have been floated in almost all the states.

Regarding the private services planned, different SCAs have different models ranging from education, financial services, voice-over-Internet, agriculture etc. The government services, whatever currently available are of course there, including land records, utility bill payments etc.

Is impact analysis being conducted regarding the role of CSCs? It is too early to make an impact analysis. Right now things are getting implemented on the ground, but impact analysis, of course, is planned.

What are the business opportunities for the private sector? How keen do you think are the private sector towards PPP? Business opportunity for the private sector is enormous.

Banks & insurance companies look at this as a channel for getting them business. This business could be in terms of credit or opening of savings accounts. A lot of companies in the education sector are looking at CSCs for computer training, which is a very viable model and then of course we have agricultural related services including supply of inputs and agricultural procurement.

How does the department of IT plan to create a marketable and sustainable framework for the CSCs? That really is a part of the design. We could have very easily provided the capital subsidy upfront, but experience has shown that such models generally are not viable since the primary mover for the scheme is the incentive or subsidy being provided. But when you ask entities to first invest in the scheme and then only the Government would provide ov

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What are some of the implementation challenges and how are they being overcome? What steps are being taken with regard to ensuring alternate technologies for uninterrrupted running of the CSCs? Implementation challenges are huge. Connectivity is a very big problem. An off-line system is of very little utility. So when bids are received, the connectivity plan of the bidder is looked at very closely .

We along with the Department of Telecommunication are also working on a three pronged approach to ensure that connectivity and that too broad band connectivity is made available in rural areas which can then be accessed by the CSCs. First BSNL has 25,000 rural exchanges which have optic fibre. We are providing financial support to BSNL by sharing the one time capital cost for providing equipment to enable DSL connectivity. As a result of this initiative these exchanges would be able to provide DSL connectivity in a 4-5 Km radius. Some 20-25000 CSCs would get connectivity in this manner.

Secondly, BSNL has towers throughout the country and there are certain areas where within a certain radius there are only BSNL towers. Using that as backbone for providing Internet connectivity, we will be providing wireless connectivity to another 20-25000 CSCs. The third and the biggest initiative is being taken by the Universal Service Obligatory Fund (USOF). The USOF is expected to shortly float a bid inviting Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for providing broadband as well as voice connectivity in rural areas. This would take care of the balance 50,000 CSCs. As far as power is concerned, quite frankly the problem of lack of power in large parts of rural India is well known and hence the SCAs are looking at providing adequate UPS backup, some are looking at generators in addition to this and some are even looking at having solar power options.

Manpower as such, is not being seen as a big problem.

SCAs are confident that they will find enough people with basic computer training to work as CSC operators. They feel that what is critical however is to select people with the right entrepreneurial spirit and ability to man and run the CSCs. Unless they have the entrepreneurial spirit they would not succeed.

One larger goal of the CSC programme is to promote rural entrepreneurship. What are the road blocks in realising this and what is the uptake by the rural community?

As mentioned earlier, entrepreneurial spirit and ability is critical for making the Scheme a success. What we will have with the 100,000 CSCs is really 100,000 businesses. Hence the scheme will help in promoting these entrepreneurs.

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ADVERTORIAL

More than Just an ID Card - Biometrics and ID Card Technology Most enterprises allot an employee with an ID card, and that is more often than not, the present method of identity management and access control. This ID card determines multiple aspects of security within a company.

With high attrition rates, the risk of identity theft is very real in highly secure zones in an organisation. Besides, the concept of ‘buddy punching,’ where an employee gives the ID card and requests another employee to flash the card for attendance is also an area of concern.

One of the most effective methods of addressing this issue is by integrating biometrics with access control, which provides users with new options for supporting multiauthentication of identity.

Along with the ID card and keypad, biometric devices are capable of recognizing a person based on some physical characteristic of their body and is therefore unique. Common biometric technologies include Hand geometry, Fingerprints, Iris pattern, Vein pattern on the back of the hand, Voice recognition and Facial recognition. When integrated with access control, the biometric template is loaded onto a contactless smartcard system like HID’s iCLASS and every employee will have to 76 }

physically be present to access any high security areas of the enterprise like server rooms and datacenters. Biometric applications are gaining huge importance in both Government and Corporate organizations which need high security.

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From access control to time and attendance, storing templates on the card provides convenient and reliable multi-factor authentication.

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Another significant way of ensuring identities are not stolen is by making sure that the ID card cannot be duplicated. HID’s Corporate 1000 program is a high secure program and the unique

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feature is its ownership rights to a high security conscious enterprise or a very large scale organization that risks higher probability of card duplication.

HID’s Corporate 1000 program is completely managed by HID for its customer and this is globally delivered to ensure one card for one employee worldwide.

An effective combination of biometrics with the Corporate 1000 program has been seamlessly implemented at many organizations like WNS Global Services, a recognized leader in business process outsourcing. The requirement for WNS was to secure their facilities by identifying the right employees gaining access to the right facility. Through a combination of Biometric technology and a secure ID card through the Corporate 1000 program this objective was successfully met. With the risks attributed to terrorist attacks to our Airports and Ports, Mungra Port in Gujarat have recently deployed a HID access control system that incorporates multiauthentication of its users through biometric technology and the Corporate 1000 program.

For more information, please contact: At HID India, Atul Puri, Strategic Account Manager, Mobile: +91 98991 16054 Email: apuri@hidcorp.com

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egov > INDUSTRY-SPEAK

Simplifying Information Technology Rajan Anandan, Vice President and General Manager, Dell India

As Vice President (VP) & General Manager (GM) — Dell India, Rajan Anandan assumes the responsibility and leadership for furthering Dell’s position as the premier provider of computer systems and services, providing an unsurpassed experience for customers in India.

Prior to this role, Rajan served as VP and GM of Dell International Services (DIS) in Southeast Asia.

Dell has served businesses, governments, large organisations and individuals in Asia-Pacific since the early 1990s. Please tell about the broad goal and objectives of Dell’s public sector policy?

Dell identifies Government, Public Sector and Education as areas of strategic focus to achieve even stronger growth in India. The Government is among the largest buyers of computer systems in India. In May 2007, we made a strategic foray into government business and have put in place a strong team to address opportunities in this segment. With our India factory operational, we are well poised to compete and win business in this space.

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Dell began its journey in the government vertical at the beginning of 2007 and has made substantial headway, with a fair share of that business that is growing rapidly.

Dell’s offerings are based on its value proposition around standardisation and democratisation of technology. With its commitment to IT simplification and open technologies that support a lower total cost of ownership, along with its total solutions approach from hardware and software to services, Dell offers tremendous value to this sector.

Dell’s philosophy is also based on Dell’s well known supply chain management approach for bringing the latest standard based technology to the market at a faster rate. Working with alliance partners that include companies like Microsoft, Red

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Hat, Novell, EMC and VMWare, Dell’s Simplify IT strategy has found a commendable adoption by different sub-segments in the government and public sector space as the technology partner of choice.

Please tell our readers about the products and services that Dell offers.

Dell offers a comprehensive range of products and services.

Dell’s range of desktops and notebooks are geared to meet varied kinds of business needs. Dell’s product portfolio includes X86 servers, projectors, various offerings along with our partnerships and more. While there is a focused approach with large PSUs for X86 and storage, our comprehensive range of desktops and notebooks works very well for our thrust into the education vertical.

Dell provides Indian customers with its world class quality of service. In a market as large and diverse as India, Dell has enhanced its service infrastructure to include over 630 cities in the country. We will continue to augment our service and support infrastructure for large scale country wide installations.

Dell offers some unique support and service options such as its Onsite warranty – with Dell’s remote diagnostics and resolution abilities as well as ground support, this allows the Dell customers a quick resolution for problems rather than having to carry the desktop/ notebook to a specific

I would like to emphasise that internet and IT usage has to spread beyond the urban, sub-urban regions into areas deeper in the country and foster development. With increasing adoption of IT and Internet through several e-Governance initiatives of the central and state governments, the interface between government and people is becoming increasingly computerised, also the use of IT and internet in the field of education will play a large role in the development of the nation any accidental damage to a Dell notebook, Dell replaces either the damaged components or the complete notebook up to 3 years from the date of purchase. This includes damages often not included in warranty such as spills or falls. This helps consumers maximise their IT resources and lower total cost of ownership. Dell Platinum Plus is the Company’s enterprise service with the highest level of support for server and storage system customers. Platinum Plus provides breakthrough productivity tools and is a key differentiator in Dell’s strategy to enable a higher level of control for its business, education and government customers.

What is the edge your company’s IT solutions have, as compared to such solutions provided by other market players in this field?

We listen to customers; understand their requirements; and deliver simple, effective IT solutions. Direct, personal relationships with customers and partners allows Dell to better understand customer needs and provide solutions customised to requirements. Dell offers the ability to deploy optimised solutions, terrific value over the long-term, and technology that is ready for the future. It’s how we help clients deploy mission-critical applications from the data center to the end users, and pay only as they grow their infrastructure.

As mentioned above, Dell’s services such as onsite support, Dell connect and its total solutions approach along with partnerships with other global leaders in the IT space, offer Dell a tremendous edge over other players in the market.

Which are the projects Dell is working currently with the public sector in India? What are the challenges and opportunities in working with the public sector in developing countries,

service center location. Dell Connect allows a technician to troubleshoot and help solve a customer’s computer problem over a high-speed broadband connection.

Dell’s unique CompleteCover offer ensures that in case of ov

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especially India?

Dell has made an important progress in this vertical. One hand, there has been an active participation in tenders and some medium sized projects have been done by Dell by

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partnering with Leading System integrators in this space.

We are also working actively on getting our various product categories empanelled in Central Rate Contracts like DGS&D and NICSI together with some state bodies like Elcot, Harton, DIT, Maharashtra, UPLC and Webel.

We view the government and the public sector as one of the most significant opportunities for growth. Dell’s strong value proposition for institutional customers based on open and standards based technology makes it a great choice as a technology partner.

Where do you see India in relation to other Asia-Pacific countries in terms of e-Readiness and PC penetration?

What are your suggestions to increase the PC penetration in the rural India?

Dell has strong strategies in place that involve segment expansion. On the hardware side, driven largely by the client side of the business (desktops), the government segment is growing faster than the rest of the market. Various subsegments include central government, state governments, the public sector organisations and lastly, the government funded education and research

PC penetration in India continues to be very low, when compared to other Asian countries such as China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Among the most significant reasons for this low PC penetration in the country comes from the higher costs - On average, a desktop computer costs more than 40 percent of annual wages. Lowering the cost of technology would help accelerate India’s growth as a global source of leading technology. Lower tariffs – which are as high as about

20 per cent today – will play an important role.

India currently has 50 million people online, less than 5 percent of the population. One of the most important means to increase Internet penetration is to increase the PC penetration and both of these will play an important role in increasing business productivity in the country besides becoming employment enablers.

I would like to emphasise that internet and IT usage has to spread beyond the urban, sub-urban regions into areas deeper in the country and foster development. With increasing adoption of IT and Internet through several e-Governance initiatives of the central and state governments, the interface between government and people is becoming increasingly computerised, also the use of IT and internet in the field of education will play a large role in the development of the nation. The increasing penetration of internet and IT is going to play a crucial role key for long term growth of the Indian economy. It is important that India’s citizens have access to technology and the government will have to play an important role in making technology accessible to them.

What are some of your plans to expand your market further?

Dell has strong strategies in place that involve segment expansion. On the hardware side, driven largely by the client side of the business (desktops), the government segment is growing faster than the rest of the market. Various subsegments include central government, state governments, the public sector organisations and lastly, the government funded education and research. The drivers for growth are different in various sub-segments – the spread of e-Government applications and public utilities applications, automation in defense and other ministries for administrative inventory, HR applications, ERP implementation, e-Learning and research based computing. As growth in the IT infrastructure increases, Dell’s unique model of standardisation and IT simplification across the entire IT spectrum will play a very important role in the faster adoption of the IT in this segment.

“In the Middle of Difficulty, Debate and Discussion lies OPPORTUNITY” Here is the opportunity for you. Join and Grab!

Opportunities for Digital India

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egov > NeGP > e-PANCHAYAT

Towards Electronic Governance at Village Level e-Panchayats Rajwant Sandhu, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development Please share with our readers on Government’s e-Panchayat initiative. e-Panchayat involves tremendous investment in terms of the hardware, software to be used for various services to be provided, and the manpower. The project is going to be funded by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, which is a partner with the Ministry of Panchayti Raj in e-Panchayat initiative. e-Panchayat, which is one of the Mission Mode Projects of Government’s e-Governance initiative has yet not taken off. But of course an expert committee has been constituted to give its recommendations on what kind of systems to be used. There is a debate on the software to be used whether it would be proprietary or open software.

How do you see the role of the states?

It is very interesting to see that the states are not sitting by. They are not waiting for the center to come and start e-Panchayat. For example in the state of Gujarat we have around 13,000 panchayats which are having hardware and software in place as also trained manpower, all of them connected, and sustainable.

What is your take on the factor of subsidies and sustainability?

Again talking of Gujarat, I have seen that in areas with high population some center operators are earning upto INR 5000 per month, which is fair enough. The state is also thinking to give INR 1500 as subsidy to the center operator. So, I feel the systems are going to be sustainable but systems dependent on subsidies alone may not be successful in long run.

How the capacity need is being planned to be addressed in this and what are the challenges involved in this?

National Capacity Building Framework of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has several components. It takes care of infrastructure at the field/village including building structure required, functional staff of at least one per panchayat, hardware and software needs, and above all the capacity building. Training of panchayat representatives is very important. They are very often not even aware of their role and responsibilities. And this happens more likely in the reserved seats where a women is just pushed for the village election without having any or no idea about her work. The training ofpachayat’s representatives and other functional ov

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staff requires trainers which, in itself not there. We first need to train the available trainers. We are partnering with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for this. Then we also take care of the content, which has to be language specific depending upon the state in question. Another important issue here is of the five year term of the elected representatives and the taking over of new representatives after the elections. Thus, the whole process of training has to be ongoing. But the best part is that we are not alone, some of the states are very enthusiastic and coming forward very fast.

How do you find the role of other stakeholders like civil society organisations and private sector in this process?

The training process can not be just for once and for all.

We have to impart training to the same set of individuals time and again till they become comfortable enough on their job. And for this we need to reach at the field level, which of course can not be done by the government at its own.

We have to outsource this huge task and we are looking at NGOs, academic oriented organisations but not the private companies at the moment.

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ADVERTORIAL

GRP Architecture for NeGP’s e-Office

Dr. Shankara Prasad is the Chief Executive Officer at Inkroma Solutions, Bangalore, India. Member, eGov Standards Committee, Government of India

shankara.prasad@inkroma.com

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GENERATIONS OF e-GOVERNANCE e-Governance efforts in India have seen significant acceleration with the alignment of all the e-Governance initiatives in the country, directed by the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), under the Ministry of Information Technology.

In the first generation of automation efforts, we saw government offices all across the nation inundated with hardware infrastrucutre that laid the initial base for e-Governance.

Presently most government organisations are still at the first generation level, with computers being used for wordprocessing, making presentations and in some cases for spreadsheet applications.

Second generation automation saw government departments executing networking projects & developing discrete software packages. The focus was almost entirely on G2C space. Also islands of internal automation such as file Tracking Systems, DMS by private vendors like TCS, NewGen and others were attempted. Out of the many thousands of government organisations, across the country, very few have even migrated to this level.

We observe that while there are some successes like the Railway Ticketing System there are numerous disappointments. This is due to the lack of standardised approach; focusing mostly on populist G2C projects with ‘21st century’ front ends burdening the end user with the predominantly manual, paperbased ‘19th century back office with insignificant automation’.

NEXT GENERATION OF e-GOVERNANCE The recent drive by NeGP to usher in replicable solutions across government ecosystem with its Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) can be identified as the start of third generation of automation, which ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE

can overcome the challenges being hitherto encountered in the 1st and 2nd generation efforts.

IMPORTANCE OF e-OFFICE One of the core MMPs - the ‘e-Office’, covering tens of thousands of government offices, incurring an estimated INR 50,000 million assumes critical significance as its rate of success will have a lasting effect on the success of other MMPs. Implementing e-Office as a priority and a pre-requisite will lay the necessary foundation and set the stage for the successful implementation of G2G, G2B & G2C initiatives.

The e-Office which is currently at its drawing board stage needs to be carefully architected with a holistic view of scalability and interoperability with solutions being pursued by other MMPs. CHALLENGES TO BE ADDRESSED BY e-OFFICE With the exception of stand alone applications like pay roll processing or intranet based systems like file tracking and DMS, most of the internal work are manually processed with paper based information flow. The resulting high turn around time to serve the citizens/ targeted beneficiaries, processing delays, lack of transparency and consistency, ineffective resource management are well recognised issues to be addressed by e-Office.

Government in India no longer has a financial resource crunch. However the increase in population, the improvements experienced by citizens in verticals like travel, banking, etc., and the lack of concomitant increase in staff, had made the ushering in of latest technology in eGovernance an unavoidable imperative.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE e-OFFICE Analysing automation in major private and public sector enterprises, with www.egovonline.net

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Fig.: GRP Architecture for e-office

my experience of the government ecosystem, I visualise e-Office to be a comprehensive web enabled, portal based government resource Planning ‘GRP’ framework, specifically developed for Indian government. The GRP should automate all the internal processes to lay the foundation and integrate with other organisations/ systems (See the fig.).

Once this system is stabilised, government organizations can transform themselves into efficient, citizen friendly organisations, equipped to easily self monitor and self correct on a continuous basis.

The e-Office GRP should be built to: • Streamline, align, optimise and automate all the internal processes across administration/ establishment; finance and accounts; stores and purchase, and projects and schemes.

• Embed all the rules and regulations stipulated in the CCS guidelines,

• • • • • • •

the FR, SR, GAR, GFR etc that govern and validate the execution of all the work flows.

Be completely workflow based and data driven through structured forms Conform to the e-Governance Standards Have flexibility to configure and accommodate core activities of a particular establishment.

Achieve rapid implementation Provide user friendly, familiar front ends enabling quick learning and quick acceptability by employees Provide value added outputs Satisfy the requirements stipulated

by Right to Information Act (RTI), DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances), Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), other auditing agencies and the citizen’s charter.

PRODUCTISED APPROACH FOR FAST TRACK PROLIFERATION With the potential, nation-wide reach and the impact that it would have by directly or indirectly touching the lives of all the people, it is evident that the implementation of e-Office GRP can be undertaken by harnessing all the resources and competencies, both public and private. The DIT should initiate and encourage private technology players to come up with products/solutions that match the objectives of e-Office, backed by a mechanism to evaluate and certify the same.

This initiation would attract the interest of private companies to come up with solutions for certification and implementation. Progressively, the certified, commercially off the shelf ‘COTS’ (Commercial-of- the-Shelf) products would facilitate a term bound, fast track proliferation of e-Office GRP at optimised costs.

With over 300 man years of efforts, Inkroma has developed a unique GRP product - Inkroma INDIGRPTM, that meets the Government specific workflow automation and ERP requirements of government in general and NeGP’s e-Office requirements, in particular.

For more information on Inkroma INDIGRP™, please write to contact@inkroma.com or call 098452 22870.

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inkroma

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egov > NeGP > CORE INFRASTRUCTURE > SWAN

A Seamless Converged Communication Network Ashis Sanyal, Senior Technical Director, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Ashis Sanyal, many a times called as ‘The SWAN-man of India’, started his professional career as an Engineer in the Ministry of Communications through Indian Engineering Services in 1975. Now, he is spearheading the SWAN implementation in the country with passion and determination.

What is the vision and goal behind the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), one of the three core components of the NeGP? How will SWAN act as a vehicle to bring about improvement in the internal government processes, for increasing the efficiency, for automating relevant office workflow processes etc?

I may contemplate the vision of SWAN in a comprehensive statement: `State or the union territory (UT) should be provided with a state-of-the-art middleware, in the form of a seamless converged communication network, capable of transmitting voice, video and data in a secure seamless manner, connecting all the administrative and executive entities and field formations, which will enhance its administrative capabilities to serve the citizens in most effective way’.

Therefore, the goal of SWAN is to establish a secure closed user group (CUG) communication network which would be scalable and would be having adequate capacity to run the 84 }

converged network traffic between all government offices across the State or the UT. There would be a three or four tier architecture in which administration headquarters in the capital cities would be connected upto block level though the Telecom Service Providers’ existing backbone. Please note that in the SWAN Scheme, we have not envisaged laying of any new medium for connectivity wherever TSP backbone is available. Of course, in some difficult terrain in North-East or in Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir etc., there are some proposals to use V-SAT connectivity as TSP backbone in those places is either not available or ineffective.

In all, approximately 7400 Points-of-Presence (PoP) would be created. These points of presence would be the aggregation points of all departmental offices near or around them.

Once fully operational, SWAN will be the riding horse for all internal government application packages meant for government work flow process and also for citizen-centric

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services. Service delivery packages will ride on SWAN and would be ultimately delivered through CSCs till all citizencentric services become web-enabled. Every State /UT has listed out the current and future applications which it intends to run on the SWAN. It is expected that these would be bring in significant improvement in the efficiency with government functions. I understand regular video-conferencing with the district collectors has already made decision-making faster and cost effective.

What is the strategy adopted to fulfill the envisioned goal?

As you are aware, for implementation of the DIT initiatives under NeGP, it has been decided to adopt a model of ‘Centralised Initiative and de-Centralised Implementation’. I guess that other MMPs, being implemented by other linedepartments, may also follow the same model. For SWAN implementation also we have followed this model very meticulously. At the first instance, we had issued the SWAN Guidelines in October 2004 after extensive consultations with the States and also with the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The Guidelines outlined all necessary bedrock features of the SWAN implementation. The primary motto of the Guidelines was to reflect a ‘sense of ownership’ of the SWAN project for the State or UT. Then we had standardised various document formats like, the format for tendering document i.e. (RFP), contract agreement between the State / UT and the SWAN Operator, bidding process, process for evaluation of the bids etc. The process for evaluation of the project proposal and centralised process of monitoring had been embedded in the Cabinet Note itself, which was approved by the Government.

For this purpose, we have the Empowered Committee with Secretary, DIT in Chair, approved by the Government at the Central level for considering and approving the individual project proposal from State / UT. Further, in DIT, a SWAN team was created which is being assisted by a Programme Management Unit (PMU), which is named as SWAN Programme Management Consultant (SPMC) team. To deal with all relevant aspects of bandwidth provisioning for SWANs, one inter-departmental Working Group is in place, which is chaired by the Additional Secretary in the Department of IT. These are the people at the Central level who are managing the SWAN programme. At the State / UT level, another Empowered Committee is created, chaired by mostly the IT-Secretary In-charge, which takes care of every decision for de-centralised implementation at that level. The bidding process, decision on Third Party Agency, implementation details etc. all are decided by this State level Empowered Committee. Thus, a great sense of ownership is developed for this project at the State / UT level. I suppose this is very important for a project of such magnitude and complexity. We have been experiencing all good results from this strategy adopted by DIT. Please also tell us about the plan to seamlessly integrate SWAN with other future e-Government infrastructures like state data centre, common service centres.

Technologically, the process for seamlessly connecting the other infrastructure like SDC or CSC would be simple. At ov

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the state headquarters PoP provision has been kept to have a peer-to-peer connectivity with the State Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Centre, NICNET, Internet Gateway etc. This is easily possible by keeping additional ports at the router level. This has been done at the level of design of network itself. For CSCs, you will recall that CSCs would be established below block level. So long the State or the UT wants the Service Centre Agency (SCA) of the CSC Scheme to use the SWAN to access the G2C services, applications or data, a provision can be made according to the need. Some States, like Assam, have even provisioned some incentive for the SCA to use the SWAN for such purposes. But in the long run I suppose, most of the G2C services will be web-enabled and with the standard broadband access procedures the CSC operator can use its broadband connectivity to access the web-enabled In March 2005, Department of IT obtained Government of India’s approval for the State Wide Area Networks (SWAN) Scheme for an overall outlay of INR 33,340 million, to be expended in five years. The SWAN Scheme would establish Wide Area Converged Networks in 29 States and 6 union territories (UT) across the country, from each State/UT headquarters to the blocks, creating more than 7000 Points-of-Presence (PoP) and connecting more than one million route kilometer of backbone and last mile. Implementation of this scheme is in full swing with individual project proposals have already been approved for 32 States/UTs .

Wide Area Networks being established in the States/UTs under the SWAN Scheme would serve a long way to provide G2G and G2C services involving voice, video and data, in the entire e-Governance eco system, especially for the various mission mode projects contemplated under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

servers hosting the applications and data for G2C services.

We have kept this future scenario in view and with the support from department of telecommunications (DoT) and Universal Services Obligations Fund (USOF) Administration already made an action plan for broadband connectivity to the CSCs across the country.

What are the business opportunities in implementing SWAN? How keen are the private sector to participate in the implementation of SWAN? As you know, the Option-I for implementation of SWANs calls for a PPP model. Most of the States have gone for a buildown–operate–transfer (BOOT) model for implementation.

The payment from the Government would be in the form of Quarterly Guaranteed Revenue (QGR) for five years i.e., 20 quarters in all. SWAN is a multi- stakeholder project and the implementation model suggests protection of business interest for every stakeholder. If the agreement between the Network Operator and the State or UT is worked out carefully keeping that in view and is followed in letter and spirit, the payment to the Network Operator is guaranteed. So there is a clear

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In 19 States / Uts, implementation is at various levels and in 6 of them viz., Jharkhand, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, NCT of Delhi and UTs of Tripura, Chandigarh implementation is at advanced stage.

business opportunity in this green field area. I understand that by going through the process of implementing the SWAN and operating it in a State for five years, the Operator would get to know the State’s e-Government requirements more closely because being the Network Operator they would be present almost in all State offices. I suppose that from this angle, most of the prospective bidders have seen great business opportunities in the whole Scheme and they have shown significant keenness in bidding for the RFPs. As on date, out of eleven states in which the network operators are in place, we have already eight number of System Integrators and Operators.

From DIT side also, we feel that we are here to create a pro-competitive echo system for the prospective System Integrators and Network Operators in the country. As we move forward towards automation and automated service delivery at all levels in the government and in private sector, converged communication networks are here to stay and the size can only grow. I suppose, SWAN is only a beginning and any initial starter will always immensely gain, business wise, from the SWAN experience.

What is the current status of implementation of SWAN? The SWAN Scheme was approved for the entire country i.e. for 29 States and 6 Union Territories. The state of Goa and the UT of Andaman and Nicobar Islands did not participate in the Scheme. We post the monthly progress of SWAN implementation in the DIT official website www.mit.gov.in regularly for the last one and a half year. You may see in that progress report that out of 33 States and UTs, till date individual SWAN proposals have been considered and approved by the Empowered Committee for 28 States / UTs. Out of these 28 States / UTs, 7 States / UTs are implementing with Option-II i.e., NIC as the Implementing Agency, rest are going through a bid process to identify the Network Operator.

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What are some of the challenges (technological issues and policy issues) that need to be overcome to make SWAN as part and parcel of the government functioning?

There are few technological issues and challenges which are faced by the State / UT during the proposal and RFP preparation. These are mainly related to the requirement analysis in terms of the network capability.

Interoperability between various network components progressively to be added over the project period, scalability of the network for the same purpose, various security measures to be taken to make the CUG network free from hacking and similar incidents, technology obsolescence cycle etc. are some key technological decisions to be taken by the State / UT during the project implementation. There are other related issues like training of the people working in all the departmental offices, backend automation requiring digitisation of huge government data also require important technical decisions to be taken at the administrative level.

Inter-related to all these, there are many policy issues which also should be overcome for successful implementation and use of SWANs at the State/ UT level. One significant issue is the essential reforms to take place in government business processes. These are required to derive the true benefit of e-Governance per say. To make the SWAN effective, many services can be delivered either from the SWAN PoPs or from the departmental office nodes connected to SWAN. This may require significant changes in the business processes and there also may be some legal requirements.

All these have to be done in order to make the network fully effective.

What is the awareness generation plan across all the government departments regarding extensive usage of SWAN? There is an NeGP Programme Management Unit (PMU) housed in the Department of IT which, assists DIT in its coordination service to the Apex Committee with Cabinet Secretary in the Chair, for NeGP implementation. In this NeGP PMU there is a team, which takes care of the awareness and communications-related activities for the NeGP. Through this team we had conducted several state level workshops for generating awareness among the government decision makers, head of departments, In-charge of the field formation units regarding the SWAN and CSC Scheme. We have achieved significant success in these Workshops. In my opinion, capacity building is required back-to-back with

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the awareness generation. There is an extensive plan for this and a National Scheme is under consideration and approval.

When this Scheme is approved, there would be specific organisational structure in place at the State / UT level which, would take this awareness generation, capacity building etc., activities forward to make the NeGP schemes successful.

I also feel that change of mindset is utmost important in this regard. A change in the mindset would make one easily receptive to any awareness generation process. At present all these related processes are going parallel and results would definitely show up in next 2-3 years.

What are the key lessons from SWAN implementation?

Any mid-term corrections? How has the SWAN concept changed from conceptualisation stage to implementation?

This is an important question to finish the interview. We really had several important lessons from the implementation process undertaken by the Department for the SWAN Scheme. At the first instance, the SWAN has taken a serviceoriented approach. This calls for a paradigm shift in the whole approach for the States/UTs concerned, from procurement of equipment and systems to procurement of services against a defined service level agreement. You can take this is more or less a new approach for the governmental set up which has been procuring huge inventory / assets at all levels over decades. The service-oriented approach and making its processes well defined, have its own challenges and pitfalls.

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I think, while preparing the RFP or the Contract Agreement for the Network Operator, each and every State / UT opted for Option-I, have gone through this experience. From DIT side we have also learnt the utility of standard templates for proposals, RFP and other related documents in terms of a centralised initiative for such pan-India Scheme. This decision of standardising the documents paved the way for better management of subsequent implementation processes at various levels.

Further, we appreciated the constraints currently exist in the country in skills / experience, to establish an optimal network design in a service oriented approach. There are many challenges here. For example, how to establish a plan in the BOOT model RFP for progressive induction of additional equipment in the network? How to integrate this requirement in a business model meant for 5 years etc.? We also felt the necessity of an institutional mechanism at every stakeholder level, for leveraging on cross learnings between different States / UTs. Also, the original time estimates for different processes have gone wrong in some of the cases because most of the state related processes have taken more time than originally estimated. However, we did not have to make any significant on-course corrections in the basic ground rules, defined in the SWAN Guidelines issued in October 2004. To that extent, there has been almost no change in the SWAN Scheme from the conceptualisation to actual implementation stage.

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KARNATAKA

egov >STATE-SPEAK

Setting New Benchmarks in Delivery of Government Services

http://www.karnataka.gov.in/

M N Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

The Mission Mode Project (MMP) approach ensures that milestones are fixed at every step for every activity and monitored to ensure completion within the time lines.

Every project implemented by the department has the trappings of the Mission Mode approach and the state has succeeded in each of them.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

Karnataka has had the best run up in its e-Readiness. The e-Penetration is not confined or restricted to urban areas alone but are equally spread in the rural areas. We are just waiting for the Karnataka State Wide Area Network to be in a position to deploy all the remaining initiatives, which are at different stages of implementation. The customer services rolled out across the state have no parallels. Nemmadi has set new benchmarks in delivery of services in the rural areas and has received accolades, both nationally and internationally.

M N Vidyashankar joined Indian Administrative Service in the year 1982 and served in the Ministry of Personnel and Public Grievances in Government of India. He obtained an M.B.A. Degree from Harvard Business School, Harvard University, USA. Currently he is working as Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology.

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What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance projects running in your state?

Public Private Partnership is the most preferred model for implementation of e-Governance projects in Karnataka and to name a few, BangaloreOne, Nemmadi, and eProcurement are implemented on the PPP model. Hence we can visualise a bright future for the private sector in the coming days. Apart from implementation, private companies have significant opportunity in providing consultancy services, capacity building, software customisation, IT facility management and so on.

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

Few of the best practices we have adopted are: • Adoption of BOOT model.

• Built in SLA’s to ensure the quality of services, to meet the timelines.

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Well defined exit management plan.

IPR of the software applications developed by the PPP partner will lie with government.

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What are the services that are being delivered/planned to be delivered through Common Service Centers (CSCs)? What are the steps being taken for a better user experience?

At present we have a project called as “Nemmadi” under which 763 rural telecenters are setup to cater the needs of the rural population. These centers are established to deliver various G2C and B2C services at the villages so that the farming community need not have to travel to towns. The services could be broadly classified as Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crop Inspection (RTC) services and at present we are delivering 37 services through these centers. To mention a few, RTC certificates, caste certificates, birth certificates, income certificates and many such certificates are delivered.

These Nemmadi telecenters could be later converted as CSCs. Under CSCs we have plans to deliver G2C, B2C and B2B services. It could be issue of land records, various certificates to DTP works, web surfing to railway ticket booking to promotions and data entry jobs to name a few.

What are the evaluation and monitoring techniques you are adopting to monitor the progress and to assess whether the proposed benefits are being delivered to the citizens?

For all the projects we have a very efficient Management Information System (MIS) which provides online reports at various levels. We closely monitor the projects through these reports on whether the projects are progressing as per the targets set. Apart from this we have committees at various levels viz., steering committees, project monitoring committees, empowered committees to review the progress. These committees are typically headed by the Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary depending upon the project.

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance projects?

Bhoomi: Bhoomi is about Computerised Land records Management and under this project 20 million records of 6 million farming families are computerised. The latest RTC documents are issued to the farmers instantly.

BangaloreOne: With 18 centers spread across Bangalore city, it has registered more than a crore transactions within a span of less than 3 years. BangaloreOne caters to the needs of urban population of Bangalore delivering G2C and B2C services round the clock.

Nemmadi: Under this project 763 telecenters are setup at hobli level to deliver the services to the rural population. At present 37 services are delivered through these centers.

KSWAN: This project is to provide connectivity from state’s capital to the districts and then to taluks and tehsils. This will facilitate interactions i.e. horizontal as well as vertical by way of transferring text, video and voice based files. e-Procurement: All procurement processes including indent ov

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management, rate analysis, supplier registration, tendering, contract management, catalogue management and payments will be handled electronically end-to-end in the envisaged unitary e-Procurement platform. The system - which is being implemented in Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) mode is now piloted by a few government agencies and in a phased manner it will be implemented in all government agencies in the next few years. With the implementation of e-Procurement, back-and-forth communications with contractors including bid submission, receipt and refund of payments will be done electronically.

HRMS: Human Resource Management System is being implemented in the state where in database of 6 lakh employees is being created. This will probably be the biggest live employee data in the country.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects? How are they being overcome?

Some of the challenges that we have been facing in implementing e-Governance projects are as follows: a. Convincing the departments to participate in e-Governance projects. b. Non availability of centralised databases of the departments. c. Lack of connectivity within the departments and between the departments. d. Poor maintenance of IT infrastructure at the departments. e. Non availability of data in digital formats. f. Lack of IT capacity among the staff of various departments. g. Non standard procedures and practices. h. Non compliance to interoperability. i. Lack of inter-departmental coordination. j. Inconsistency of the data due to multiple datasets created by different departments.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

The main focus areas are going to be: 1. Re-writing Bhoomi utilising the latest available technologies and resolving existing issues like integration with other departments and management of a distributed system.

2. Expansion of integrated citizen services centres network throughout the state in both rural and urban areas.

3. Commissioning the Karnataka State Wide Area Network and building applications leveraging on this connectivity like e-Office, less paper office etc..

4. Implementing the integrated electronic procurement system across the state as a common and uniform system for procurement of all goods and services by the state.

5. Strengthening shared infrastructure like the State Data Centre for hosting databases and applications of various departments and utilising this aggregation for delivery of services to the citizens and for better sharing of information across the departments.

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egov > NEGP > CORE INFRASTRUCTURE > SWAN

Helping Create Connected Governments Nagendra Venkaswamy, Managing Director, Juniper Networks, India and South Asia Region

Nagendra Venkaswamy is the Managing Director of Juniper Networks for region, comprised of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. He is based in Mumbai and is responsible for the sales and operations of Juniper Networks throughout the sub region. ‘Venky’ brings over two decades of experience to his role at Juniper Networks, prior to which he was the president of Datacraft India.

Please tell us about Juniper Networks and its growth and operations in India?

Juniper Networks is the leader in enabling secure and assured communications over a single IP network. The company’s purpose-built, high performance IP platforms enable customers to support many different services and applications at scale.

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are tailored to the specific needs of their users, services and applications.

Juniper Networks’ portfolio of proven networking and security solutions supports the complex scale, security and performance requirements of the world’s most demanding networks.

Juniper’s plans in India • Juniper’s India operations saw 100% revenue growth and doubled head count in 2006/07. Juniper Networks today is serving every tier one Telco in India and the

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top five Indian companies. Juniper believes they have the building blocks in place to maintain this growth this year.

Last year, Juniper saw 90 percent revenue growth in the service provider segment, and as per IDC Juniper is number two in the Indian BRAS and high-end gigabit/ terabit routing markets.

This growth will come from the adoption of the Internet as a strategic business tool, which is driving the rapid growth of IP as the foundation of multi-service networks and IP-based Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

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What are some of Juniper’s networking and security solutions? What edge does it have over other market players in this field?

Networking Trends: With convergence in the network becoming a worldwide reality, we are seeing a shift in the architecture of the network. Unlike earlier time where there was separate network built for separate applications or services, the convergence or NGN as it is popularly known talks about having one single infrastructure for various applications and services. We are talking about reduced Capex and Reduced Opex and Lesser time to market thus increasing the bottom line.Today’s platforms being built for convergence are mostly back compatible. The year 2008 can expect to see continued consolidation of network equipment – meaning more capabilities being included in fewer platforms, so that we can continue to help customers meet their goals from an operating and capital expense point of view, while at the same time leaving them a room to innovate on our platforms.

The Drivers for These Trends: IT departments are tasked to find cost-effective ways to better serve the existing needs of their internal customers, while at the same time being mindful of budgeting time and money for innovation. This pulls IT departments in two directions and makes budgets tight and planning difficult. Making the most out of what you have, and enhancing the existing experience, is the key driver for this. But it is important to recognise that the important thing is still the application – so we don’t simply speak of ‘WAN Acceleration’ for example, but rather ‘Application Enhancement’.

Security Trends: The year 2007 witnessed more interest in integrated security solutions. While there is still demand for more comprehensive solutions, customers are seeing the benefits of a Unified Threat Management (UTM) approach to streamline their security stance. Unified Access Control (UAC) is also another major highlight.

Drivers for these trends include: Unified Threat Management has been in demand, the distributed branches of regional companies want a simplified, one-stop solution to thwart multiple threat types without the complexities of many point products. UTM reduces IT administrative overhead, allowing the IT department to focus on a single management interface.

This optimises training and troubleshooting.

Unified access control is one of the major applications which will take off in 2008, because the Internet has become the de facto access method for both internal and external resources.

Access now requires a central control point to better manage security and deployment for different user groups and types. ov

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How does your company help governments communicate more effectively within and outside their organisation?

Juniper Networks is noticing a shift in many government networking organisations. They are moving towards a dual vendor approach. This shift is being seen in India significantly, and is driven by the need for guaranteed communication and security both externally and internally.

Juniper benefits both the managers and the end-users of government networks because it provides redundancy in the communications arena. It is also a trend that Juniper intends to capitalise on in India, by providing the best of breed equipment.

Juniper Networks is a mature company which has been in the communications space for over 10 years. Juniper helps governments communicate more effectively within and outside their organisation with a diverse set of solutions to secure and assure interconnected IP networks.

What is your opinion regarding the National e-Governance Plan and the role of Public-Private Partnerships? e-Governance is a transparent way to govern. It is good that the government, industry and citizens are showing interest in enhancing the reach of e-Governance. IT applications have the potential for strengthening India’s vision for 2020. Areas like R&D and manufacturing need to be equipped with IT applications as they have the potential to drive the success story of India towards 2020.

IT departments must champion innovation and help educate the business on the art of the possible benefits of technology. There has to be a market leadership in security and networking innovation from a team with the government expertise who understands your environment.

Please tell us about some of the government projects in India where Juniper Network is a technology partner to the government.

Juniper’s enterprise revenues in India have doubled year on year, led by wins in the government, banking and IT segments. The proposed State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) is becoming a focus area for the company. Five government departments and five major Indian banks now use Juniper’s

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solutions which includes recently won multi-million dollar tender of Himachal State-Wide Area Network with HP, an e-Government initiative which amounted to a total project cost of USD10 million.

Juniper is also focusing on eastern region of the country and hopes for more SWAN deals to be closed in the near future. India as a country also holds significant position as our company is focusing on the countries with large population and is also leading in Information Communication Technology.

i. Bandwidth on demand ii. Application aware resource allocation iii. Optimised delivery of Multicast services such as IPTV

RailTel Corporation of India has recently selected Juniper Networks M-Serves multiservice edge routing platform to help transform Railtel’s network in India. Please elaborate a bit about this project.

RailTel Corporation of India had selected Juniper’s M-series multiservice edge routing platform to help transform RailTel’s nation-wide Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) based railway network into a next generation IP/MPLS network.

The deployment will create one of India’s largest IP/MPLS Virtual Private Network (VPN) infrastructures, enabling RailTel to offer a wide variety of value added services including Layer 3 IP VPNs, Layer 2 virtual leased line services, Virtual Private LAN services (VPLS) and Managed IP VPN Services with associated Quality of Service (QoS)

3.Investment Protection : Common interface modules across both the M/T series routers – assist migration of modules from one router to other..

Seamless and In Service upgrade from T640 to T1600 – Increasing the capacity of the router by 2.5 times (640Gig to 1.6 Terabit) Seamless upgarde to a Multi-chassis platform (T640), protects investment in the revenue generating interface modules.

e-Governance is a transparent way to govern. It is good that the government, industry and citizens are showing interest in enhancing the reach of e-Governance. IT applications have the potential for strengthening India’s vision for 2020. Areas like R&D and manufacturing need to be equipped with IT applications as they have the potential to drive the success story of India towards 2020 Juniper Networks next generation core network has been adopted in a number of countries globally, like Brazil, Japan and Korea. What are some of its competitive advantages?

Many Service Providers across the globe have chosen to use Juniper Networks Routers in their Next Generation Core Network. Some of their considerations are given below; 1.Value Added Services : Integration with Session Resources Controller (SRC) allows value added services to be rolled out, such as :

2.High Availability/Reliability : Production proven Modular Operating System JUNOS that runs across the complete range of Core routers, M/T Series. Most comprehensive high availability features such as Non-Stop Routing, Graceful Restart, MPLS FRR, SONET/SDH APS, Link Bundling, Hitless Control Module failover and In-Service Software Upgrade

4.Reduced Capex : Single binary JUNOS image that runs on all M and T series routers, this ensures that all routers have consistent features, which means consistent services delivery to the customers.

The above also ensures that time spent on validating the OS for deployment is reduced.

Since the Interface modules are common, it reduces investment in spares.

Line rate performance improves the capability of the network to use the available bandwidth in the most efficient way.

What are some of your future plans to expand your market in the Indian market in the coming years?

Government and defence are the two fastest growing segments for Juniper within the enterprise business.

Juniper expects to catch up with service providers over the next one and the half years as government and defense are significantly in IT. Juniper Networks in India is extremely focused on R&D. Juniper’s R&D center at Bangalore, which can match up to and in some cases, beat the features of similar top grade development facilities world wide, reinforcres their focus on the India market Currently, almost all Juniper product lines have some portion of their software development, test, hardware development, documentation and/or specialised technical support performed out of Bangalore.

e-Governance to go Mobile in Faizabad (India) The Chief Development Officer (CDO) Gaurav Dayal, launched an initiative called ‘Real e-Governance’, in which e-Governance services would be delivered through mobile phones. Recently Dayal has started trials for a project called Anant Sampark by Harnessing Wireless Access (ASHWA), with an aim to establish a practicable e-Governance infrastructure which will connect rural areas with the district headquarters. With ASHWA, villagers can access different certificates including death, birth, income, domicile and land records with the ‘dial’ button of the cellphone. A master computer, monitored personally by the CDO will be installed at the district headquarters. This main server will receive the message. After identifying the cellphone, from which the message has been sent, the computer will print the required document. For detail log on to www.egovonline.net

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egov > STATE-SPEAK

KERALA

Leader in e-Readiness Dr. Ajay Kumar, Secretary, IT, Government of Kerala

http://www.kerala.gov.in/

DPRs have been submitted to central government with the assistance of consultants like WIPRO and TCS. The Steering Committee headed by Chief Minister and Empowered Committee headed by Chief Secretary has been constituted to provide policy directions for implementing NeGP. How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state? e-Readiness of the state can be assessed in terms of awareness and usage of ICT by government, industry and citizens. The e-Readiness report published by DIT has placed Kerala as one among the leaders in e-Readiness. Availability of good manpower, requirement of tower licenses and recognition of software as an industry has made the State an attractive destination for investors. ‘Akshaya’ centres established in every Panchayat are providing e-Literacy to the citizens and are providing all kind of G2G, G2C and G2B services.

With the laying of Kerala SWAN (KSWAN) all government offices upto the block level will be connected to Secretariat and citizens can access all government services right at their doorsteps.

Dr Ajay Kumar is a member of the Indian Administrative Services with 22 years of experience. His area of expertise include e- Readiness and the measurement of the impact of ICTs to foster economic, social and knowledge growth of countries.

What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

The implementation of various MMPs is decentralised with the line ministries concerned responsible for implementation.

The line departments have to prepare a District Progress Report (DPR) clearly spelling out all important aspects of projects like services and service levels, project reengineering proposed project management plan etc. ov

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What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance project running in your state?

All the MMPs envisaged under NeGP have to be carried out through PPP mode. ‘Akshaya’ centres are the finest examples of PPP whereby the entire set of setting up infrastructure is borne by the entrepreneur and government provides all the necessary infrastructure in terms of connectivity, etc.

Eventually these centres can be used by private bodies to sell their products as their reach is immense.

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

‘Akshaya’ project is the best PPP practices adopted in Kerala.

What are the services that are being delivered / planned to be delivered through Common Service centres (CSCs)?

What are the steps being taken for a better user experience (e.g. localisation, etc).?

The model of CSCs has already been implemented in Kerala in form of ‘Akshaya’ centres. Services like e-Literacy, e-Vidya, e-Krishi, Medical Transcription and Psychometric Profiling, Railway Ticketing etc are already delivered through ‘Akshaya’ centres. After setting up of KSWAN ‘Akshaya’ centres can be used as front end for delivery of all e-Governance services.

For a better user experience, local content specific to the local people has been developed. Campaign activities had been conducted to demystify technology and the mental barriers of the people.

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Please share with us the capacity building programmes being planned / implemented in your state?

Capacity building in a decentralised manner is carried out through Akshaya centres by giving training through packages like e-Vidya, e-Literacy, e-Krishi etc. We have deployed trainers for providing communication skill enhancement training to students of colleges, polytechnics. Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) in association with NASSCOM will be conducting a Nasscom Assessment of Competence (NAC) Test to provide a NASSOCM accredited certification which can be used by students to geet jobs. A Mass HR Training programme for training 0.2 million students to make them ‘employable’ is on the anvil.

What are your state’s key achievements in implem e-Governance projects?

There are various projects which had been implemented by State to introduce e-Governance. a. FRIENDS – A single window counter for payment of utility bills. b. AKSHAYA – Front end for delivery of all government services. c. KSWAN – Providing connectivity to Government offices till the Block level. d. SPARK – Maintenance of service records of Government employees. e. Citizen Call centre – 24 hour call centre for providing information on all Governmet Programmes, Registering and redressal of complaints of citizens. f. SECWAN – Full monitoring system in state secretariat has already submitted proposals for implementing the ambitious NeGP of the government of India (GOI)

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects?

How are they being overcome?

While implementing eGovernance programmes some of the challenges faced are as follows: a. Perception of employees and citizens – State Government employees are still not comfortable with the usage of computers and new technologies.

To overcome this, training programmes have been conducted to demystify technology and breaking the mental barriers on use of this technology. b. Connectivity – Earlier connectivity was one of the main issue which was slowing the progress of e-Governance. But with the setting up of KSWAN that issue is taken care of. c. Integration of isolated systems – The traditional practice of implementing technology in each departments is setting up of their own systems without a thought about integrating systems between departments. Now GoI has formulated common e-Gov standards and interoperable framework which is being insisted for linking existing systems and setting up new systems.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

The state government is planning to focus on the following areas in the coming years: a. Capacity building of students and job aspirants. b. Providing last mile connectivity. c. Creating an atmosphere for attracting more investment from industries. d. Ensuring that e-gov standards and security standards are implemented in all the government applications. e. Creating international centre for development of FOSS f. Move towards m-Governance.

IT Training for State Government Officials in Kerala The State Information Technology (IT) Mission has begun giving free computer training to government employees. About 2,000 police officers in Malappuram district will get training in the first phase of the programme, being conducted in association with Akshaya. Each of the five lakh government staff in the state of Kerala will get 40 hours of computer training over three years.

The pilot phase of training will cover 38,000 government employees working in different departments in Malappuram district.

Computer training has been made mandatory for police officers in view of Malappuram becoming an e-District. It will soon be made mandatory for other government employees in Malappuram. The IT training course would cover operating system, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, computer hardware, Internet and Malayalam typing.

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egov > NeGP > CORE INFRASTRUCTURE > SDC

State Data Centre: Backbone for Service Delivery S.P. Singh, Senior Director, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India

S P Singh has been with Department of Information Technology for over 25 years and held various positions. S.P. Singh has been involved in the preparation of National e-Governance Plan.

He is also responsible for e-Governance implementation in Urban Local Bodies (Municipalities), Agriculture sector and e-Procurement which are very large and ambitious initiatives of the Government of India.

State Data Centre (SDC) has been identified as one of the important element of the core infrastructure under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). How is SDC envisioned to support e-Governance initiatives of NeGP? As a part of NeGP, there is a requirement to create the core infrastructure which will support the various mission mode projects that are envisaged under the NeGP. SDC is one of the important elements of the core infrastructure which is required to be established in the States/UTs. Basically the SDC will support consolidating the services, applications and infrastructure to provide efficient electronic delivery of G2G, G2C and G2B services. It will be a well secured infrastructure ov

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created in each State where all the line departments who have their applications ready, would be in a position to host their applications and therefore, in a position to render services to end beneficiaries electronically.

What is the implementation strategy adopted? What is the role of private sector in implementing the SDCs? The implementation of State Data Centre poses many challanges and is a complex task. The operational and design issues with regard to reliablity, availability, scalability, serviceability, business continuity plan apart from optimum power and cooling are critical. Further, data security,

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ownership and effecient operations and management are vital issues. The Department of IT has formulated policy guidelines wherein various issues have been addressed including the implementation options and international best practices.

Basically there are two options given to the States, one the state can create infrastructure of their own, where the entire physical and IT infrastructure shall be responsibility of the state government and and two, the state can leverage on the physical infrastructure of a commercial IDC where the private sector will be involved including facilities and maintenance of the physical and IT infrastructure. However in both the cases, the state IT Department/ State implementing agency shall be responsible for the security of SDC including technical and operational issues.

Does the state IT departments have the technical capacity to handle the SDC? SDC for any state is a crucial digital infrastructure including security which is of paramount importance as there may be several mission critical applications, sensitive data hosted in the SDC. There could not be any compromise on data security and privacy. This issue has been well taken care in the policy guidelines which would need to be adhered to by the state implementing agency. The states may not be fully prepared/ may not have duly qualified technical personnel resources to take care and manage these vital issues. The SDC scheme provides augmenting as well as hiring domain specialists by the state the required technical resources. Furthermore, the technical resources of NIC expected to be part of the state data centre team would provide adequate technical capacity to handle the SDCs. What are the business opportunities for the private sector?

The entire SDC scheme involves an outlay of Rs 1600 crores over a period of five years. This includes both capital and operational costs. The scheme provides opportunities to several segments of business within the Private Sector, namely: Infrastructure Sector (Civil, Electrical & Mechanical Work), Services Sector (Operations & Maintenance of the Data Centre site) as well as IT Sector (System Integrators, Commercial Data Centre) etc.

What is the current status of implementation of the SDCs? Good governance is possible only if you have clearly defined services, which are going to be made available to citizens and business coupled with service levels. Certain states have taken advance action and they have come up with data centres through their own initiatives providing statewide services.

But, they are not of the scale which, we are now talking and intiating as part of NeGP. The limited facilities at the state level shall have to be scaled up in terms of both infrastructure and computing including important features like security,

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data backup and disaster recovery startegies.

The implementation of data centres in the States shall commence once the scheme is approved by the government and states prepare and submit their detailed project plans.

Typically a data centre would require 9-12 months for setting up and operationalzation.

How do you ensure that states adhere to the guidelines on SDC specified by DIT? Adherence to guidelines shall be ensured through a multipronged approach, which shall include distribution of best practices, well-defined templates for data centre and other related technical requirements. Further, consultants at state level would provide technical guidance and regularly monitor the SDC activities within the broad framework of policy guidelines. Moreover a robust mechanism of monitoring & evaluation both at the state level as well as at national level through empowered committee envisaged would ensure conformance and compliance to the guidelines.

What are the challenges in implementation such as ownership issues, providing secured environment, and the like?

The challenges are many. There will be challenges like state IT department getting the buy-in from other line departments to use the SDC infrastructure and hosting their applications, migration of departmental applications from one location to the SDC. Further, this will require a total business like approach by the state IT department to ensure and provide service level operation and performance of the data centre. The real challenge will be ensuring data centre availabilty as such. The maintenance of the data centre and ensuring its continuty, will put in a lot of responsibility on the state IT departments.

What is the plan to link the state data centre with the national data centre? Which other government departments (like NIC, Income Tax department, customs) have initiated / or are planning data centres? How is the SDC plan under NEGP similar or different from them?

State Data Centre would largely be hosting state level applications while the national data centres being set up by NIC shall be for center level applications. Certain central departments are also setting up their own data centres.

There may be requirement for both central and state level applications to interact with each other and to be linked accordingly through the national service delivery gateway.

Such kind of service delivery gateways will also be there in the state data centres which will act as a middleware providing interaction with different applications. Our vision is that SDC becomes consolidated, well secured, technically and professionally managed backbone for service delivery by the state governments.

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egov > NeGP > CORE INFRASTRUCTURE > SDC

Facilitating Intelligent Information Infrastructure Manoj Chugh, President, EMC, India and SAARC Manoj Chugh is an industry veteran with over 25 years experience in the ICT industry. He joined EMC in 2003 and is responsible for driving EMC’s revenue growth, partnership model and sales to enterprise and growing companies.

In the past, Manoj has managed and led companies to leadership position across diverse businesses segments.

What is your role as President, (India and SAARC) of EMC? I have a very simple role and my role is to help customers understand the value of information and once they understand the value of information; help them deploy an intelligent information infrastructure which can help them to store their information intelligently, protect information as such and, make sure they are able to optimize and leverage the information infrastructure that they have created and get the maximum value out of the information assets. So here you can see my role as an evangelist, a friend, a consultant, vendor etc. to supply deploy, implement and execute requirements of a customer and meet the needs of the market.

What are priorities and focus areas of EMC? Our first priority is to leverage the information assets 98 }

better. If you look at the government, it has a huge wealth of information. It needs to be structured and put in a work flow. Today we are hearing about the right to information.

People may not be able to make use of the information within the stipulated time, under Right to Information (RTI) Act, if not made accessible. So we have to deploy the information infrastructure, you need to digitize the content, put that it in a work flow and repository. It enhances one’s ability to access information and ability to provide information much more easily. What I see in the year 2008 is growing acceptance of the need to deploy intelligent information infrastructure.

Secondly, I feel is that the amount of unstructured content is growing tremendously. There is a lot of such important content that needs to be leveraged. It needs to be digitized and put in the repository. This helps one to keep a distinct identity in terms of accountability of their work. Hence, organizations

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should pay attention to digitize the unstructured information and put them in a work flow.

The third priority is security. A talk about security is more related to the antivirus, software and firewall prevention solutions. How one is going to protect the information, for instance if an e-Mail is sent from a very secure environment to a recipient end which is also secure. But it may be that the recipient chose to send it to a third person, who was never intended to receive that e-Mail. Hence, I look at security/ securing information as the priority for the year 2008.

The fourth area, in which we are hearing from people for a long time, is the growing interest in optimizing the infrastructure. Here, I have to see whether I can get the same output by reducing the physical number of servers and virtualising the server environment. What it serves to do is to consolidate the information instead of scattering fifty or hundred or two hundred servers. Therefore optimizing IT infrastructure is going to be a focus area.

The fifth priority that I see in the market for the year 2008 is to realize the need for building an intelligent information infrastructure. Earlier days, a generalist would be sorting out the problems. But as the environment is growing complex, a specialist is required to attend the problem. I am looking at a situation where people look at information, start thinking about information infrastructure and start look for expertise and seek for more specialist and professional guidance. So specialization is also in the top priority list.

How do you see the global information storage and management trend? What are the major drivers for growth in data storage market? What is the size of Indian market in this vertical?

If one looks at the storage, the key trend with people is that they like to store intelligently, perhaps in specialized devices.

Depending on the kind of information one has, the choice of specialized devices also varies. For example, the business of the call centers relies on its ability to store and replay those calls whether it is for the purpose of complaints or whether it is done under the mandatory requirement. Regulations are also coming around relating to different vertical segments, so that one can find the Bank of India as a regulator in stringent top. Similarly in health care sector and financial sector, a lot of regulations is there. If one takes the voice call, they are fundamentally unstructured and they need to be archived.

So within that structure, you have to look for a more resilient structure where business continuity is there, with more and more storing capacity, without content getting tampered and also with the features of disaster recovery facilities etc.

Information is growing faster at the rate of 60 %, all around the world. Hence, storage- management- security, all three go hand in hand.

Fundamentally, the growth of information and information applications (for eg. e-mails) and their management are important drivers. Digitization of content across the vertical sectors is yet another key driver. In addition, there are regulations and compliance issues. Competition in the market comes as another important driver to offer qualitative service to the customers. These are the major drivers for growth in the data storage market. In India, if one looks at storage, ov

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we have 60-65% of growth. We are heading at par with the global market and we are clearly in the right direction.

How is EMC set to optimise the information storage and management market in India? What are your competitive advantages as compared to other market players in this field?

EMC is in a best position to leverage and capitalize this opportunity. I can say this confidently because, a few years back we went to the market and started speaking about the ‘I’ of IT, the importance of information and the need to have a separate storage infrastructure from servers. EMC has ventured into the market to convince governments, organizations and enterprises to partner with a vendor that can store information independent of the server. This is different from what regular server vendors offer. Here we are able to convince that servers may change, processors may change, but information has to remain immortal.

The four building blocks that read the requirement of the market are (I) storing, (ii) protecting (iii) optimizing and (iv) leveraging those components for competitive advantage, as compared to the other market players in this field.

According to you, what is the level of progress made

by India in the past five years in carrying forward eGovernment initiatives? How would you rate e-Governance in India, compared to other SAARC countries?

India has certainly done well. In fact, it is has become the hot IT destination. Therefore, expectations vested on India are also very high. We have created tremendous impact world wide in the field that comes with best practices. The practices can be shared. Other countries in the region like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are also faring well. But, we just can not make comparison, as our size, complexities, challenges and issues are different and distinct from each other.

What are the present challenges that India is facing against fast-forwarding e-Government implementation?

The challenge is the ability to execute quickly. We have a good, solid, well defined road map. There are some good initial steps and good pilots. Efforts should be taken to streamline these pilots and execute them quickly. If Indian Cabinet approves of establishing data centers in the year 2008, I urge to see policy makers to pass the legislation to work on digitization of the content. We have RTI in this context. Information, if not digitized earliest, it is not possible to leverage (current content / archived content). For instance, if we want to check past records, availability of it online is advantageous. Of course it may come with a little bit of fee and it is absolutely fine compared to facing many hurdles and related discomfitures.

What is your message to the policymakers for IT usage in the government?

We need to execute quickly. We have set the right steps. We have ample number of successes, whether it is Mission Mode Projects or State Wide Area Network. But true benefit will reach citizens only if the required information reaches them at the click of the button. I hope we achieve this soon.

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egov > NeGP > CORE INFRASTRUCTURE > SDC

Leveraging on Technical Innovation - State Data Centre Ajay Ahuja, Sun Microsystems India Pvt. Ltd.

Ajay Ahuja, works as Senior IT Architect and Technology Evangelist with Sun Microsystems India Pvt Ltd. He has Post Graduate qualifications in Engineering and Management and has over 18 years of IT industry experience in various capacities.

INTRODUCTION

STATE DATA CENTER: BUSINESS DRIVERS

Indian Government is investing heavily on e-Governance initiative with a prime objective of making the IT enabled services available to the common man. As a part of this initiative, series of projects are being launched at the center and state levels. State Data Center (SDC) initiative is one of such initiative in which various states across the country are setting up facilities and infrastructure for the State Data Center. The State Data Center will host the IT infrastructure for hosting citizen services.

State Data Centers have been identified as one of the important elements of the core infrastructure for supporting e-Governance initiatives of India’s National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

Design and implementation of the SDCs is one of the major tasks at hand for various Indian States. There are many parameters to be considered while designing a Data Center.

These parameters include the civil infrastructure, hardware, software, data storage, management, administration and security parameters.

This article discusses challenges of today’s data center design and various design parameters, which can address these challenges. The paper also discusses various innovations in technology, which can be utilised in designing the State Data Centers. Theses recommendations based on the technical innovation, can be very useful inputs for State Data Center design and implementation.

The objective of State Data Centers is to host citizen services in a cost effective and efficient manner, with desired service levels and at the same time taking care of external eco system.

The following are key business drivers and requirements for designing a State Data Center: Citizen Services: Making the Citizen Services available to the citizen through IT. These services may include utility services, vehicle registration, e-Learning, school admissions, municipal services, employment services, health care services and more. The easy, quick and seamless availability of these services is one of the aims or business drivers of the SDCs. Optimisation and integration of these services is also a key requirement.

Cost:The Government to Citizen (G2C) and/or the Citizen to Government (C2G) services should be enabled using Information Technology in a cost effective and efficient manner. The total cost involves cost of infrastructure, power, cooling, space, hardware, software, management and administrative. The design should ensure accelerated Return on Investment (ROI) and lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Service Levels: The services being hosted out of the SDC should meet certain service levels in terms of high reliability, easy manageability and easy administration, high availability, high performance, utmost security and interoperability.

External factors: The Data Center design should comply

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Flexibility: The design should be flexible and reusable.

There should be provision to design and redesign based on the application and end user requirements.

Modularity and Easy Scalability: The components should be modular and easily scalable, as on need basis.

Minimal Initial Investment: The design should not involve heavy investment and should grow with the growth in application and user base.

ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE: BEST PRACTICES

Figure 1: Business Drivers: SDC

with external requirements like adherence to government regulations and compliances, technology reuse, and disaster protection.

These drivers result into some key data center design requirements. These requirements are also voice of the Chief Information Officers and State Government officials who are involved in designing and architecting the SDCs. The same are summarised below: Minimise Power and Space: The SDC should be based on the infrastructure, which should be least power consuming and should take minimal space.

Easy and Rapid Deployment: The infrastructure should be easy to deploy. Also one should explore innovative options, of having ready-made Data Centers.

Highly Reliable Infrastructure: The equipment used in the data center should be highly reliable with minimal components and least or no failures.

Very Secure: Security should be systemic and built-in not bolt on.

High Performance: The infrastructure components including servers, storage should be high performing devices.

Easy and Secure Access: The access to the data in the SDC should be secure with proper authentication, authorisations and auditing capabilities.

Easy Management: The components within the SDC should be easily manageable remotely. ov

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Based on recommendations by various researchers and best practices being followed by various IT giants like Sun Microsystems, following rules and IT Architecture principles are recommended in designing and setting up a State Data Center. (i) Choose Open Systems: Open Systems succeed in scale and continue well over a long life span. Open Systems help interoperate in heterogeneous environment. Open Systems are good for planned and unplanned growth, unlike proprietary systems, which must be redesigned for unplanned growth. (ii) Choose Open Source and Open Standards Infrastructure: Open Source and Open Standards systems do not tie one to a particular technology or platform, and can meet new technology requirements with minimal effort. Open Source infrastructure has community endorsement. As an example, Solaris Operating System, which is the best operating system available today is open source, with an opensolaris community (www.opensolaris.org) and SPARC CMT which is the fastest processor available today has its source code openly available (www. opensparc.org). Open Standards and interoperability are key factors in ensuring systems integrate and interoperate and will continue to do so in future. (iii) Separation of Logical Layers: Separate technology layers like presentation, business logic and data, to ensure flexibility, modularity and independent scalability of each layer.

The Government to Citizen (G2C) and/ or the Citizen to Government (C2G) services should be enabled using Information Technology in a cost effective and efďŹ cient manner. The total cost involves cost of infrastructure, power, cooling, space, hardware, software, management and administrative. The design should ensure accelerated Return on Investment (ROI) and lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

(iv) Keep it Simple: Simplify the design and deployment of the web/network services through innovative products and solutions, thereby cutting costs of operation and ensuring better return on investment (ROI). As an

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example Sun products like Sun xVM Ops Center, Sun Java Enterprise System Software (with Sun Portal and Identity Management), SPARC Technology, Solaris Operating System, Sun Grid Engine and Sun Java Desktop System Software helps reduce complexity and cost, by ensuring easy management, higher flexibility, Virtualisation and Consolidation. (v) Efficient Infrastructure: Choose for Systems and Storage, which is energy efficient, requiring less power and cooling. Power and cooling should be major deciding criteria in deciding the SDC infrastructure. Ultra SPARC T1 and T2 based systems from Sun are highly efficient in terms of Power and generate very less heat compared to other systems. (vi) Save Real Estate Space: Real estate space is expensive.

While designing the SDC, one should ensure best utilisation of the available space and should choose the systems, which are compact, take minimal space and are easy to install and configure. Most of today’s systems and storage is rack mountable. One should look for systems, which meet the requirement and also take minimal Rack Unit (RU) Space. As an example 8 core high performing systems like T5120 from Sun takes just 1 Rack Unit (RU) Space. About 32 or more systems can be installed in one rack, giving about more than 250 cores in a standard rack. (vii) Easy Manageability and Administration: The infrastructure being used should be easily manageable, and should support both in-bound and out-bound management.

The Servers and Storage should have integrated Lights Out Management Controller (ILOM) for in-bound and out-bound management using a remote console. Most of Sun Systems come with Bundled ILOM. (viii) Virtualisation and Consolidation: Virtualisation at server, storage and network levels have been recommended for dynamic design of a data center. By using virtualisation and pooling, users can avoid dedicating groups of resources to specific applications, and share their environment dynamically. This enables consolidation and repurposing, as well as dynamic allocation to support desired service levels.

The Government data center design need to take care of delivering present and future applications at lower cost, increase performance but at the same time, reduce the number of systems to manage. The design should utilise the best available servers and operating environment and should be able to change and provision operating environments on the same infrastructure at a very short notice. The design should be flexible, allowing consolidation of multiple applications and different operating systems onto the available Infrastructure. (ix) Built-in Security and Compliance: The security should be built-into the design of data center. There should be security at every level, including the operating system, middleware software, and even at hardware level. This is apart from the perimeter security involving secure networks, firewalls etc. A secure operating system like Solaris can form a solid foundation with built-in features like user and process level privileges, labeled 102

control, firewall, cryptographic framework and secure by default features. Middleware stack like Sun Identity Management, can provide standards based reliable ID management access across the government enterprise. (x) Accelerate Network/Web Services Deployment: The prime aim of the SDC initiative is to make citizen services available to the normal citizen through IT enabled web services. The aim is also to roll out these services in minimal time, in an efficient and effective manner. Java Technology and XML, which are proven technologies

The Government data center design need to take care of delivering present and future applications at lower cost, increase performance but at the same time, reduce the number of systems to manage.

The design should utilise the best available servers and operating environment and should be able to change and provision operating environments on the same infrastructure at a very short notice

for developing and delivering web services, can be very useful for this. (xi) Technology Reuse: Government Enterprises should be able to reuse existing supported applications, services and infrastructure. The architecture should be service based, with well-defined services, implemented to enable loose coupling between application components, leading to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). (xii) Technological Simplicity: Minimise the number of platforms, ensuring technical diversity being controlled to minimise the cost of maintaining expertise and connectivity between multiple processing environments.

Designing, implementing and deploying technology is a smaller problem as compared to getting people embrace and understand its advantages. ‘Keeping it Simple’ will help the users, both internal and external to adopt it faster.

REFERENCES:

•

•

• • • • •

Ajay Ahuja, “ State Data Center: Dynamic Design and Components”, 4’th International Conference on e-Governance, December 2006.

S.K Gupta, Ajay Ahuja, Jaijit Bhattacharya, S.P Singh, “Virtualization and Consolidation: Design criteria for Government Data Center” , Compendium for Nation Conference on e-Governance, 2007 Sun Microsystems, “CIO handbook” URL , http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2006/106110701.asp , accessed November 2007 URL Sun SPARC T5220 Server, http://www.sun.com/servers/ coolthreads/t5220/ , accessed October 2007 URL , http://www.sun.com/emrkt/blackbox/index.jsp , accessed October 2007 URL http://www.sun.com/, accessed October 2007

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MADHYA PRADESH

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From Less Paper Governance to e-Governance Anurag Jain, IT Secretary, Madhya Pradesh http://www.mp.gov.in/default.htm

Firstly, could you tell us about the progress made by Madhya Pradesh in making it an e-Ready state?

Madhya Pradesh has taken a lot of steps in making itself an e-Ready state. We had our IT policy, revised in 2006. So now our IT policy matches with the best of the policies any state government has.

In terms of e-Governance, we have done a lot of projects and I would say we are just behind the leaders like Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Madhya Pradesh would figure in the top five.

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

Madhya Pradesh was one of the leaders in PPP practices, and I am talking about PPP in general, and not just ICT alone.

Madhya Pradesh was one of the first states to start the road sector project under PPP and we have already completed about 4,000 kilometers of road under PPP. As far as PPP in ICT is concerned, our system of Transport Project is a PPP project. We have selected a private vendor, who charges money from the clients and does everything for us and we in turn get the back end of the database and the front end is managed by the call centre.

The Samadhan Kendra is a free model that we have given to our districts. In the guidelines we have given three models and one of them is PPP, to certain districts. One of the best implementors is Indore. They have used the PPP model. They have selected a private vendor who runs the front end for them, and the back end remains with the government. So there is a lot of scope for PPP and we have been using it in a very innovative way.

What are your experiences so far?

It is a question of keeping proper check and balances. If you do not keep proper check and balances, then the PPP partner might end up ruining your reputation, if the project does not function properly. He has to deliver the services but if it a properly drafted document, your (Request for Proposal) RFP and the Service Delivery Agreements are properly drafted, then it is not an issue rather it is able to synergies the strength of the private sector and the authority of the government sector properly.

If it is done properly, it is a good system because in the government it is very difficult to even hire new manpower, to get through with your finances is also very difficult and if you build up the PPP model, you are actually not going through any of these procedures. ov

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What are the best opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance projects running in your state?

All the new projects being thought of, are, I would say opportunities, like right now we are in the process of finalisation of SWANs, CSC and our transport project is through with its life cycle and now it is being replaced by a newer project, the treasury automation project is also through.

It received the Global Icon Award. It is one of the most well done projects but we want to change it in terms of technical architecture because we want it to operate from all the offices as also, from the user end departments. Right now, it was from the supplier end-service delivery department point of view. So any project that comes is an opportunity. Now all the Mission Mode Projects are starting. Thus, computerisation is changing the state governments in a big way, so most of these projects are big opportunities. We have the basic strengths, like we have almost 23,000 kilometers of optical fibre, which is the very basic strength of the state.

Regarding the Common Service Centres, what are the services that are planned to be delivered and what are the steps being taken for a better user-experience? What is the stauus of SWAN? What I would confess right now is that Common Service Centres have not yet begun in the state. We are in the process of finalisation of the vendor, which we will be able to do by the month of December, after that the actual infrastructure would come in place. But when we talk about Common Service Centre, the project Samadhan Kedra, which is something similar, but of course is centered at the Collectorate level so it has slightly different kind of services. After conducting proper work shops and brain storming with the field officers, we had zeroed in on 23 services. Those 23 services are originally readymade and we will have a look at them again once the infrastructure is ready. Our selection of vendor, for SWAN, would be through by the end of 2007. Three major things will be finishing in December: Selection of our joint venture partner for our IT SEZs (Special Economic Zone). Second is SWAN and the third is CSC. All these will be finalised by 2007.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

I dream of a system where there is less paper governance and more e-Governance.

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Ensuring Business Continuity Sandeep Nair, Managing Director, Emerson Network Power India Pvt. Ltd.

Please tell us about Emerson Network and its growth and operations in India.

Emerson Network Power (India) Private Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Emerson Electric USA, a $22.6 billion Fortune 500 Company. Set up in September 1993, the Indian subsidiary has seen a consistent growth rate of more than 30% p.a., over the last 13 years. Today, the company is acknowledged as the global leader in enabling Business Critical Continuity by providing best-in-class integrated network uptime solutions. It offers AC Power (UPS), Connectivity Solution, DC Power for Telecom, Embedded power, Inbound Power, Integrated Cabinet Solutions, Outside Plant, Precision Cooling all supported by world-class Site Monitoring and Services.

After the company transitioned itself to Emerson Network Power India in 2001, the company has made a conscious effort to align itself with its global parent. This meant bringing 104 }

together world-renowned brands under the Emerson Network Power India aegis. In effect, Emerson has moved from being a UPS and Precision AC manufacturer to a “Global Leader in enabling Business Critical Continuity Solutions.”

Emerson’s solutions cater to an array of large enterprises spanning across Datacenters, Telecom Shelters, BPOs, Industrial Process Control Rooms, Food Processing Industries, Broadcast Facilities, Building Services Control Rooms, Surveillance and Monitoring Centers, Medical Equipment Installations, Government, Banks and Financial Institutions and Retail Malls. Through its extensive network of Business Partners and Channel Partners, Emerson has successfully penetrated the B & C class cities in India to cater to the fast-growing SME segment.

In August 2005, Emerson Network Power entered the SOHO UPS segment, with the launch of two UPS models, the 600VA and the 1000VA under the ITON range. With the

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launch of these SOHO products, Emerson has become the only vendor in the Indian market to offer complete spectrum of air and power solutions across large Enterprises, SME and SOHO. An ISO 9001 certified company; Emerson Network Power (India) Private Ltd., crossed a major milestone in its quality journey when it was accorded Level II recognition by MAIT (Manufacturers Association for Information Technology) in 1998. This is the highest ever recognition accorded by MAIT in India for a company and the first in the manufacturing sector. In 1999, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) recognised the company for its strong commitment to Quality through a Certificate under the CII-Exim Business Excellence Award.

The company also has a long list of awards to its credit, notable ones being: • MAIT Excellence in Exports award in the Hardware category for 2002 – 03 • The Maharashtra IT Award in the IT Hardware category for 2003-04 • Frost & Sullivan “Voice of Customers Awards” for the Indian UPS Industry • 2004; Product line and customer service leadership awards in IT/ITES/Data Centers, Large Enterprises, Hospitals, Telecom and Customer service leadership award in Banking/Insurance/ Non-banking financial.

Today Indian power conditioning market is almost touching Rs 2300 crores. The market is getting more sensitive and mature to the evolving needs of the businesses

Emerson Network Power (India) Private Ltd. is headquartered in Thane, Maharashtra and is supplemented by a strong national network of 4 zonal and 15 branch offices. Emerson Network Power (India) Private Ltd. today is an over 350 strong organization and additionally addresses the requirements of various markets through 55 business partners and resellers across India, servicing 22 cities across the country.

Liebert, Asco Power Technologies, and Emerson Energy Systems are divisions of Emerson and Emerson Network Power.

Through its Emerson Network Power companies, Emerson is serving network-dependent data, telecommunications and Internet-related businesses with a full spectrum of reliable power and connectivity solutions.

Electricity being the lifeline for growth of the nations.

What are Emerson’s power management and UPS solutions (such as Next Gen UPS) in this regard? What edge does they have over other market players in this field?

Newer technologies are very amicable with the Indian power conditions which are very diverse in different pockets of the country. While the metros have a good power supply, the ov

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interiors reflect a different picture altogether. As one moves towards the interiors, one will realise that there are frequent power cuts on a daily basis, unclean power and other basic constraints like earthing, cabling and lack of a viable infrastructure that compound the problem. New technologies in the UPS are aimed at either to increase the efficiency or decrease the cost or both at the same time.

Emerson’s innovative technologies and products include: • Sophisticated process control systems that help ensure the efficient, safe and high-quality production of everything from petroleum and chemicals to food products and pharmaceuticals; • Climate control technologies that enable environmentally friendly, energy-efficient air conditioning and refrigeration for commercial and residential cooling and comfort; • Reliable power technologies that help safeguard the Internet and phone and computer networks from electric power outages and disruptions; • Durable, energy-efficient electric motors used by commercial businesses and that run many home appliances; and • A range of other products that bring efficiency, organisation, convenience and comfort to homes and the workplace, such as closet and storage systems, kitchen food disposers, ceiling fans, and plumbing and hand tools.

We have also introduced a series of Next Gen products with unique technology anticipating the future requirement of Customers’ Data Center.

• Xtreme Density Cooling solution for Servers / Racks to eliminate hot spots in data center • DSP based UPS system with unity power factor • Liebert NX with Blackbox technology to monitor entire power events etc • We have also introduced Surge Suppression Solution called as TVSS to take care of surges in entire facility With innovation being the key driver in today’s market, Emerson has a research department dedicated to new Product Development. The research department has been working consistently to come out with new features or products.

As a matter of fact, Liebert NX – the next generation UPS launched by Emerson in India was worked upon by cross company R&D teams. A double conversion designed UPS system for which the Indian members of the team were instrumental in helping conceptualising and designing the product.

Today, one of Emerson’s main strengths is its software engineering capabilities, and India goes a long way in playing a key role in allowing the company to further leverage its competitive advantage.

Apart from UPS there are various other components which plays key role in Power Management of any facilities which are: Power Distribution Units (PDUs), Surge Suppression Devices, Transfer Switches etc, Emerson has capability to provide full-spectrum of Power Management solution for any facilities.

The Indian operations serve as a manufacturing as well as marketing hub for South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal etc.

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What are Emerson’s products and solutions to cater to the needs of the government, especially to fulfill the government’s need for power conditioning for their data centre programme?

We have full-fledged government vertical established which focuses on specific requirement of government sectors. The team is comprises of application engineer and sales personnel to understand the need of our government customers. We have done some product strategy based on this vertical.

The Cooling and Power Management solutions have some common inputs. As you are aware, that the power energy used in the data centers gets dissipated as heat, the cooling solutions are required to remove this heat from the datacenters.

Thus, the integration is from the beginning itself.

Some technologies introduced by us in datacenters are Rack Cooling Solutions, Adaptive Architecture, Liebert XD System.

The past few years have witnessed a fundamental change in datacenter design. The increasing power demands of datacenters due to advanced network server technology have necessitated a radical change in cooling technology to control the heat loads generated by these datacenters.

Hence, Rack Cooling Solutions have become a key component of cooling solutions as the servers are housed in these racks. Emerson entered the rack cooling solutions segment last year post its acquisition of Knurr AG, the global leader in Rack and Enclosure Technologies for IT and Telecom vertical.

With the launch of rack-cooling solutions as part of its portfolio, Emerson Network Power now delivers the broadest portfolio of technologies - taking proven cooling technologies from room-level applications and integrating them into the rack.

To ensure ready availability of rack products basis customer demands, Emerson plans to make significant changes in its operations schedule.

With this, Emerson expects to cut down average lead time from the industry standard of 3-5 weeks to practically zero lead time for all products. Knurr’s expertise in racks and its ready pool of more than 400 patented designs will also allow Emerson to customise and build racks to meet dynamic customer requirements.

Nowadays, in few server processor designs, the cooling solution is being tried to be incorporated at the chip level.

And, recently Knurr has shipped out Water Cooled racks which can house high energy consuming servers. Knurr’s broad platform of rack systems helps integrate Emerson’s cooling and power management technologies, helping customers solve problems in new and existing installations and giving data center managers more flexibility in facility design.

Emerson is also into the telecom and network verticals.

Please tell us about your partnerships in this field with the government sector?

We address telecom as separate verticals and working with leading telecom players to protect their networks and provide them business-critical continuity solution.

We do not have any formal alliances or partnership but 106 }

worked with various government establishments for its requirements.

What is your opinion on the role of IT for an efficient and transparent government?

Seeing the growth in economy and surge in latest technology, this is a need of hour. Looking at huge database and integrating the nation-wide information network from central to state to districts to even village level is humungous task whose common objective is to get things faster and transparent to avoid mismanagement of funds, delay in services. This is been taken very seriously by all levels with-in government and we are seeing changes with so much of e-Governance projects such as State Wide Area Network, State Data Centers, Citizen Service Centers etc. This will trigger our economy growth and create awareness among people towards faith in government services.

What do you think regarding the PPP mode of implementation of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of the government of India? How can the private sector add value in NeGP implementation?

We believe public-private partnership is the best way to achieve e-Governance objectives. This is the best practice where one can exploit each other as per their core competencies.

Private sector can add value with their expertise on latest technology, skilled man power and project management experience. Private sector can help government to achieve result in specified time period with cost effective solution so that public sectors can take it to the end-user much more effectively.

How big is the power solutions market in India? What are your plans to expand your market in this vertical in India?

Today Indian power conditioning market is almost touching Rs 2300 crores. The market is getting more sensitive and mature to the evolving needs of the businesses. With India assuming a key role in the Asian economy, businesses have become attuned to the fact that they need to be robust in terms of infrastructure to attract and retain investors. Hence, Business Critical Continuity is being viewed strategically and upcoming businesses are realising the importance of factoring and aligning it as key component in the overall business model.

In the new fiscal, the company plans to focus on upcountry market and indulge in solutions marketing with partners.

Due to enormous growth in the Information Technology, Telecom and BPO sectors, the high-end UPS segment is poised to reap maximum benefit. Given the fact that India has emerged as an outsourcing destination for MNC’s, this will fuel the growth of the UPS market with a gradual focus on B & C class cities. In addition, as the quality of power in these cities is a concern, there is a need for a reliable power protection solution.

Being the leader in its segment, Emerson takes the responsibility of introducing new technologies and products to the market. Investment is an ongoing process and we will keep investing in the Indian market.

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CONNECTING DIGITALLY

ISO 9001:2000 Certified

! Renuka infocom Pvt Ltd is being into e-governance services since 2 years and providing supports for e-ticketing , e-tendering and e-filling . ! The comapny has the data base for more than 5000 satisfied cutomers who are using Digital signature Certificate for e-governance. ! We are providing Public key infrastrcture facilities for various e-governance applications like secured login , form signing , online client verification ,etc. ! Recent e-governance initiative for Directorate of Education , NCT of Delhi with MTNL. Empanelled with Himachal Pradesh , IT dept for Data Digitisation. ! Working with Clients of IRCTC for issuing digital signature certificate for e-ticketing and online training for each indiviual for using e-ticketing application.

Photo credit: Christine Prefontaine, Lumaco, Chile

Share your experience Share your knowledge www.telecentremagazine.net

Send your feedback and contributions to editor@telecentremagazine.net

Renuka Infocom Pvt. Ltd. (ITES-BPO Company) 309-314 Aggarwal Millenium Tower, Netaji Subhash Place, Pitampura, Delhi (India)-110034 Ph : 91-11-27351199 Fax : 91-11-27351818 e-mail: rohit.garg@renukainfo.com www.renukainfo.com

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egov > EVENT DAIRY

GK3- An Event on the Future Samia Melhem, Senior Operations Officer, CITPO, GICT and Chair, e-Development Thematic Group, World Bank Development Research Centre, UK Department of International Development etc.) and private sector leaders such as Microsoft, Intel, Alcatel, HP, TI, Cisco, IBM, NokiaSiemens, and many others. Colleagues from Infodev, World Bank Institute and South Asia region were participating as speakers and panelists as well to the event.

CONFERENCE THEMES

Samia Melhem is a member of the e-Government practice group in the Global ICT department at the World Bank. Her current responsibilities include technical assistance and advisory services on ICT Policies. She is focused on ICT4D in a wide variety of sectors from telecoms policy and regulation to public sector reform, taxes, customs, trade, education, knowledge Economy and private sector development.

INTRODUCTION

I attended the Global Knowledge Partnership’s (GKP), Third Conference GK3, Conference in Malaysia from Dec 11-Dec 13, 2007.

The conference brought together policy makers, donors, telecoms and ICT regulators, practitioners, industry leaders, academia, civil society and private sector players in the ICT sector. The conference attendance was around 2000 participants and resembled the two earlier World Summits on Information Society events (WSIS) - albeit on a smaller scale.

Sponsors were pretty much the same as WSIS (Swiss Development Agency, United Nations Development Programme, UN Global Alliance on ICT, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, bilateral donors such as Swedish International Development Agency, Canadian International Development Agency, International 108 }

The conference’s main themes (all featured on www. gkpeventsonthefuture.org) were related to societal uses of ICTs, developmental impact, knowledge economy and inclusion. The conference parallel tracks were divided into these categories: Emerging People: Focus on the poor, isolated/rural, women and youth Emerging Markets: For Off-shoring, ITES, media.

Emerging Technologies: Web 2.0, Mobile Government, Knowledge Management 2.0, Open Source Cross-Cutting sessions with a focus on policy, leadership, youth and gender.

Some other sessions included: Young Social Entrepreneur Forum Stockholm Challenge, World Electronic Media Forum and i4d film festival. These overarching themes were featured in a series of plenary and parallel workshops, with international and local experts and practitioners.

Evaluation forms for each of the 100 odd sessions reflected attention to the themes (specific questions on gender, youth, impact, etc. in evaluation form). Several references were made to ongoing WBG activities, such as: The e-Lanka Project (a WBG project) was prominently featured and the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka staff/management present had a booth and were also on the several panels.

One of the project’s grantees, through ICTA, received the Stockholm Challenge Award for creating Sinhalese based e-Content for primary schools, WBI work on knowledge economy and their recent publications on Korea and other reports were well featured.

Infodev’s good work on business incubation, entrepreneurship and innovation with some Infodev incubators (women incubators in China) and incubatees featured in the sessions, and in the GKP Expo.

ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR DONORS : KEY MESSAGES

Some of the key messages include: • Large, untapped demand for assistance in ICT4D and

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the knowledge agenda especially in the eGovernment arena.

• Good opportunities for donors to rely on local knowledge sources (online newsletters, website publishers, online magazines all focused on ICT4D) as distribution platforms to use for knowledge sharing of our products at GICT. We should explore this option systematically.

• Opportunities for CITPO to leverage country programmes to create more awareness on specific projects. Need Launching of the Telecentre Magazine (Collaboration between CSDMS and Telecentre.org) at GK3 Event for capacity building on m-Government services, CIO leadership training, engendering ICT projects, ITES The participants felt that there is a need to cooperate and industry and skills needed for software development better coordinate donors programmes as we have a lot of industry, aligning education to job and market overlap in some areas, causing unintended inefficiencies needs etc. and confusion. It was informed that there is also a rise of the • Awareness and emerging focus on critical need to include new donors: private sector research and development, grant women in knowledge economy accession programs. facilities, foundations were represented (Gates, Development • Great advances in rural area access are fostering innovation Gateway, HP, Cisco, etc.), who also add to the complexity of for the people living on the margins of networks and donors coordination, but which presents terrific opportunity information societies. for success from a technology and skills view point.

• Need to better coordinate the global knowledge and Investors and private capita needs to be more strongly resources already existing in using technology for represented at this type of events which is a good business development. development opportunity for IFC in both investments • Private public partnerships are no longer a novelty and and TA. there are many experiences of critical success factors on how to structure these in large scale implementations of e-Government systems (information systems, land PRE-CONFERENCE EVENT ON WOMEN AND ICTS management, GIS, insurance, healthcare, etc.)

I also participated at a pre-conference event sponsored by the International Task Force on Women (ITF) and ICTs, during which I presented elements of the Gender Action Plan and our ongoing thinking to mainstream gender in (a) ICT sector analytical work and (b) ICT Lending or investments operations for Global Information and Communications Technology (GICT). The conference was sponsored by the GKP secretariat and the Center for Women and Information Technology. The group’s objective is to increase women’s participation in the information society. Evidence has demonstrated that women’s participation in the information society in rural communities and developing countries lags behind that of men, causing economic marginalization particularly for poor women with low levels of education. Evidence is also indicating a drop Panel on Gender and ICT in women’s enrollment in science and technology education.

This will impact employability for women in today’s labour On the financing side, the issues raised were on markets,where demand is high for science and technology concerns about the financing gap, about availability of / ICT skills, while supply is still low. By 2010, Microsoft video conferencing, etc., microfinance for enterprises and estimates 1.2 Million jobs in ICT sector will remain unfilled, incubation of businesses/ small and medium enterprises. due to shortages of skilled labour. ov

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MEGHALAYA

egov > STATE-SPEAK

We Have Open Doors for Private Players

http://meghalaya.nic.in/

Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Principal Secretary to Government of Meghalaya, Information Technology and Health and Family Welfare Departments

Anoop Kumar Srivastava is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer of 1981 batch of AssamMeghalaya cadre. He has served in various capacities in the Government of Meghalaya. He has twice served Government of India on central deputation

What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

The State Government is adopting a multipronged approach in implementing the MMP in the State. While the State IT department is implementing some of the projects directly, others are being executed with the technical expertise of the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Most of the projects are 110 }

at the nascent stage and we are taking steps to make them operational in the quickest possible time.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

The state’s e-Readiness is also dependent on telecom backbone and IT environment created by the private entrepreneurs.

The State is committed to be in the forefront of e-Governance

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activities in the North Eastern part of the country and we are at various stages of implementing threshold projects to attain this goal.

What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance projects running in your state?

In most of the e-Governance programmes, active support from private sector is encouraged. While implementing various e-Gov programmes there will be enough business opportunities for the private sector. The doors are open for the private sector players to come to the State and share their expertise in the domain knowledge. The investment climate is conducive to achieving an accelerated growth.

Looking ahead, the State envisions collaborating with the private sector in many important and economically fruitful ventures.

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

In the IT sector, we are yet to achieve financial closure of any PPP initiative but at the same time, we are looking for serious partners in setting up the IT Estate with the private sector players. The IT Estate envisages a realty space of about 100 acres in the outskirts of Shillong and we are intending to develop the infrastructure requirements for setting up BPO/ KPO centres.

What are the services that are being delivered / planned to be delivered through Common Service Centres (CSCs)?

What are the steps being taken for a better user experience (e.g. localisation, etc.)?

The Common Service Centres (CSCs) in the States are being planned in accordance with the demand mix as envisaged in the detailed project report. We have planned about 225 centres in the whole State and amongst the services planned are the G2C services like birth/death certificates, the SC/ ST certificates, the land revenue payments and records accessibility, information delivery, etc. Amongst the B2C services, we will be having the agricultural prices monitoring and delivery module, the commodities market prices, e-Learning services, telemedicine, etc. The list is only illustrative and not exhaustive. We are in the process of incorporating modules that would be economically viable for the vendors to survive.

We are committed to ensure that the localisation issues are properly taken care of. Although the requirement as per the guidelines would be more than a thousand CSCs, we have frozen our requirement at 225 keeping the scalability and viability factor into consideration.

Please share with us on the capacity building programmes being planned / implemented in your state.

As per the e-Gov programmes, we are planning a number of capacity building programmes in the State. Some of them have already taken shape, and the students as well as private sector participants are already part of the exercise.

What are the evaluation and monitoring techniques you are adopting to monitor the progress and to assess whether the proposed benefits are being delivered to the citizens?

We have not yet reached the stage where projects are to be evaluated in a scientific manner. However, to ensure proper implementation, it has been proposed that independent third party evaluators should be engaged to capture proper perspectives of the achievements and to provide with gap analysis when required.

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance projects?

Most of the projects have at present been implemented with the technical expertise of NIC and we are looking at augmenting and consolidating them in the near future.

The Treasury operations, the VAT Collection, the transport module including the registration of vehicles, municipality administration and the State portal are some of the examples.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects? How are they being overcome?

The biggest challenge in implementing the e-Governance projects in the State is the lack of awareness and expertise of the core issues of e-Governance. Therefore, we are focusing more on capacity building and training. Fund constraint is also a matter of concern though I must state that the Government of India has always been helpful to the maximum possible extent. We have very recently signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a IT company in the private sector, which inter alia envisages acquiring IT advisory services. We believe that the private sector players would be playing an important role in this aspect and we look forward to a partnership, which would benefit both parties.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

In the next few years, we will be focusing in bringing new investments to the State and make Shillong an Investment capital of the North East. The Incentives provided are already enunciated in the State Government’s IT Policy, 2004 (available at http://ditmeghalaya.gov.in/IT%20Policy_2004.pdf) as well as North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy 2007 (can be viewed at http://dipp.gov.in/incentive/ NEIIPP_2007.pdf). We are hopeful that the discussions we are having with a few private players would bear fruits as early as 2008. As far as e-Governance is concerned, we are committed to meet the deadlines set by the Government of India for implementation of SWAN, CSCs, SDC and other MMPs. I appeal to eGov magazine to disseminate this important message that we are very serious in our efforts to make our State the IT destination of the North East and with the GOI’s Look East policy, we hope that additional incentives would be an icing on the cake for any potential investor.

Read Daily e-Government News Online@www.egovonline.net ov

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egov > NeGP > INTEGRATED PROJECTS > INDIA PORTAL

Single-Window Access to Government Information and Services - India Portal www.india.gov.in

Neeta Verma, Senior Technical Director, National Informatics Centre existence, so we thought that it would be pertinent to aggregate these also through the Portal. National Portal today provides a unified interface to over 5000 Indian Government websites and also acts as a front-end to e-government initiatives under various government programmes and schemes.

What is the vision of the India Portal Mission Mode Project (MMP)?

India Portal or more popularly known as the National Portal of India was set up essentially to provide a single-window access to government information and services as a whole.

Whether it is from central government, state government or district administrations, what ever service or information that a citizen is looking from the government, National Portal should be the first place to go. The primary objective therefore was to develop a citizen centric portal providing or presenting information the way citizens look at it.

Further, when we began development of the portal, there were a large number of Indian government websites already in 112 }

What is the strategy that is being followed to realise this vision?

Keeping in mind the fact that a common Indian citizen is the primary stakeholder of this portal, the very first thing we did was to identify, what kind of interface, what kind of architecture this portal should have in terms of technology & information. There were lots of deliberations, and informal studies that took place, and finally we worked out a comprehensive framework for the portal, and accordingly the Portal was developed and launched .

As far as Technology aspect is concerned, state of art, open access tools & technologies have been used for its development. It is also hosted on highly scalable & reliable infrastructure in NIC Data Centre.

Content is the other important aspect of the Portal.

Comprehensive content frame work to accommodate long term content requirements on the Portal is already in place.

Workflow oriented web based content management system with role based access is also developed for contribution of content from different constituents of the government.

Since for a government portal, authenticity and trust are the important considerations, so from each central government department and State, we have nominations of senior level officers as National Portal Coordinators. Content on the Portal

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is always contributed or approved by respective coordinators prior to its publishing on the Portal. We already have over 100 such National Portal coordinators (NPC). We have also nominated NIC Coordinators for National Portal (NCNP) from each State/UT and who work in close coordination with the NPCs. Thus content contribution in the portal is a joint, collaborative effort of all the stakeholders.

Are there plans to integrate the departmental applications to the India portal?

Some applications have already been integrated to the India portal. We are also working very closely with the National Service Delivery Gateway Project, which will facilitate the integration of services, and shall also be hosted at NIC Data Centre along with the national portal. So using the service gateway based on open standards, we intend to integrate more and more services. The national portal, in fact, will act as a front end to the services integrated through the gateway.

In the national portal, we have already build up repositories for Application Forms (over 2500 forms already available), Services, Schemes, Acts/Rules, Policies , Documents etc. Quite a few services, either completely online or partially online are already registered with the National Portal and information regarding how to avail many of these services is also available on the portal. When the National Service Delivery Gateway is in place, the online services/ applications can be seamlessly integrated through the portal. so, for example, if a citizen wants to file his tax online, he can seamlessly navigate through the portal and reach to the last level and avail a service.

Are there any new features that have been recently added to the portal? ov

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If you look at the national portal, primarily it has four major stake holders. Citizens are the largest stake holders, then the business community, overseas community and finally the government itself. We have completely rewritten and enhanced the business module of the portal and recently launched the revised module, which will become a very good resource for small and medium class entrepreneurs. It will work like a kind of encyclopedia for them and all those who are interested in knowing about the intricacies involved in various stages of business lifecyle in India, right from starting a business to managing and growing it, from taxation policies to labour laws and from doing import/export to even closing or changing the line of a business. Further, this module would provide seamless link to business related services available online.

What are the efforts being made to make the citizens aware of the national portal and the services it provides.

Initially we had been working on the awareness generation in a ‘closed group’ as we had requested the state government portals as well as the central government websites to prominently display the National Portal banner and provide a link to it. The philosophy behind this was that many citizens would not know which department provides which service, so when a citizen is looking for a certain information on any government website, and he cannot find that information and does not know where to go, then through the prominent link, the citizen can come to the India portal where he would be able to access the information easily.

Secondly, we are also conducting awareness workshops in states, on a periodic basis, wherein, all department heads and other concerned officers are invited. It helps in promoting

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the portal as well facilitates greater contribution of content.

Further, we also promote the Portal at various National and International Foras by presenting papers and case studies.

Then, another important aspect of our Promotion Strategy is through a monthly e-newsletter that is sent to over 30,000 registered users of the National Portal. We have also instituted awards under the national portal primarily to promote contribution of more and more content on the portal.

We receive about 23 million hits on the portal per month..

We feel that more needs to be done to spread awareness about the portal among citizens of India & other beneficiaries. Lately we have also come up with posters that shall be displayed at citizen centers and Information kiosks, CICs and district centres. We are also working on comprehensive promotion strategy for the National Portal.

What are the localisation efforts that are being undertaken to provide information in regional languages, given the fact that India is a multi-lingual country.

I look at localisation from two aspects. One is with respect to the languages. With regards to that, we already have the Hindi version of National Portal and we are keenly working towards bringing it in regional languages. However, the problem there is that beyond a certain point, information or services have to come from the individual websites and the regional language content on these websites is very limited.

Since the state governments and individual departments are also getting sensitised, so I think they will take adequate steps to have regional language content soon. We do not want to create a false impression of interface where after a point, the real content still comes in English. Since we have already developed the Hindi version using Unicode, the technology is fully available to create a regional language version in a short time. For us, the challenge is that the content at the other end should also be available in that language. So, technology wise, we are ready, and whenever it is apt to put it, we will come out with the regional language versions.

The other aspect of localisation is with respect to personalization depending on which demography or location our users belong to. We are already addressing this through our ‘personalisation’ feature in the portal. We are now working on giving a customized ‘My India Portal’ kind of facility to our users whereby they can get the customized information and its look and feel based on their profile & preferences..

What are the plans to involve the private sector in the implementation of the project?

Content contribution is a major element of the portal as technology-wise the complete solution is built up, content frame work is already in place and the process of content contribution is also ready. In that sense to a great extent, the project is complete at the level that it was actually destined to. Now the intention is to make it grow further. We are now trying to involve more and more private participation in helping us package and compile the huge prospective content and data. For example, the NPCs (National Portal Coordinators) in some states were finding it difficult to compile the data from their state, and needed some kind of support. So we are facilitating & supporting them to hire 114 }

local agencies, who would work with them and interact with various departments to compile the content, package it, and then pre-publish on the portal. Moreover for some exclusive content sections like Overseas or Profile of various Sectors of economy, we are looking for private partners having domain expertise to work with us and compile and package this content as well as maintain and update it.

Are there any challenges that you have faced in implementation of the portal? How are they being overcome?

When you are undertaking a project of such a vast scope, challenges will always be there, but you have to look at it with the solution oriented positive point of view. Content has been one of the challenges but I feel with the support of content advisory committee (specifically setup for the Portal), collaboration from our coordinators from central & state government as well as private participation, we are making a steady growth. We are also working on long term solutions for provision of good quality, citizen centric content by formulating guidelines and content framework to be followed by government websites and thus facilitating electronic exchange and integration of information and services..

Unlike other websites, this portal does not have a specified or restricted target audience. So, when it comes to demographics, to cater to such a large and diverse audience is in itself a great challenge but we have been fortunate enough to be able to meet up with this challenge to a great degree of success and we are trying to move further in that direction.

Meeting the aspirations of one billion people and having one portal will always have challenges but we are happy that we are on the right track & shall succeed in achieving the same.

What have been your learnings so far?

One of the important things that we have learnt is the inevitable need for ensuring a certain discipline in the government departments to digitize and publish all content meant for public consumption online. In other words, there is a need for sensitisation at all levels in the government that at the very source at which the content is produced or digitised, it should also be made available on the web along with for other purposes and media. Websites present virtual face of the department in cyber space. They have to closely synergise with day to day activities of the departments.

Another important factor pertains to the realization that the existing Indian government websites follow different standards, protocols, navigations styles, design schemas and all this makes it quite an arduous task for the citizens to understand these differences and look for the desired information. Hence it is extremely significant to set standards and ensure interoperability in order to facilitate easy information exchange among government departments as well as make it convenient for citizens to visit and use government websites. To address this issue, as an initiative under National Portal, we are working towards making comprehensive guidelines to ensure a certain standardization and uniformity amongst Indian Government websites so that they become more citizen centric and visitor friendly.

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egov > INDUSTRY-SPEAK

Providing End-to-end e-Government Solutions/Services Prakash Rane, Managing Director, ABM Knowledgeware Ltd. administrative reforms. We believe that e-Government is a basic delivery infrastructure to the country as roads, ports or airports etc. The only difference is that it is the most intangible basic infrastructure required for the economic progress of the country. I believe, the impact of the meaningful implementation of RTI Act and e-Government mandate, can only be compared with the ‘independence’ achieved by India on 15th August, 1947.

ABM has a goal to be one of the leaders in providing endto-end e-Government solutions/services at cutting edge areas of citizens/consumer interfaces like urban local bodies and utilities (water and electricity), in addition to IT enabling generic citizens/consumer services by leveraging ABM’s own solutions, domain expertise and the best of the class ERP solutions.

Prakash Rane pioneered several trend setting concepts/projects in e-Governance in India with products and solutions developed

by ABM. These concepts are mainly in the area of IT enabling citizen/ consumer services.

What is the e-Governance vision and goals of ABM Knowledgeware?

ABM envisions e-Government to be all about time-bound service delivery to the citizens. It should be achieved by IT, enabling citizens services with simultaneous introduction of ov

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According to you, what is the level of progress made

by India in the past few years in carrying forward e-Government initiatives? What are the present challenges India is facing against fast-forwarding e-Government implementation? e-Government initiatives can indeed be stated to be successful, only when the most important stakeholders i.e., the citizens or consumers, realise it’s benefits. These benefits are in terms of simplified and more effective interaction with government.

Strictly in this sense, India has not made very significant progress in terms of implementation of e-Government.

Last 5 years have definitely seen a strong sensitisation at different levels of government- central and the state leveltowards launching e-Government. This is visible in the form of budget allocations, launch of Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) under any NeGP, e-Governance being made a mandatory component under various GOI funding schemes like Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) etc. Other policy initiatives are also indirectly facilitating e-Government. These include liberalisation of telecom, which can play a vital role in perpetuating deeper roll-out of e-Government. Similarly subjecting PSUs to competitive market scenario demands improvement in efficiency which leads to the adoption of ICT as one of the tools.

India faces its own challenges, in terms of fast forwarding e-Government implementation. Indian software industry is

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forced to look up to e-Government as a choice of compulsion, due to various factors in contrast to the international business clientele. It includes rigid procurement processes with less regard to the quality; cost and time over-runs due to changing vision and below average project management from government customer end; steep challenges of institutionalisation of IT in government organisations by addressing the changing paradigm etc. The average realisation per mammoth in e-Government, effectively turns out to be much lower than the international customers.

The world experience emphasises on the removal of existing intermediaries and replacing them by providing on-line/webbased e-Government framework. The citizens are encouraged to transact with the government online, to minimise foot-falls in the government offices. But contrary to this, India has a peculiar challenge, since majority of her population does not have access to computers. As a result, e-Government necessitates India’s specific strategy, rather than relying on the world experience. Lack of tested and proven products and solution, specifically meant for Indian e-Government customer, also is causing bottlenecks in faster e-Government roll-out in addition to the factors mentioned above.

ABM’s core businesses are solutions for e-Governance.

What are some of your products and solutions for the government, especially, municipal corporations, defence, treasury ect.

ABM has various solutions of its own. Some are listed below: • ABM CFC: IT enabling citizen/customer/consumer services: This solution can be deployed at the cutting edge of any organisation, which seeks to improve delivery of services • ABM CARE: Complaints Management and Redressal • ABM MOIS 2000: Document Tracking in Government Offices • ABM AQUA: Water Billing and Online Collection • ABM MAINet: Municipal Administration Information Network Apart from these, ABM also provides SAP based solutions to those government clients whose requirements are not completely addresses by our suite of solutions. ABM has developed and exhibited expertise in institutionalisation of all these solutions in government offices by deploying its ‘change management’ strategies.

What edge does your products / solutions have over other market players in this field?

Some of the key USPs of our solutions are as under: • These solutions are proven after use in large client base after undergoing multiple iterations and sustenance for several years.

• These solutions are a bundle of ‘best practices’ in respective domains. This has been achieved since all these solutions have been evolved after very close interaction with actual users, citizens and top bureaucrats.

• Most of the solutions have been evaluated by progressive state governments and have been chosen for state wide roll out thereafter.

• These solutions have also undergone scrutiny of IT 116 }

industry, state governments, central government or international bodies and have won awards at each of these levels.

What are your companies’ strengths in terms of in-house technological skills, for instance, in operating systems, databases, front-ends and networking?

ABM operates in the cutting edge technologies like J2EE, .net, Linux, Windows, Oracle 10G, DB2 with its solutions deployed over large WANs with satisfactory response time.

ABM is one of the earliest companies to deploy devnagari fonts in Unicode for making its solutions available with bilingual interface. Our solutions also have integrations capabilities with e-Payments, PDAs, mobile phones etc. ABM has been awarded ‘Best e-Governance Technical Organisation’ by the Computer Society of India and Nihilent Technologies.

How does ABM ensures sustainability of its projects along with its return on investment (RoI) for the organisations?

ABM has also been conferred the prestigious award from Wisitex Foundation viz. ‘Wisitex India’ Urban Development Lead Organisation of the Year- (Information Technology) in Dec 2007.

ABM has been in the e-Governance business for over 9 years now. During this period we have undergone different experiences of success and failures. Each experience has been a learning for us. Based on this varied experience, we have fine-tuned our strategies to address challenges of change management during implementation of the e-Government leading to better sustenance and RoI .

Please tell us about the technology roadmap of your company.

Our technology roadmap can be summarised as follows • Consolidation of portal interfaces • Product upgrades with latest technologies • Move towards SaaS for our products • Off the self integrating mobile devices like, PDAs and mobile phones, meter reading instruments • Interoperability with established ERPs and legacy systems What is your agenda in the e-Government arena in India for the next two to three years? What are your plans to expand your market further in India?

ABM has plans in place to grow to INR 1000 million exclusively in e-Government space by 2010. In addition to the various marketing initiatives that ABM has undertaken, it is in the process scaling its operations to address the growing business. Currently, ABM is focusing on the North and Western Regions of India and has established strategic partnerships with companies in these regions to leverage the relationships of these local partners with potential customers.

This is expected to reduce the time taken to generate business. ABM has expended considerable resources in the various marketing initiatives undertaken by it in the last few years. This is evidenced by the high recall value for ABM in it’s niche.

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egov > INDUSTRY-SPEAK

We Want the Government to Work on Next Phase of NeGP Jaijit Bhattacharya, Country Director, Government Strategy, Sun Microsystems India Pvt. Ltd. Jaijit Bhattacharya is responsible for the creation of the next generation of solutions for the governments, based on open standards.

Bhattacharya also advises governments on e-Governance strategies. He is an e-Governance advisor to Government of Sri Lanka and has been conducting trainings for ADB institute in Tokyo on Public Expenditure Management as well as helping the World Bank develop curriculum for their e-Leadership programme.

How is Sun Microsystems positioned to support the IT initiatives of the various governments in India?

Sun Microsystem is a technology leader in the area of computing solutions. In India, we excel in delivering the technology solutions for large and complex IT projects.

When you pick up the phone, 90% of the time, the traffic goes through Sun technology. We believe that governments in India would require extreme scalability that would beat the requirements of even the telecom industry. As you would know, the telecom Industry in India is the fastest ov

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growing in the world. However, governments would face far greater pressures to deliver on technology. Since Sun’s core competence is to consistenly innovate to deliver cutting edge solutions, we are extremely well positioned to support the IT initiatives of the Governments in India. In fact, we are ahead by two to three years from our competition in most areas related to datacenters and computer technology.

We have been consistently working with the governments in India at all levels, starting from the local level such as Kalyan Dombiville Municipal Corporation to complex central

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government initiatives such as customs and taxes. We have also entered into a memorandum of understanding with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to setup the Center for Excellence in e-Governance in IIT Delhi that will work on creating technologies for governments in India that do not exist as of now. Recently, we presented the e-Governance vision to legislators of a north eastern state, led by their Chief Minister. We believe such initiatives help in capacity building with legislators. As I had mentioned earlier, we are working closely with governments at all levels.

Given the indepth experience that Sun Microsystems has in delivering e-Governance solutions globally, what is your advice for the Governments in India?

We have been involved with the most demanding e-Governance projects in the world. However, the complexities of e-Governance in India are of completely different kind.

Fortunately, the Government of India has come out with one of the finest and most comprehensive e-Governance plan in the form of the National e-Governance plan or as popularly called as NeGP. NeGP forms the guiding principle for e-Governance in India. We strongly believe that NeGP is the perfect strategic roadmap for e-Governance in the country.

However, the challenge will be to translate the vision to reality through an organisation that is still undergoing capacity building at a rapid pace. The government may want to consider using e-Learning for capacity building for the various stakeholders, including the citizens. Also, governments may want to innovatively address the issue of lack of capacity by using innovative mechanisms such as having large centralised implementations, which would conserve on human resource skills that are hard to get.

We would also want the government to start working on the next phase of NeGP by working on what we would like to call as eGov 2.0 that would be able to leverage technology to deliver services that are normally not delivered through regular brick and mortar mechanisms.

As the largest open source software vendor, how would Sun Microsystems contribute to the e-Governance ‘revolution’ in this country?

Sun Microsystems is a pioneer in open source software and we believe that open source software is an important option that is necessary to have, in order to provide a more equitable access to governance.

Time and again, we have noticed that e-Governance solutions developed for the people are on non-standard technologies which eliminate the option to use open source softwares such as Mozilla, Firefox, etc. This in turn also creates an ecosystems that is inimical to the use of other popular key open source softwares such as Open Solaris, Linux etc.

We feel that the government has an important role in furthering the ecosystem that supports the option of open source software that allows the ‘common man’ to access the IT enabled government services without paying an indirect ‘tax’ to vendors of proprietary softwares.

Sun Microsystem is in the forefront of supporting any government in its initiatives of introducing an equitable standards based e-Governance ecosystems. In fact, we 118 }

promote what we call Standards based, Unified and Networked government or SUN government in short.

Sun Microsystems has in fact gone a step further and has also open sourced one of the planet’s most powerful microprocessor, the Sparc. The design of the chip is now in public domain and is called the Open Sparc. We believe that such initiatives from Sun will not only bring down the cost of e-Governance, but will also democratise access to information technology in the country.

Sun Microsystems is a pioneer in the area of energy efficient Information Systems. How relevant is energy efficiency for e-Governance in India?

The government’s vision is to provide access to computers to all its citizens. Last year alone, 6.4 million PC’s and laptops were sold in India. Each of the PC’s and laptops consume roughly 200 W of electricity that translates to roughly 1.3 GW of electricity. This is equivalent to power generated by almost 3 nuclear power plants. And yet it represents computer penetration to a miniscule incremental number of new computer users in the country. So if for providing access to computing to only 0.6% of the additional population, it requires three new nuclear power plants to be set up, you can calculate the energy impact when say 10% of the population is using PC’s and laptops. Now add to the above the power consumed by large datacenters such as the proposed State Datacenters, especially when they start scaling up. The traditional designs of datacenters will not scale up and work in India and the systems will start collapsing due to lack of power.

Sun Microsystems engineering excellence and leadership on systems that sip power and gulp data, is precisely built for tackling the kind of power constrained scalability that countries such as India will face. It is imperative that we factor in power considerations while designing the state datacenters and other such large IT initiatives of the government.

In fact, according to industry sources, 41% of Fortune 500 IT

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executives cite power/cooling as a major problem. Increasingly companies are facing datacenter space constraints, over stretched power and cooling infrastructures and the exploding cost of energy. These issues are compelling companies to rise to the situation and look at the environmental impact of their electricity use and thus take actions to minimise their global impact and environmental footprint.

Since you mentioned State Datacenters, what are the challenges related to data center management?

Currently power and cooling are on top of the mind of any data center manager. Every advancing technology stresses on power and cooling infrastructure, floor space, IT budgets and resource skills to maintain uptime for business critical applications. This will be even more relevant for India as the scale of IT infastructure will be something that has no precedence as the populations that the infrastructure will serve is one of the largest in the world.

Also, Data centers represent a significant portion of a typical IT budget. So, designing, installing and maintaining a data center investment has never been more important. To drive mission critical applications, a datacenter should be designed strategically to lower total cost of ownership, support future growth, reduce risk of downtime, maximise performance and improve ability to configure.

As the network continues to explode, the importance of a data center is on the rise. Our 25 over years strong background in datacenter experience and expertise has helped us to understand the market trend and evolve our strategy in tandem, to lead the market in data center mangement and meet and exceed customer expectations.Today companies across the globe are striving to make their business and technology infrastructure energy efficient and eco friendly.

Armed with this knowledge our data center strategy revolves around eco effeciency and enabling our customers to make their business green. We have chalked out plans which will have measurable impact on the customers business, enabling them to quickly cut costs and C02 emissions and save money.

As part of this strategy, this year, we launched our new Eco Innovation initiative program worldwide to offer new and existing customers solutions that address the growing issues of limited power, space, and energy, in a climate of increasing ov

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demand for performance and utilisation. This initiative has set the stage for Sun to put a stake in the ground as an industry leader offering proven, measurable, and compelling solutions for datacenters worldwide. The Sun Eco Innovation Initiative provides customers a simple, clear, actionable way to engage Sun’s innovative, open Eco products, expertise, partners and community to use less energy in their datacenter, reduce IT footprint and minimise operating costs.

In addition, we offer complete end-to-end energy efficient solutions combining products and services, to recycling and disposal. This comprehensive portfolio of products which includes innovative technology such as CMT/CoolThreads technology, storage VTL, Sun Rays and Solaris 10 speak volumes about our unmatched eco innovative product range that can help a customer to run an energy efficient and high performance datacenter.

Locally, we recently forged an alliance with four industry leaders to form SEED - Sun Eco Enterprise Datacenter. The six industry leaders include APC-MGE, AMD, Wipro, and HDS. This initiative is a community of like-minded companies who have come together with best practices, tools and expertise that can help improve the energy and economic efficiency of the customer. Each partner brings their expertise to this alliance, and the customer can benefit at a single platform instead of approaching each of the vendors separately. The alliance will approach the customer’s datacenter issues holistically. Our objective is clear - we want to provide an end-to-end solution to provide energy efficient datacenters solution to Indian companies.

What is Sun offering to governments seeking green datacenter?

Sun’s eco offering is based on the philosophy of Assess, Optimise and Virtualise. We offer governments a comprehensive data center assessment to establish a baseline of existing conditions, identify areas in need of improvement, and develop plans to optimise energy usage, cooling and general environmental conditions that can impact both operational costs and reliable service.

Moreover we also provide governments access to an open, comprehensive portfolio of the most energy efficient eco products in the market, proven expertise, as well as partners and communities. Sun’s offering help governments immediately improve economic and energy efficiency by as much as 60%, pack the same compute power in as little as 1/4 the space, and increase utilisation by as much as 85% without requiring an army of consultants.

In addition, Sun also offers governments consolidated Eco expertise and a robust partner community to help find simple ways to get started, and get results. But perhaps most unique, Sun shares its knowledge freely, by making information and technology available to others so that we can all move forward and participate in an increasingly sustainable way.

In September ‘07, Sun founded OpenEco.org, the first-ever open web community where organisations can calculate, compare and reduce their CO2 emissions free of charge.

In the age of MySpace and Facebook, OpenEco.org allows organisations of all kind to address climate change through a social network devoted to CO2 reduction.

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egov > VISION

Innovations - The Starting Point for Change Prof M S Swaminathan, Chairman, MSS Research Foundation complimenting the goals of GGA in benefiting the rural masses and what are the monitoring and evaluation activities that the committee will be adopting to understand if the proposed benefits are being delivered?

Well I feel innovations are the starting point of any change.

So an innovative mind is the one which sees day to day problems and find solutions for them. What we need is much more innovation in software development which is locale specific, demand driven and so on. I visualise an India in the next 5-10 years where there will be a lot of outsourcing work which will be done from urban India because then only one can attract and retain young people in villages. Today, you do not find it intellectually stimulating apart from economically rewarding. Both are important. I think we shall enter a phase when a lot of jobs are outsourced from urban to rural India for which we have to create skills in people and new innovations have to be formed. So I feel that this is a very timely initiative to recognise and reward innovative minds, who are bringing the renovation to the service of rural women and men.

Prof Swaminathan gave India its green revolution more than three decades back. Then he gave India the ‘Misison 2007’. And now the Grameen Gyan Abhiyan’. We tried to go deeper into his vision for ICT for the poor.

What are the objectives for Grameen Gyan Abhiyaan and what are the important media to provide knowledge connectivity in India, according to you?

Grameen Gyan Abhiyaan is considered as the national movement, with the aim that every village becomes a Knowledge Center. This is the Mission 2007. The strategy is to take technology and knowledge/ digital revolution to the entire India. It is a large task and cannot be done by one company or institution. It has to be done only by a confederation of institutions, a coalition of partners such as the private sector, public sector, academic sector, commercial sector, financial sector, banks and so on. So the Grameen Gyan Abhiyaan provides a platform for partnership. Wide range of institutions and individuals are all concerned with one common goal namely to bridge the digital divide and take the best in modern/ digital technology to solve the chronic problems of hunger, malnutrition, ill health and also the inability to use knowledge effectively. There are today unlimited potential made and how to take those opportunities to rural India, is the major aim of Grameen Gyan Abhiyaan.

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How are we going to realise locally relevant content across this vast country with multiple languages?

Language problem is now being solved technologically. It is not a barrier. The major barrier will be the relevance of information which will be given to them. This is why we feel there shall be a content consortium in each area/ block and sector viz. the health sector, agriculture sector and education sector more so because 2/3rd of the rural Indian population live on agriculture, fishing and forest. So the content consortium should be demand driven rather than purely supply driven information. This can be done. These are simple management tools, procedures and once we have the alliance partners of the Grameen Gyan Abhiyaan, they have to have a decentralised approach. Its important to have a decentralised approach.

There is a fear that ICT has caused further divide rather than bridging it. What is your take on the same?

The purpose of Grameen Gyan Abhiyaan is to ensure that there is no such divide in both urban and rural India. Its a rural urban continuum. What is needed is what Mahatma Gandhi said long ago. He said that the greatest form of braindrain in India is the drain of brains from rural to urban India.

It is not that in villages people need only brawn and no brain. By bridging the digital divide you can make a major dent on this problem. You can combine brain and brawn for accelerated rural progress.

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egov > CONNECTIVITY > VISION

Secure Connections in Challenging Environments Subodh Vardhan, Director Sales and Country Head (Government and Public Safety), Motorola India Subodh leads the team that is responsible for marketing and deployment of private networks for public safety, defence, railways and enterprise customers. This includes two way radio networks as well as networks based on wireless broadband technologies for campus and municipal Wi-Fi, point to point and point to multi-point connectivity.

Subodh is also introducing defence, transportation (railways, airports, seaports etc) and enterprise customers to state of the art communications technologies.

Please tell us about Motorola’s mission critical communications solutions in various standards like Tetra, APCO, WiMAX, Wireless and broadband.

Private Radio Networks: Motorola has a strong legacy of partnering with public safety agencies around the world for mission critical communications. These include agencies like the police, fire, paramilitary forces, and defence forces. Such agencies cannot rely on public networks alone (like cellular) for emergency response. There are several unique requirements of such communications- firstly, communications have to be secure (no eavesdropping!), have to be reliable (when disaster ov

January 2008

strikes, public networks are the first to get congested), should allow for one to many communications so that groups of officers can be addressed at once. Equipment has to be more rugged and networks more fault tolerant so that they are available in the most dire emergencies. This brings in the concept of ‘Private Networks’. We encourage all public safety agencies to invest in such networks so that they can communicate effectively with each other.

‘Tetra’ (TERRESTRIAL TRUNKED RADIO) and APCO (Association of Police Communications Officers) are standards for radio trunking used around the world. Motorola is a world

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leader in both these standards, and based on customer needs we recommend what more appropriate. In India, both APCO and Tetra Standards are prevalent and again Motorola is the clear leader in both these standards in India as well.

The name Motorola is also synonymous with Walky Talkies.

Almost every public safety agency in India is using our walky talkies for communications.

As user requirements become more sophisticated, just voice communications is not enough. Users look for data, for applications like database lookup (e.g. car license plates), geo-positioning (e.g. exact location of a police car or a policeman) as less bandwidth hungry data applications, and video surveillance and video calls as more bandwidth hungry applications. Tetra and APCO both provide data capabilities and future versions will offer much greater bandwidth. Then there are other technologies like Wireless Broadband that already offer high data bandwidth for video surveillance and video calling.

Wireless Broadband: Motorola’s wireless broadband group and Wi4 products deliver secure, reliable connections in some of the nation’s most challenging environments in mission critical communications and helps to build enhanced wireless broadband networks that are both cost-effective and scalable.

Delivering IP coverage to virtually all spaces, the MOTOwi4 portfolio includes Fixed, Mesh, Broadband over Powerline, and WiMAX solutions for such mission critical applications.

How does Motorola’s Canopy wireless broadband technology serve the need of a secure and cost-effective broadband service of the customers?

The Canopy system is the ideal technology for developing, enhancing and extending advanced broadband networks and services and for making delivery of high-demand technologies like broadband Internet access, voice over IP, video services, security surveillance capabilities both quicker and much less expensive. The solution is being well received world-wide by telecom providers, wireless internet service providers (WISPs), and enterprises, where site-to-site wireless data connectivity is preferred over traditional wired solutions. It significantly reduces the time to design and deploy new commercial and enterprise broadband networks. It also, seamlessly, integrates with existing network systems and management tools to make extending and augmenting existing service simpler and less cost-intensive.

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It has also been observed that the Canopy product can be an effective transport medium for real-time Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. The Canopy platform’s flexible product design allows network operators to tailor installations to efficiently meet the bandwidth demand of business and residential subscribers. High throughput services such as video and high speed data can now be offered to network users as an optional upgrade to their broadband service. As demand for bandwidth continues to grow, Canopy network operators can offer reliable, high throughput services sooner and at favourable prices. Service providers can design their networks to offer broadband service to an entire community and can compete for high revenue services in urban areas.

What are some of the advantages of the Motorola’s Canopy wireless broadband technology?

There are numerous reasons Motorola’s MOTOwi4 portfolio has a considerable advantage over the competition. The main reasons, from the point of view of a potential customer, however, are threefold. First, Motorola provides a low-risk solution, compared to many industry players. Secondly, the company has an organisational structure that fully supports its wireless broadband products. And finally, it is one of the few companies that can offer an end-to-end solution to the customer.

There are several key advantages of Motorola Canopy Wireless broadband technology. It offers highly reliable communication in unlicensed band spectrum e.g. 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz ISM band. It provides highly secure connectivity with DES and AES 128 bit encryption, GPS synchronisation to avoid any self interference. It has industry’s best interference mitigation technique with a C/I requirement of less than 3dB and hence offers very high throughput of 14Mbps per sector. It offers customised Quality of Service (QoS) with prioritisation of applications, users and allocation of bandwidth using CIR, MIR methods.

It is very suitable for both public and private networks supporting all types of IP based applications and hence provides a value for deployment in rural or urban areas in license exempt bands.

Currently, it is proving its value and toughness in more than 80 countries around the world for a wide range of applications such as Local Area Network (LAN) extensions, Internet subscriber service, Multicast video, Private Branch Exchange (PBX) extensions, Point-to-multipoint data links, Redundant network backup, Video surveillance, Voice over IP (VoIP), TDM over Ethernet (for legacy voice and data) How does the Canopy wireless broadband system compete with DSL network and support services like high-speed broadband access, video surveillance, VoIP and City WiFi? Some service providers need to compete with cable and DSL broadband alternatives. Others are looking to extend their network. The common goal is to deliver reliable, highquality broadband service that supports bandwidth intensive and latency sensitive services such as residential Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), gaming, video content, video surveillance and high throughput data.

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Motorola’s Canopy Advantage system provides carrier and private network operators a robust wireless broadband portfolio of products that provide the throughput to compete against cable and DSL alternatives. Service providers can now offer premium services to Canopy network users.

The Canopy Advantage SM provides a 20 Mbps point to multipoint signaling rate with a sustained 14 Mbps aggregate throughput. Advantage system capabilities can be deployed optionally within a network, allowing capacity and throughput increases, as the demand requires.

Carrier network operators can offer and provide VoIP, video and high throughput services to customers as an alternative to DSL or T1 services.

Private network operators can support distance learning, video conferencing or high speed data transfer on a private secure network at a fraction of the cost of subscribing to DSL or T1 services.

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Municipalities, Universities, Schools, and Hospitals need dedicated, high-speed connections without the high monthly overhead of leased lines. What are Motorola’s solutions in this regard?

Motorola’s wireless broadband solutions are bringing faculty, students, and administrators up to speed. Wireless broadband enables a wide variety of applications for educational campuses, hospitals and metro area network for municipalities that provide ubiquitous connectivity and excel at helping institutions meet their challenges by streamlining operations, reducing costs, increasing productivity, improving efficiency and enhancing backup and redundancy.

An increasing number of educational institutions are using

wireless broadband technologies to help them control costs, eliminate inefficiencies and enhance student, faculty and community relations. ov

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Research shows that administrators and educators all around the world expect wireless data to become a vital component of their long-term strategies. The MOTOwi4 portfolio of next-generation wireless broadband solutions leads the industry in breadth and depth. Only MOTOwi4 provides a comprehensive high-speed ecosystem that delivers and boasts proven reliability, exceptionally affordable entry and expansion costs, faster, simpler deployment and installation, Configuration flexibility, High performance and interference resistance, Bandwidth management and traffic prioritisation, Network security for safer e-Learning

Research shows that administrators and educators all around the world expect wireless data to become a vital component of their long-term strategies. The MOTOwi4 portfolio of next-generation wireless broadband solutions leads the industry in breadth and depth. Only MOTOwi4 provides a comprehensive high-speed ecosystem that delivers and boasts proven reliability, exceptionally affordable entry and expansion costs, faster, simpler deployment and installation, Configuration flexibility, High performance and interference resistance, Bandwidth management and traffic prioritisation, Network security for safer e-Learning.

Please tell us about the MetroWiFi solutions and how Metro WiFi helps to bridge the digital divide?

Wireless broadband and Metro WiFi are sweeping the world, creating a global buzz unseen in the communications arena since the advent of the Internet.

For communities large and small, Metro WiFi can help conquer the digital divide, encourage economic development, streamline public services and public safety and create a greater sense of community among residents. For campuses and enterprises, Metro WiFi can improve productivity; promote communication, information sharing and collaboration; tighten security and increase safety; and improve employee and customer relations.

As an acknowledged innovator and global leader in wireless technology, Motorola’s experience in ‘connecting the unconnected’ is unparalleled. Our MOTOwi4™ MotoMesh portfolio includes some of the most comprehensive Mesh Solutions available in the industry today. Motorola’s Mesh Solutions provide cost-effective equipment, rapid deployment and fast ROI to the Metro WiFi marketplace for public access enabling a wide array of network applications.

Which are the government organisations/departments with whom Motorola is in partnership or plan to partner to meet their mission critical communication requirements?

What is the progress of these projects?

Several police and paramilitary forces, the Indian armed forces, other public safety organisations and Indian Railways

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are currently using Motorola products for their mission critical requirements. Of late, there has been significant awareness amongst such organisations about private networks and many such organisations are planning investments in this area.

Further, organisations like Airports, Metro Rail, Refineries, Mines and large manufacturing units are also seeing the benefits of such private networks. Motorola has vertical market specialists for these markets and we are building such networks for many such users currently.

What is your opinion regarding the National e-Governance Plan? Which are some of the mission mode projects (Police, Panchayats) and components (such as Common Service Centres, and SWAN) which Motorola’s is focusing on?

National e-Governance Plan is a very fast forward thinking on the part of Indian Government to build an ICT infrastructure across the country in no time. Until mid 2005, e-Governance programmes in India were implemented individually in various states. Consequently, there were regional imbalances in the development of e-Governance in the country. For overcoming this, the Department of Information Technology (DIT) in October 2005, initiated an integrated approach called the National e-Governance Plan for developing e-Governance uniformly across India. The NeGP included 27 mission mode projects and eight support components to be implemented at different levels of government.

The concept of e-Governance is now a reality for Indian citizens. We are graduating from pilot e-Governance projects to bigger Mission Mode projects. In this, the core strategy is to move ahead in a systematic manner, and the approach is to achieve success step by step. We are learning from e-Governance examples worldwide; we also have our own experience in completing pilot projects successfully.

Motorola is committed to India’s NeGP programme and hence have been associated with both public and private organisations who are an integral part of this eco-system. Motorola has already implemented CARISMA network for Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Department by

providing connectivity to 1100 villages in the 1st phase of implementation. We are very excited and bullish about wireless broadband business in this segment in next 2-3 years and are working with several key organisations on projects such as Common Service centres, Police and Panchayati Raj networks etc.

What are some of your plans to expand your market further in India?

Being pioneers in this field, we believe in educating end users about the benefits of such systems. We also work with government departments to get appropriate funds assigned to such networks. We also do pilot projects so that users can touch and feel the systems, and realise for themselves the huge benefits that these systems offer. We are also open to customising our offerings for India, and developing India specific applications. While a slow starter, the Government and Public Safety piece is emerging to be a very significant business for us in India.

For the radio piece we are working with public safety agencies, railways and the armed forces. For the business critical piece we are working with the airports, refineries and large manufacturing establishments.

For the WiBB (Wireless Broadband) piece, India is one of the key markets for Motorola - (MotoWi4 – Unlicensed and WiMAX) and our focus in next few years will be to engage ourselves with the e-Governance initiatives, providing extensive broadband connectivity, serving the connectivity needs of Rural India and serving the connectivity needs of Enterprise segment. We would like to focus on enhancing our product portfolio to offer a price-performance solution, which is compatible to the Indian requirements. Being a global company, we would strategise to bring in the advantage of ‘economies of scale’ and scope quickly than our competitors for Indian customers. We are investing heavily in human resources, expanding the channel structure to focus on key segments such as e-Governance, video surveillance, educational networks, enterprise connectivity and municipal WiFi networks.

Quench your thirst for e-Government news LOG ON TO WWW.EGOVONLINE.NET

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egov > CONNECTIVITY > TRENDS

Connecting the Next 500 Million: Challenges and Opportunities Nanditha Krishna, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East INTRODUCTION

According to the 11th five year plan, the target of connecting people has been set as 500 million of the government of India in 2010 and 650 million by 2012. However there are several challenges in reaching this target considering the fact that majority of the subscribers are expected to come from the rural segment. This article examines these challenges and explores opportunities for further growth.

The contribution of telecommunications sector to the national GDP has been increasing from 1.7 percent in 1997 to more than 2.7 percent in 2006. Gross Value Added (GVA) of the industry as a percentage of GDP has increased from 0.8 in 2000 to 1.8 in 2006. Direct employment by Indian telecoms stood at 432,771 in 2006 with government companies employing the bulk of approximately 85 percent of the total. This share is falling with private sector employment increasing by 11 percent annually as well as new employment opportunities being generated through network deployment.

The telecom sector with 106 services in the tax net has had a lion’s share in the service tax revenue and still contributes the largest share of service tax to the exchequer, with contributions of Rs 5186 crores in 2006. It is estimated that a one percent growth in the number of telephone subscribers will lead to an exponential growth of close to two percent in its contribution to the service tax revenue collected by the government. To achieve the target of 650 million subscribers by 2012 inclusive economic growth that leads to a knowledge economy and uplifts living standards, focus on rural markets is imperative.

However as mentioned earlier realising the target is not easy. Transparent and supportive policy environment, better management of spectrum, innovative methods to address infrastructure issues and support and incentives to drive the rural telecom emerge as the challenges that needs to be addressed.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO ADDRESS THESE CHALLENGES

1. Supportive Policy Environment

Improved coordination amongst different government agencies help in creative conducive environment for the sector. Cost of delay of decisions can impact a direct cost Rs 16.81 crores per day on the Indian economy an indirect cost could be substantial as telecom sectors of major export earners such as IT, IT Enabled Sarvices (ITeS), etc. Government has ov

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Nanditha Krishna is a Senior Research Analyst with Frost & Sullivan Japanese Markets team. She tracks emerging technologies and delivering strategies to companies to achieve their business goals and objectives. decided to permit auctioning of 3G spectrum and has said it would give away 3 licenses. As evident from Norwegian and other European countries experiences, Department of Telecommunications (DOT) should recognise that market structure is more important than informational issues on which auctions are based. 3G spectrum should be categorised into different sizes as license can be valued differently.

License “A” can contain 2.15 MHZ paired spectrum with 5 MHZ unpaired. Other combinations of paired & unpaired spectrum for different groups should be targeted. Moreover, simultaneous ascending auction (with no undue favor for WiFi or other technologies) must be pursued to ensure the allocations are smooth and roll outs are faster. From a rural telephony perspective, allowing ‘roaming’ which ensure a new entrant has access to incumbent 2G network is very important.

The current method of spectrum allocation is based purely on the criteria of customer base. A new hybrid model has been suggested where in a combination of comparative selection and auctioning would be used to enable a fair and transparent allocation policy. This would also aid in determining the price of the spectrum which has been under priced according to international prices. In addition, the current licensing policy bundles licensing with spectrum prices- a factor that forces an operator to pay for a spectrum that he might not use to provide services. Therefore it would be better for the regulator to be technology neutral and de-link the spectrum from the license.

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The de-linking of spectrum and license is essential as the operator who obtains a license might not need it at all. The shortage of spectrum forces operators to increase their cost between 25-50% depending on the amount of spectrum required and the existing customer base. This could transform into tariffs for subscribers. Therefore it is imperative that the spectrum allocation is performed efficiently. One way of S.NO. ISSUES Distorted spectrum 1 allocation procedures

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS Comparative selection for incumbents/large players and auctions for small/new players

2

High CAPEX for operators Promote infrastructure sharing due to limited spectrum and consider spectrum sharing

3

High license fee with large De-linking spectrum from the USO fund component. license. Reduce the share of AGR paid by operators towards the USO fund

4

High spectrum charge

Relaxation of additional spectrum allocation charges and subscriber base norms for new/small players in limited coverage areas.

dealing with spectrum efficiency is to add more subscribers under the spectrum band using new emerging technologies like micro or Pico cellular networks. Strategic Spectrum review needs to be initiated. A hybrid model of comparative selection and auctioning ensures all players to compete on a level playing field. The comparative selection could be used exclusively for Tier I players where the criteria for selection could be based on; a) rural coverage area, b) Quality of Service and c) Customer base. Moreover, commercial spectrum (not the defense spectrum or other government spectrum) should be managed by TRAI. The recent media spat between government and TRAI is not very healthy for the growth of the sector. In order to reach the required target of 650 million subscribers by 2012, more coordination is required between government and TRAI. 2. Taxation

The contribution of operator by way of taxes stands between 19% and 28%, one of the highest compared to the neighbouring countries. Government should address two areas immediately; one is to consider a uniform revenue share license fee at a nominal level for all telecom circles. It should also do away with the multiple levies imposed on the sector and introduce a single levy instead. Implementing these suggestions will reduce the administrative burden on the

sector and the government as well as ensure transparency.

Operators in turn will pass the benefits of reduced levies to the customers which will help in hitting our 650 million target by 2012.

The government may provide tax subsidies for operators whose coverage in rural areas is high. The contribution to USO Fund which forms nearly 5% has accumulated to an excess of 85% after disbursement, Rs.9917.54 crores.

The disbursement could have been covered even if the contribution was only 2% of the AGR. Malaysia which has one of the highest penetration rates has set its tax levels at 6.5%. Similarly Pakistan which has a high penetration rate of 45% has tax rates around 3%. This indicates that India should reduce taxes levied on operators thereby contributing to further reduction of tariff prices especially for rural subscribers.

As far as the subscribers are concerned, the service tax has a direct implication of 12.36% on tariff. The reduction in service tax to 8% could help in reducing tariffs to Rs 3688 from Rs.4020 per subscriber annually.

3. Improving Telecom infrastructure

Current infrastructure is not adequate to meet the needs of nearly additional 400 million subscribers. The state of wireless technology is slightly better with 110,000 mobile base stations in place. However, there is a need of about 100,000 towers in place to achieve the set target of subscribers. It would be prudent of operators to make use of the infrastructure sharing policy that has been recently introduced. More and more operators should resort to infrastructure sharing to enable mobile penetration. Telecom service providers buy and sell (fiber) capacity of each others network, referred to as Indefeasible Rights to Use (IRU). It is an agreement whereby one party (user) obtains the rights to use specified network facilities and/or fiber of another partner (grantor) on lease. Applying Indian GAPP or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), is not straight forward for passive infrastructure sharing such as towers, etc. Industry needs clarifications whether such IRU arrangements shall be allowed as lease and hence appropriate arrangements under IFRS such as IAS-17 or IFRIC -3 determine the case. Leasing helps telecom service providers manage growth, and provide investment option to acquire and maintain latest equipment. If not a lease, it has to be ascertained whether the arrangements constitutes sale of goods or delivery of services. The accounting consequences for lease, sale of goods and service rendering are quite different and impact the growth of passive infrastructure.

Government needs to spell out appropriate mechanism to drive passive infrastructure sharing and growth.

India

Pakistan

Nepal

Sri Lanka

Malaysia

China

Teledensity

21.85%

45%

6%

30%

85%

32%

Total Regulatory Charges

19~28%+GST

2.5%+GST+

2%+VAT+

1.3% t.o.+1%

6.5%

0.5%+3%

Cost recovery

Cost recovery

inv+VAT

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Fixed to mobile substitution and convergence models are the best suited to current needs of subscribers. Advanced Wireless Services may be a good option to provide telecom services as it enables voice, video and data through one connection. These services are seen to help the operators in recovering their ARPUs. However the success of these services lies in the development of a strong VAS market. Regional content and key applications are also necessary for AWS to be accepted.

Currently BSNL and MTNL combined have in excess of 37,000 towers across India, 80% of which are within B & C circles. With infrastructure sharing the investment to roll out rural telecom infrastructure would be lower and it will also increase the competitive efficiency of rural markets by bringing in private operators to access rural areas and hence assist government in hitting the 650 million number much before its proposed date of 2012. To support a 500 million subscriber base by 2010, we will require about 330,000 towers.

Today this number stands at 130,000. Sharing of resources would also allow private service providers to extend rural telecom under the Bharat Nirma Yojana. The government could further facilitate this by reducing the USO fund levy for operators who wish to share infrastructure in the rural areas. Another incentive that the government could provide is to reduce the tax and levies in the rural areas both for the operator as well as the consumer.

The impact of 12% service tax is directly faced by the customer. Reducing the service tax for telecom services would enable easy adoption of these services especially in the rural markets.

It is not the only the onus of the regulator but also that of the operator to approach the situation holistically. The main issues with rural deployment are infrastructure (tower and power), affordability, availability of skilled resources and access devices. The operators may come up with innovative pricing schemes wherein they may bundle their connections with low cost access devices. They can come up with innovative financing options of interest free loans from banks to easy pay zero interest EMIs to facilitate access device penetration, which is a major restraint to the growth of telecom sector.

The second major issue is the tariff plans. The operators could come up with reduced tariff plans. Although this would impact their revenue during the initial years, the growth in volume of traffic would eventually enable them to recover the losses from reduced tariff plans.

The operators in conjunction with the government could set up training schools to impart training to the local residents. This would not only improve the local skill set but also spread awareness of the telecom services available.

Speaking of awareness, the telecom services may be linked to people’s livelihood thereby adding value to rural lifestyle and revenue.

3. Rural telephony

Regression analysis of rural teledensity and rural income for the same period reveals that a 1 percent increase in rural teledensity increases rural income by 0.2 percent. This impact is significant at 95 percent level of confidence.

Although increasing potential customer base in the rural markets is the objective of the USO fund contribution, the disbursement of the funds have not been performed efficiently.

The unutilized amount last year was estimated to be roughly around Rs.9,917.54 crores. The utilized amount could have been realized at just 2% of the AGR alone. In this context, a better policy would be to reduce the USO contribution based on the coverage of rural areas. As far as the disbursement of USO fund goes, the money from the fund may be allocated to enable subsidies to operators operating in rural areas through reduced pricing schemes.

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January 2008

CONCLUSION

Conquering the rural market is a huge challenge and hence can be considered a significant achievement if successful.

Although this does not seem to be impossible, it is indeed a daunting task. In addition, the time taken to achieve is unknown as it involves a holistic approach from all factions and stakeholders.

However efforts are already on to tap the rural markets from all major players in the industry, but the acceptance by the common man to these technologies is of great concern.

Of course, the presence of technologies would eventually compel a rural user to experiment and eventually adopt them. On this optimistic note, lets hope that the end is sooner than expected..

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egov > INDUSTRY-SPEAK

Need for Comprehensive Security Digvijay Singh Chudasama, Vice President – Sales, Elitecore Technology is also now aggressively targeting the enterprises with its next generation appliances. With the release of CR25i it has also focussed on the SOHO ROBO market.

Digvijay Chudasama has been with Elitecore since 2000. He has contributed immensely towards sales growth and in building a channel partner network for Cyberoam, 24online and other products.

Cyberoam’s solutions have received the 2007 Global Excellence Awards for Integrated Security Appliance and Unified Security. Please tell us about the growth and operations of Cyberoam.

Cyberoam’s growth as a product has covered various milestones that are reflected in Awards like the one mentioned.

In fact, 2007 has been a rewarding year in which Cyberoam also won VAR India Editor’s Choice Award for Best UTM (2007), “Tomorrow’s Technology Today” Award for Unified Security, was granted 5 Star Rating in UTM Review 2007 and listed in 2007 CRN Emerging Tech Vendor List.

There has been tremendous growth rate – over 100%- of Cyberoam since its inception in 2000. Elitecore Technology is expanding its footprints around the globe by taking its product like Cyberoam to the global market. The company has presence in USA, West Asia, Africa, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and more. Elitecore is driving its expansion plans through the creation of a global distribution channel in addition to leveraging its operational efficiencies on account of its low-cost operations based in India. In India, Elitecore has entered into a strategic alliance with Redington for national distribution of its Cyberoam appliances.. The company which has traditionally focused on the SMB market 128 }

How critical is it to secure networks and information, especially for the government which handles sensitive information of citizens?

From the local to the central level, government agencies are entrusted with sensitive information. Corporate enterprises share similar concerns over how best to protect information, yet for government agencies the stakes are perhaps even higher.

The current Internet threat environment is characterised by creation of targeted, malicious code for the purpose of stealing confidential information that can be used for financial gain. The threat to government vertical is ever on the rise with the widespread adoption and dependence on Internet connectivity as e-Governance assumes priority with the government. Moreover, government networks have to continuously deal with a variety of potentially devastating Internet attacks and vulnerabilities such as viruses, spam, malicious code, web defacement, insider abuse and theft of intellectual property. The government network is opening up to provide access to partners, suppliers, customers, officials who can be the potential threat sources. The instances of insider threats are also witnessing significant growth as the internal employees are communicating over multiple protocols and are getting anytime-anywhere access to critical data through DHCP-Wi-Fi environments.

Thus there is a need for comprehensive security such as the Unified Threat Management solution like Cyberoam which not only protects against external attacks but also links user identity to security to instantly identify the attacker and the victim within the network. This is a completely new approach from the traditional network security solutions, as Cyberoam promotes user-centric network security rather than IP address based security. It hardens the internal network against future attacks and audits how sensitive assets are used and by whom.

What solution does Cyberoam offers to governments and enterprises for network security? What are some of the competitive advantages of your network security solutions?

Cyberoam offers a complete range of security features comprising identity-based firewall, VPN, gateway antivirus, gateway anti-spam, intrusion detection and prevention, and

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content filtering, as well as bandwidth management and multiple link management – all over a single platform.

The user is proving to be the weakest link in the security chain today as the Internet attacks today are getting usertargeted. The motive of such targeted attacks is to escape attention of the security vendors, financial theft and to steal confidential information from specific companies - Identity theft. Cyberoam identified the need for making the user identity an integral part of security. Cyberoam is the only UTM that embeds user identity in firewall rule matching criteria. This offers instant visibility and proactive controls over security breaches. It recognises the user anywhere, anytime in the network and offers the user identity – not just IP addresses in its reporting As the next generation UTM solution, Cyberoam ensures high levels of security even in dynamic IP environments like DHCP, Wi-Fi. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES User Identity based security: Linking user identity to security is the key to current security, which Cyberoam delivers. Cyberoam is the only UTM that embeds user identity in firewall rule matching criteria, eliminating IP addresses as intermediate components to identify and control the user. This offers instant visibility and proactive controls over security breaches even in dynamic IP environments.

Easy Policy Configuration: User Identity binds the security features: Firewall-VPN, Anti-virus, Anti-spam, IDP, Content Filtering - to create a single, consolidated Cyberoam security unit enabling the administrator to change security policies dynamically while accounting for user movement- joiner, leaver, rise in hierarchy and more – through easy to configure policies.

No Per User Licensing: Cyberoam is not licensed based on the number of users but on throughput parameters, which saves software-licensing cost. Add to that savings on manpower and post-sales services etc, and the cost advantage is visible.

Lower cost: At operational level Cyberoam low cost operation base in India with its design, engineering, development, support, global distribution and marketing in Ahmedabad, India, enables it to penetrate in price sensitive markets.

What are government requirements in terms of network threat management? Tell us about some of your government sector clients?

As mentioned above, the government network is opening up where the external users like partners, suppliers, delegates, customers are getting access to critical data. Also, the internal users are communicating over multiple protocols which can cause the threat entry in the government network. Moreover, the nature of internet attacks today is getting targeted to attack specific users who have business critical information.

Thus there is a need of comprehensive network security solution which can protect the government organisations Opportunities for Digital India

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January 2008

from all such threats.

Cyberoam has been deployed at the following government sector clients - STPI, ONGC, State Government of Gujarat, DRDO-LASTEC/ISSA/DTRL (Ministry of Defence), Power Finance Corporation (PFC), BHEL, Bharat Electronics Ltd., DGAR (Director General of Assam Rifles),RAPS (Rajasthan Atomic power station), AIIMS, IARI. The Cyberoam benefits to the government organisation include: • Cyberoam is a product of India • Cyberoam extends Trust Mark – thus government does not have to depend upon unreliable Chinese, US & Foreign Products that can open Back Doors.

• Cyberoam helps government save forex drain.

• Cyberoam can curtail Foreign Government Espionage & Sabotage Activities.

• Cyberoam – Gives access to it’s R&D facility for inspection • Cyberoam – Can sign long term commitment towards government security initiatives.

• Cyberoam is the only solution that works on Identity Based Platform that is a must in Sensitive and Confidential Networks of the Government.

• Cyberoam can work closely with Government’s IT departments to develop future ready features for ICT How do you see the e-Governance scenario in India? How can private sector add value to the implementation of the national e-Governance plan of India? e-Governance scenario is on an upward growth trend undoubtedly. Broadly defined a form of e-Business in governance comprising of processes and structures involved in deliverance of electronic services to the public, viz. citizens.

Various initiatives like e-Governance in the Offices of Director General for Foreign Trade, e-Panchayat which provides hardware and software solutions for government departments, Computer-aided Administration of Registration Department (CARD), etc. are indicators that with e-Governance the day is not far when all transactions with government can be done through one counter without having to wait in queues.

As a security company we believe that for e-Governance to succeed there is a need to integrate systems, share information intelligently and organise better defence against blended threats, reduce management and cost requirements and automate. In these terms we can add value to the e- Governance projects by providing an up-to-date security solution and staying one step ahead from the evolving threats.

What are some of your future plans to expand your market further in India?

Cyberoam plans to further expand its partner network across India, to expand its reach in class B and class C cities.

Also, Cyberoam continuously upgrades its product range to enhance the technical offering and provide comprehensive up-to-date Internet security to its customers.

www.eINDIA2008.net.in

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NAGALAND

egov > STATE-SPEAK

We Involve the Local Community Abhishek Singh, IT Secretary, Nagaland

http://nagaland.nic.in/

Abhishek Singh is Secretary to Governor & Secretary Information Technology, Technical Education, Government of Nagaland.

What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

Nagaland has initiated various projects under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). State Wide Area Network (SWAN) Request for Participation (RFP) is being finalised and is expected to be launched in December 2007. State has decided to integrate Community Information Centers (CICs) existing at block level with the Common Service Centers (CSCs) project. A host of Citizen services are being planned to be offered through the CICs and CSCs. With SWAN and CSC projects coming on, we are also planning State Data Center (SDC). In 2008 one district will be taken up as e-District.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

Frankly speaking we are amongst the laggards as far as e-Readiness is concerned. National e-Readiness Report also puts Nagaland amongst one of the least achievers. One major reason for this condition is lack of trained manpower and IT companies, who can provide leadership to e-Gov projects.

What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance project running in your state?

130 }

The State plans to implement most e-Gov projects on a PPP basis. There is huge opportunity for Private Sector IT companies to get involved in projects like SWAN, CSC, e-Modop, SDC, e-District etc. Companies will have to be innovative as number of transactions expected are lower compared to that in bigger States as our population base is low. But higher paying capacity of the people compensates for this.

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

Nagaland is a pioneer not exactly in PPP but in Public –Community Partnership. We have implemented Communitisation Policy which aims at delivering public services like education, health, power, water supply etc.

Community and People desire Private Partnership in Public services and success of Communitisation policy reflects the opportunity that exists for PPP projects.

What are the services that are being delivered / planned to be delivered through Common Service Centres (CSCs)? What are the steps being taken for a better user experience (e.g. localisation, etc.)?

Our Community Information Centers are the first phase for the Common Service Centers. We plan to offer services like disbursal of caste certificates, income certificates, birth and

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death certificates, payment of utility bills like power, telephone, water supply, passport forms submission, information on government schemes of all departments, public distribution System, NREGA registration through CSCs. We are also exploring the possibility of having a payment gateway that will help offer more financial services like insurance, share trading, ticket bookings etc through CSCs. Please share with us on the capacity building programmes being planned / implemented in your state.

We have trained our CIC operators who are at 52 block heaquarters. We further plan to build capacities of all government departments which have public interface to implement e-Gov projects. We also plan change management trainings to ensure change of mindsets. There are also plans to train college students in order to equip them with skills suited for employment in IT, ITeS and BPO Industry.

What are the evaluation and monitoring techniques you are adopting to monitor the progress and to assess whether the proposed benefits are being delivered to the citizens?

While preparing the e-Governance Road Map of the State, we have done stakeholder analysis to assess the needs of People and government departments with regard to need of e-Gov projects. This gave us the base lines and expected levels of performance expected for various critical parameters.

Most of these are being defined into specific Service Level Agreements that are part of our PPP projects. Over and above this we plan to undertake third party audit and evaluation of our projects to ensure the desired levels of service delivery is met.

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance projects?

We are in the process of initiating key e-Gov projects and once the projects are executed and sustained, then only it will be fair to talk about achievements.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects? How are they being overcome? ov

January 2008

Department of Information Technology, Government of Nagaland Recognising the enormous potential of IT, major initiatives are being planned by Government of India and several state governments. It is the intention of the Government of Nagaland to consolidate its efforts and to focus its energies to leverage the potential of IT for the benefit of its people.

The IT Policy of Nagaland: Providing tax and other incentives in conformity with • the State Industrial Policy and quality infrastructure to position the State as an attractive location for development and growth of information technology industry. Creation of a statewide Network with a Central Control Center to spread the reach of IT in the State.

Creating facilities for Electronic and Video communication • in all district head quarters with special emphasis on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOiP) in all sub divisional head quarters for effective communication.

Developing human resource with IT competence with • special focus on rural areas.

Adequate Computer training facilities will be established • for all government employees.

Computer training to be imparted progressively in all • educational and vocational institutions.

Creating a functional IT driven system of governance • with vertical and horizontal computerization in all State Government Departments.

Source: http://nagaland.nic.in/new_policy/itpolicy.htm

The biggest challenge that we face is lack of trained manpower and the difficult hilly topography that our State has. We are prone to landslides and even basic communication is a problem due to frequent landslides and heavy rains. Only one district of our State is connected with air and rail, and hence the cost of getting trained manpower from outside is high.

Another challenge is that low population means less number of transactions and hence private companies do not show interest as they are mainly interested in their profit margins. In fact, the best way forward for IT and e-Governance projects in North-East will be to have some system of Universal Service Obligation for all IT companies who have benefited through fiscal and policy concessions given by Government of India in the last 15 years. IT companies should be made to have some operations outside the traditional States of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu etc.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

My main focus is going to be take the key NeGP Projects and execute them as also to formulate some applications which are web enabled and helps the citizens in accessing the government in an easier and transparent manner. We have to have G2C, G2G and B2C services running more meaningful government.

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egov > INDUSTRY-SPEAK

Improving Work Processes, Impacting Productivity Princy Bhatnagar, Director, Xerox India to printing, black & white to colour and stand-alone analog to digital, networked products.

Xerox today provides products and solutions in various areas spanning from digital printing targeted at commercial printers to Office products for SMBs and large enterprises and document outsourcing process services to vertical segments such as BFSI, pharma etc.

Princy Bhatnagar, as Director of Xerox’s Office Group of Xerox India Limited, is responsible for the implementation of Xerox’s Office products, solutions and services strategies in India.

What is the vision and goal of Xerox India?

Xerox India Limited’s strategic intent is to become the leader in the document market in India by helping improve customer work processes and positively impacting productivity and costs. In other words ‘helping people find better ways to do great work’.

Please tell us about the growth of your company since its inception in ushering in world’s best document processing products.

Xerox forayed into India in the year 1983 at a time when the photocopying industry was at its nascent stage. Over the past 20 years, Xerox India has shaped the document management industry in the country by bringing the world’s best document processing products and bringing in innovative value-added concepts to provide the consumer with better options with respect to their needs and requirements.

Xerox India Limited has successfully transitioned three major movements in India since its inception, from copying 132 }

Xerox India has shaped the document management industry in India. How do you see the document management market in India?

1 in 5 workers spend at least 60% of their time dealing with documents. Up to 30% of the identified document output expenditure within an organisation could be saved by passing control to a document expert (According to Gartner).

Document management is fast becoming an important aspect of every business with businesses realising its benefits.

This is a huge opportunity and Xerox with its cutting edge solutions aims to reduce the hidden costs by as much as 40%.

Document management is a relatively new concept in India and there is a need for creating awareness about the advantages of document management solutions and processes. In India, people are still to realise that 3% of their revenue is spent in order to save documents and data.

Xerox’s Document Management Services provides a onepoint contact for people to save on their documents and guarantee cost cutting by a huge amount. Slowly but steadily, document management scenario is catching up with the Indian companies because they to have realised the need to save documents.

What are some of the Xerox India’s products for document management and processing?

Xerox has a specialised division to deal with the document management needs of the industry. Xerox Global Services has a fully integrated portfolio of services for the enterprise, from office to operations to IT services and print production support.

Xerox’s Smarter Document Management Technology suite is based on recognised and established Xerox technologies and processes aimed at making paper and digital documents accessible and intelligent. Document management and processing is a part of Xerox global services, which offers the following services: • Business Process Services: 1. Imaging and Archive Services: This includes capturing, converting and managing the images.

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2.

Content Management Services 1. Repository and Workflow 2. Consultation 3. Document Process Outsourcing Services: This includes Client Account Lifecycle, Finance and Administration, Records Management, Product Lifecycle Services.

4. Industry-Specific Offerings: Engineering Drawing Management.

• Xerox Office Services: It is a suite of services for managing document output and infrastructure assets to help organisations deliver measurable efficiencies, reduce costs and improve productivity.

• Document Outsourcing and Communication Services (DOCS): DOCS is a full range of consulting and managed services aimed at optimising costs from document design and composition to production and distribution. The service line was launched in October 2006 and targets BFSI, manufacturing, retail and advertising agencies in India.

What are the government sector requirements in the field of document management, in view of the fact that it is implementing e-Governance in India in a big way? How are you catering to their needs?

Xerox can help the government to enable business process confirmation, as well as provides efficient print and storage solution and software solutions for converting paper to online documents.

Please tell us about research and development (R&D) activities of your company for ensuring innovative products and services as per the client’s requirements.

R&D is an ongoing process and like all other printing vendors, Xerox also has a significant focus on R&D to bring new and more cost efficient technologies for its customers.

We are working towards defining new ways to conduct work through documents, and we are defining entirely new forms of ‘the document.’ One way to look at the mission of Xerox R&D is that we are continually: • Reinventing our machines and our systems, • Re-thinking how people work, • Redefining the document.

Some of the interesting innovations of Xerox: MicroText Specialty Imaging Font: • Xerox scientists at Rochester have developed the new MicroText Specialty Imaging Font in 2006, the font which is just 1/100th of an inch high, is designed to help make valuable documents with personal information such as birth certificates, personal identification papers, and checks even harder to forge.

Erasable paper: • Xerox scientists have invented a way to make prints whose images last for only a day, so that the paper can be used again and again.

• The technology, which is still in its nascent stage of development, blurs the line between paper documents and digital displays and could ultimately lead to a significant reduction in paper use. ov

January 2008

Colour language: Xerox scientists are developing a new technology that will make adjusting colours in a document as easy as simply describing the colour. Users can type ‘make the sky a deeper blue’ or give a voice command ‘make the background carnation pink’ and the software will do the work. The invention, still in the research stage, creates ‘colour language’ by translating human descriptions of colour into the precise numerical codes that machines use to print colour documents.

Xerox has recently launched two colour multi-functional products for A4 segment. What is the ‘colour opportunity’ in India in terms of improving work processes for small and mid-sized businesses?

Xerox India currently offers laser technology based solutions for SOHO (small offices and home users), SMB (small and medium businesses), corporate and large enterprise customers. One of the customer segments we do not have a product offering is the consumer multi-functional devicesMFDs (based on the inkjet technology). Xerox has always focused on low total cost of ownership solutions across its range of MFDs. Xerox India recently forayed into the A4 MFD space with the launch of the Xerox Phaser 6110 MFP and Xerox Phaser 6115 MFP. It will be focussing on establishing a strong presence in A4 colour multifunctional segment with the launch of these two colour MFDs. ‘Colour’ is expected to grow to 1/3 rd of the total printing market in India by the end of this year. ‘Colour’ is fast becoming the preferred solution for SMBs. Keeping this in mind, Xerox India has launched the new range of A4 colour laser printers, the Xerox Phaser 6180 and Xerox Phaser 6360, especially designed to suit the requirements of the SMB customers.

Xerox has a formidable technology; ‘Solid ink’ technology for colour laser printers. The network A4 printers running on ‘Solid Ink technology’ offer extremely low running cost as compared to other standard laser technologies. A Xerox Solid Ink Network Laser printer customer saves more than 50% on TCO in just one year period as compared to a standard colour laser printer customer and over a period of three years, his savings can go up to 500%. The Solid Ink printers offer high ROI and are also environment friendly.

Xerox also provides consulting services to identify the opportunity for performance improvement. Are you providing such services to the government? What are your plans to involve them?

Yes, we do provide consulting services to identify the opportunity for performance improvement.

We provide solutions to government owned insurance companies and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). However, we have not effectively engaged with the government through e-Governance initiatives.

What are some of your future plans to expand your market further?

We will be focussing on the transition from copying to printing, black and white to colour and stand-alone analog to digital, networked products.

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RAJASTHAN

egov > STATE-SPEAK

Moving Steady on the Path of e-Governance

http://www.rajasthan.gov.in/Rajasthan1024.asp

C K Mathew, Principle Secretary, IT, Government of Rajasthan majors like Infosys, Wipro and Genpact have already invested in the State in the special economic zone (SEZs) should be adequate confirmation of this fact. Our recently launched IT Policy is another step forward in making the state e-Ready.

What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance projects running in your state?

The state government has launched a new IT and ITES policy 2007. One of the three main chapters of the policy, deals with providing a conducive atmosphere for private sector.

The details are available at www.rajasthan.gov.in/ITPOLICY The policy provides specific incentives and relief to the investor in the form of cost of the land, stamp duty concessions, exemption from various provisions of labour laws, subsidies for staff wages, advantages to the first mover and so forth. A long-standing demand for making industrial tariff for power applicable for IT sector, instead of commercial category tariff, has been conceded. We are confident that these facilities shall create an atmosphere that will encourage the investor to take a closer look at Rajasthan as he makes his investment decisions.

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

The e-Mitra citizen centric project, which recently won an award from the Government of India is a flagship programme of the department. This project delivers a basket of services including the facility for payment of bills, ticketing, copies of records etc., at around 700 computer kiosks spready thoughout the state.

What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

The two main projects being implemented in the state are the state wide area network (SWAN) and the common service centres (CSC) projects. The request for proposal (RFP) for SWAN is to be shortly floated. The bids for the CSC have been received and are in the process of finalisation.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

There has been a steady progress in the assessment of the state insofar as e-Readiness is concerned. There is a movement upwards in the 2005 report of the Government of India as compared with the 2004 report. We hope to go further upwards in the 2006 which is now expected. The fact that IT 134 }

What are the services that are being delivered / planned to be delivered through Common Service Centres (CSCs)?

What are the steps being taken for a better user experience (e.g. localisation, etc.)?

The experience we have already gained from the e-Mitra project should stand us in good stead in the CSC, which is really an extension of the same concept. In Rajasthan we have taken a decision to allot these village kiosks only to women entrepreneurs. The scheme itself provides for taking into consideration the local flavour of the needs of the populace there. We shall be taking all the steps to see that all local aspirations from the project are adequately addressed.

Please share with us on the capacity building programmes being planned / implemented in your state.

For government employees: We have recently signed

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the objectives of the projects are actually achieved.

memorandum of understanding with some IT training partners such as Compucom, REIL, Tally etc. to carrying out training programmes for government employees not only at Jaipur, but in District Headquarters. The District Computer Training Centres at each district headquarter shall be utilised for this purpose. We also have a state-of-the-art training facility at Secretariat for officers posted here. Further, the Department of Information Technology also has a separate training campus at Jaipur for departmental training.

For others: We have entered into agreements with IT companies like Genpact and Infosys for training of college students in their second or third year of graduation. This is most essential for a state like Rajasthan so that the talent of our youth are developed so as to make them employable in the IT/ITenabled services sector. Financial incentives will also be provided for training institutions, provided they are able to place the trained youth in jobs in the state. In addition, we are in the process of setting up a Rajasthan Knowledge Corporation, which has the primary responsibility of skill development of our youth on a large skill so that employment in the sector becomes a reality for them staring from the coming year.

What are the evaluation and monitoring techniques that you are adopting to monitor the progress and to assess whether the proposed benefits are being delivered to the citizens?

There is a four-tier structure for monitoring and supervising the IT projects. At the top is a council chaired by the Chief Minister herself. At the second level is a committee chaired by the Chief Secretary who also reviews the various IT projects in the State in the departmental reviews at his level. There are also two committees, one at the level of the Principal Secretary of the IT Department and the other at the level of the concerned Secretary of each Department where the projects are being implemented. The main purpose of all these Committees is to oversee the implementation of the projects and to ensure that ov

January 2008

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance projects?

Various projects have been undertaken and successful such as e-Mitra, Chief Minister’s Information System – CMIS, Common Service Centers, Swasthya Mitra: Telemedicine, ‘Aarakshi’ – e-FIR application, Registration and Stamps Department project (SAARTHI) Land records computerisation, A Right to Information (RTI) Portal is being developed and the VAT-IT project is being implemented.

To achieve the goal of complete e-Governance in the State, various Departments have been taken up for backend computerization. e-Procurement, Vikas Darpan, Preparation of e-Governance Roadmap, Computerisation of courts, Litigation Information, Tracking and Evaluation System (LITES), IT enabling of municipal bodies are some of the other achievements.

A lot of work has also been done for the creation of the IT infrastructure. Wi-Fi City, Video Conferencing Network, Secretariat Networking (SecLAN), State Data Centre (SDC), Mobile V-SAT vans, Rajasthan State Wide Area Network, e-District, Human Resource Development, Capacity Building in Government Domain and Bio-informatics Center.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects? How are they being overcome?

The main challenge isbusiness re-engineering processes so that the very way by which government work is transacted is transformed. This requires much tenacity and determination and perhaps even getting rid of some vested interests. Some departments have been identified and are working in this direction.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

The implementation of the IT policy shall be the main focus of the Department of IT in the State. It is also necessary that we work with the Departments of Higher Education and Technical Education to ensure that our young men and women are adequately trained and their skills upgraded so as to make them employable in the IT/ITES sector: this is indeed the single most important agenda that that we have to address.

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SIKKIM

egov > STATE-SPEAK

Touching the Lives of Citizens

http://sikkim.gov.in/

MG Kiran, Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Sikkim an indication that the Food and Civil Supplies Project will be funded by World Bank. Detailed Project Reports for Animal Husbandry, Transport and Urban Development are under preparation and will be soon sent to Ministry of IT, Government of India for funding.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

Sikkim has been ranked first amongst the North Eastern States in the e-Readiness assessment report of the Government of India for taking various IT initiatives. For the best use of IT in the State we have been conferred with various awards.

The IT Policy of Sikkim focuses on empowering citizens and making life easier for them by harnessing e-Governance.

It also aims at facilitating income and employment generation in private sector and improving productivity in government departments through computerisation.

What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance project running in your state? e-Governance in the state offers immense opportunity for the private IT sector. Once we start delivery of various e-Governance services in the state, kiosk owner can charge the users for providing these citizen centric services. For instance, the kiosk owner can charge users for downloading various forms.

What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Projects (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

The State Government has adopted a very pro-active approach in implementing the state Mission Mode Projects under NeGP. The Line Departments and various stakeholders are intimately involved during Detailed Project Report preparation exercise so that there is a sense of ownership for the project. It will help avoid a situation of - “It’s their system, they designed it, let them run it” The Computerisation of the Land records which constitutes one of the Mission Mode Projects has already been completed.

Work on property registration is under way. The capacity building Road Map and its Detailed Project Report have been submitted to the Government of India for funding. Meanwhile the Detailed Project Report for Tourism, Health and Family Welfare, Food and Civil Supplies, Social Welfare have been submitted to the Government of India for funding. There is 136 }

What are some of the best PPP practices in your state?

Registration of vehicles and driving licenses have been computerised under a PPP model. A local entrepreneur has established his set up in the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and levies a charge for issuing a driving license and vehicle registration certificates. A fraction of this revenue generated ploughs back into the state exchequer.

We strongly believe that the government should steer and more PPP models need to be implemented in the state. All the projects that we have prepared under the MMP have a component of PPP in them. Once these are implemented we will have more PPP success stories.

What are the services that are being delivered/planned to be delivered through Common Service Centres (CSCs)?

What are the steps being taken for a better user experience (e.g. localisation, etc.)?

Through the Common Service Centres, we plan to offer a bouquet of services. These would include issue of various

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certificates like income, employment etc. All content on the portals would be bi-lingual: English and the local language. We are developing audio-visual software so that the illiterate can also reap the benefits of e-Governance.

Speech recognition and synthesis technologies need to be introduced at the centres where the public would be accessing various government services. Icon based software would enable the user to click on a representative picture and get an audio commentary.

Please share with us on the capacity building programmes being planned / implemented in your state.

The Department of Information Technology is running a wide spectrum of capacity building programmes. These range from computer familiarisation courses to career oriented courses in call center and specialisated courses in Information Technology Security, Autocad and Multimedia.

Since 2001, the department of Information of Technology has trained 12,000 persons in the use of computers. However, the main focus of our training programmes are government employees as it is felt that without their knowing how to handle computers all e-Governance projects would come to a naught. Computer familiarisation courses each of 10 days duration (Full Time) are held for government employees throughout the year in our training centers at Gangtok and Namchi.

What are the evaluation and monitoring techniques you are adopting to monitor the progress and to assess whether the proposed benefits are being delivered to the citizens?

State e-Governance Mission Team (SeMT) will be set up very soon which will take care and monitor all the different e-Governance projects in the state.

It will look after the development of the various projects in terms of project management, financial aspects, capacity building and change management altogether.

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance projects? e-Governance has no meaning if it does not touch the lives of the citizens. As mentioned earlier we have successfully implemented the computerisation of land records, driving licences and property registration.

The official portal of the Government of Sikkim, www.sikkim.gov.in is a rich repository of citizen centric information like employment news, tender notices and downloadable forms and has helped to reduce the digital divide.

Through the 45 Community Information Centres (CICs), the citizens in the remotest parts of Sikkim are able to access useful information. ov

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Information Technology Policy for Sikkim The Government of Sikkim has placed Information Technology high on its agenda. The Information Technology Policy has been formulated to put Information Technology on a firm footing in the state. The Department of Information Technology will essentially play the role of an enabler and catalyzing agent.

The IT policy of Sikkim is centered around the following premise and the Mission Statements: • Empowering citizens and making life easier for them through E-Governance.

• Facilitating Income and employment generation in the private sector.

• Improving productivity in the Government Departments through computerization.

• Use of information tools in the administrations to improve governance.

• Making Sikkim a totally computer literate state.

• Reducing the digital divide • Using Information Technology to map the resources of the state.

• Using Information Technology to bring succor to the disabled.

Source: http://www.sirdsikkim.org/draft_it.htm

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects? How are they being overcome?

Lack of funding for implementing our e-Governance project is a major stumbling block. However, we are vigorously pursuing with various donor agencies to fund our DPRs. The non-availability of broadband connectivity is another sticking point but the State Wide Area Network which is slated to be completed by a few months time will resolve this problem. Then there are attitudinal issues like “it has always been done this way – why change?” These are being addressed by organising workshops of the various stakeholders of the e-Governance projects. The idea is to change various government processes so that they become amenable to computerisation and e-Governance.

What is going to be your main focus for the next few years?

The Mission Mode Projects that would be under implementation would have to be monitored closely. A concerted effort would be made to provide more citizen centric services through web-portal, single windows and information kiosks.

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READERS’ CORNER Winners of the Lucky Draw!

We would like to thank our readers for providing overwhelming feedback on ‘egov’- magazine and portal. We value your suggestions and will take appropriate steps to incorporate them.

We are happy to announce the winners of the ‘egov Lucky Draw’, who are being given 1 year free subscription of egov magazine.

The names of the winners are given below.

1. Dr. Susheel Chhabra, Assistant Profesor (IT), Lal Bahadur Institute of Management 2. Anil K Sharma, Superintending Engineer, Central Public Works Department, GoI 3. NSN Murty, Head, Business Development and Alliances, 3i Infotech Ltd. 4. Alok Perti, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of India Congratulations winners! We will be getting in touch with you soon.

- egov Team

Keep it up! I am quite satisfied with this magazine.

Deepak Sood, Business Support Analyst, Intel China Ltd., China The magazine is really wonderful. If possible send try to send these details to all the rural areas. E.Karthikeyan, Assistant Professor, Karpagam Arts and Science College, India Need more packages on daily citizen government interfaces.

Narayana Reddy, Extension Officer (PR&RD), AP Government, India Very Refreshing! However, more rural focus is required.

Dr. H.S.Bajwa, Senior Extension Specialist, Agriculture University, India The mazgazine has improved gradually from its inception and has come out to a very good format now.

Dr Rajendraa Pal, Reader, CEI, NCERT, New Delhi This magazine has been the pioneer of its kind. So, it needs to maintain its qualitative aspects as the first importance. Some user friendly examples of e-Government initiatives in different public sector may be incorporated.

Jahid Hossain Panir, Deputy Director, Bangladesh Administration Training Centre, Bangladesh

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The overall content of this magazine is excellent.

Kemal Bajramovic, Head of IT Group, Civil Service Agency of Bosnia and Hargegovina

Wasantha Deshapriya, Director, Re-Gov, ICTA, Sri Lanka

It is very relevant to developing contexts and a great professional resource.

Tracey Naughton, Country Director, Pact Mangolia, Mangolia

The contents have improved extensively. The new content/ services available through various e-gov websites of various governments would be of interest to the readers.

P K Garg, Wireless Adviser to the GoI, Dept. of IT, India

It has been providing good content consistently hence the interest to read every new edition has not gone down.

NSN Murty, Head - Busienss Development & Alliances, 3i Infotech Ltd., India

It is evolving into an informed reading and reference material on the e-gov happenings around the world.

Ramgopal Pamidimukkala, Partner, Byrraju Foundation, India

Overall contents of the magazine are good. More space may be given to case studies of actual implementation of e-governance project in government offices howsoever small they may be.

A small column indicating usefulness of computers for day-to-day in administrative problems can be started in which practical solutions devised by the readers may also be given. A small quiz type feature may also be added.

R.N.Dandekar, Chief Engineer (CDO), CPWD, India

A very well presented magazine with relevant content on up-to-date areas of interest.

Uttam C. Laisram, Director (S&T and I.T.), GoI

I read the online version of this magazine. It is a very good effort.

Mahesh C Verma, Director, IT Linguistics Institute, Luxembourg To my opinion, the magazine has very timely coverage and easy style of dissemination.

My suggestion to this magazine is to have holistic cover of the e-Gov initiatives of various States across the country. Target the youth of the country and make them aware of the e-Gov potential by introducing the e-Gov subject into their course curriculum both for B.Tech/ B.E(IT,CSE,ECE,EEE,Mech) ,MCA, and MBA Courses and target several articles and papers for this cross section of the audience.

Dr.V.Prithviraj, Professor and Vice Principal, Pondicherry Engineering College It has become the major publication on regional e-gov developments, trends and concepts.

It has a very current approach to regional situation. Since I receive the hardcopy regularly, I rarely visit the site. From my little experience it is a good site providing all relevant info electronically ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE

Very Good! I would like to have a dedicated section on PPP. Excellent effort, keeps it sustaining.

S S Duggal, Technical Director, National Informatics Centre, Government of India Excellent effort! I like the editorial, application feature, case studies the most. Additional section on rural e-Governance, Security Solutions, Network Solutions, Storage and Servers would be welcomed. May have some funny features also related to IT such as cartoon etc.

J.P.Pandey, Project Manager, TCIL, India It is very nice international magazine. I gave interview to the magazine about the e-Governance in Estonia in 2005, after that I am systematically reading the magazine and I think it is very interesting and useful for e-government experts in all around the world. Continue with the good job!

Monika Lekic, Project Manager, e-Governance Academy, Estonia It has come a long way to become one of the respected magazines in this rapildy changing field of e-Government - will soon become a must read magazine for anyone involved in e-Government and who wants to stay current in this area. Coverage on emerging good practices in e-Government applications with clear evidence and analysis; what has worked and what has not worked; in and underlying reasons, current thinking from the world’s leading e-Government www.egovonline.net

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READERS’ CORNER

experts; covering both operational and policy areas; changing roles of public and private sector in the provision of e-Government services; sustainability of e-Government programs; Impact of e-Gov programs and its methodology could also be helpful for the readers.

S. Jankiram, Champion, World Bank A good focused magazine, providing lot of value addition for decision makers in e-gov space Subhash Patil, System Manager, Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation, Mumbai As I am viewing only online copies, the concept is very good, and is growing day by day by opening more areas to it.

Wish egov very good circulation and a very happy new year!

Career counseling / more options and details about IT industry, detailed reports and success stories of different individuals to motivate coming generation would be very useful.

Sghalini Luthra, Front Desk Executive, Ahloeon International School, India It has grown to become a informative magazine for egov people.

It gives a snapshot of egov events, issues and developments even though most information is India based.

Magazine is a good source of information on mainly Indian e-gov although thematic issues do embrace others. But as a magazine it is more vendors driven in tone and style. I would like to see some critical essays on e-gov. You have some occasionally but it isn’t a regular feature Hazman Shah Abdullah, Professor, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia egov is improving every year.

Would like to know about new projects awarded by the government every month.

Alok Gupta, Managing Director, Samtech Infotech Ltd., India It is a good endeavour. It must include feedback from rural areas.

N. K. Chhibber, Secretary General, Pacific Telephone Council India Foundation I am reading the online version of this magazine and is a fantastic effort to provide information sharing platform between e- Governance stake holders of our country.

Prof Ashok R Patel, Director of Computer Department, Ph.D. (E-governance), North ov

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Gujarat University, India It needs improvement like focusing on benchmarking and local governance. Technical training or information to develop the lowly paid government employees.

Accomplishments are good but will not help develop the personal technical and management skills of government employees.

Give technical and management training information to develop government employee’s capability Edward C. Larubis, Provincial Assessor, Philippines Reading this magazine for last 2 years and I must say that it has been filling a much felt void.

Ram K Goel, Vice President, Infostep, India The magazine has developed into a good reading source for understanding the subject.

G. S. Krishnan, Director – IT, National Productivity Council, India The magazine covers all aspects of e-Governance with valuable information which gives an in-depth view of the topic and is really helpful for the society and the decision makers of our society. I believe egov is providing information in a very interactive way and one just has to pick either the online or print version of the journal. The website is also very interactive and user friendly. Keep it up!

Qamar Raza, Senior Executive, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi It is an excellent and the only monthly magazine on eGovernance which touches all facets of ICT developments across the country and outer world. During the past three years I have seen tremendous improvements in the in the design and layout of the magazine with enrichment of its contents. In a nutshell, it can be said that we all are proud of your eGov monthly magazine. Please dedicate some regular columns on each issue of eGov monthly on state wise ICT development and e-Governance. It will be better to collaborate with each NIC State correspondent ‘’Informatics’’ for these columns. This way readers in each state will show more interest on their own issues that has come in your high esteemed ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE

‘eGov’. Keep it up!

Nirmal Kishor Prasad, Principal Systems Analyst (Scientist-D), NIC, Bihar, India I am observing egov magazine for the last 3 years and I must say that it has evolved from yet another publication to a valuable periodical giving a wealth of information on e-Governance projects, and technology platforms for e-Governance. I rate the magazine as one of the best because the interviews with policy makers in the Government and eminent e-Gov champions are providing insights and authentic source of information on the e-Governance scenario at the national and international level. My suggestion for egov is to add Special Features focusing on a particular state in every issue giving its successes as well as failures in its implementation of e- Governance.

Dr.V.S.R.Krishnaiah, Senior Technical Director, NIC, Delhi It is a good magazine that helps one to keep abreast with happenings in the area of e-governance in government.

Alok Perti, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defense, GoI It is an excellent experience going through the sections. It has wide coverage and a right mix of articles - from Defence to Panchayats. Make available presentations of experts so that knowledge may be shared, accessed and researched.

Amit Mazumder, Scientist-D (Principal Systems Analyst), NIC, West Bengal, India, amit@wb.nic.in I think it is the best among all the available e-Governance magazines B. P. Mishra, Scientist-D, NIC, India The magazine has contributed significantly to enhance e-governance.

Dr. Susheel Chhabra, Assistant Professor (IT), Lal Bahadur Institute of Management, India egov magazine has been serving its dedicated readers very usefully.

This was really the case when it started 3 years back. Now there are few more magazines in the horizon dealing with almost the same subject with varied focus. So, perpetual evolution has to be a parameter for your magazine to stay as different 139

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READERS’ CORNER from others. This has to be exercised regularly (and quietly) through a permanent internal institutional procedure. Additional sections that can be introduced are on PPP, mGovernance; Case studies on GPR and legal changes in the government domain to facilitate egov readers.

Ashis Sanyal, Senior Director, DIT, GoI

additional sections like rural e-Governance and security solutions which are emerging faster in the days to come.

Chandra Mohan Panda, Scientist- D, NIC, India

The magazine is doing an excellent work.

Ajay Gupta, Manager (IT Applications), Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd (DIMTS).

It gives lots of information in one magazine. I just can’t miss this magazine. I really feel of missing something If I don’t see this magazine. It is really a boost for e-Governance.

Mansoorul Haque, Senior Systems Analyst, Dept. of Road Transport & Highway, India

I feel this magazine is very useful for advancement of ICT and e- Governance. More information should be included for agricultural scientist and farmers for advance agricultural product at International standard and also use of ICT in the field of agriculture.

Ram Taul, Sr. Reprography Officer, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India The magazine has been useful in its first phase. The second phase should make substantial change; otherwise the magazine will be “me- too” type and will be out of focus amongst readers. e-Governance is identical to government computerisation programme- this image should be removed through articles in the magazine. Should plan for the second phase of magazine else it will be losing its significance. Should attract corporate houses to read this magazine A. B. Patki, Senior Director / Sceintist G & Hod, DIT, India Remarkable job! My appreciation for the egov team that has put in lots of efforts for such an excellent publication. Links to the various Indian e-Gov portals / State sites would be appreciated.

Dr. Dhrupad Mathur, Sr. Consultant, NeGP, PMU, DIT, GoI Good effort, and very pertinent.

Alok Bhargava, Executive Director, IL&FS egov magazine is a very comprehensive, well versed magazine covering latest updates of case studies, thematic features and technology features. I appreciate your organization to publish such a valuable magazine to update our knowledge in the field of eGovernance. Thank you very much.

It will be better if you incorporate

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Excellent effort. Keep it up!

Vimal Kumar Varun, Scientist E and CPIO, Dept. of Science and Industrial Research

The magazine is good, should be improved by making it more interactive.

I shall send a few suggestions soon.

Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, CEO, Ekagaon, India I have been reading the online version for only about one year - too early to discuss its evolution process.

Keep up the good job.

Lt Col [retd] K J Singh, Director, Designmate, India The magazine is excellent and is improving over the years. Each issue of the magazine may also cover an Indian state with regard to e-Governance, giving a relative rating of the state in respect of its implementation.

Prof. Zahid H. Khan, Hony. Director, Jamia Millia Islamia University

It is too good to see magazine in my inbox. That’s great.

Ashwani Kumar, FCSA, India For the last two years noticed the magazine coming of age. Could improve with focuses on more social impact!

Balasubramanian D, Manager – IS, French Institute of Pondichery, India In Indian context there is a need of framework around e Gov initiatives. egov provided excellent forum for this. My contribution was accepted a viewpoint but we need to go further than mere viewpoint.

Process consultants can provide more than just a approach.

Praful Gharpure, ITIL-Six Sigma Consultant, TCS, India The magazine does serve the purpose and it gives us lots of perspectives of how technology is transforming the lives of masses.

Ganesh Subramanian, Group Head, E 3 Vidya Private Ltd. India I am getting online copy and find it excellent. Please bring out the e-gov tenders from different stack holders like state and central governments and also that of other APAC countries if possible.

VN Ramalingam, DGM, HCL Infosystems Ltd. India Started reading online copies few months back, the contents are very good. However, it should also cover a feature on unsolved / common problems faced by governmental agencies / departments so that people reading might come out with innovative ideas.

Vijay Damani, Pre-sales Consultant, Ramco Infotech Pvt. Ltd. India

Though the magazine has graduated over the past three years, it has to strive hard to keep it interesting and popular amongst not only the IT professionals but amongst the ordinary literate masses. It needs to cover some common hardware and software related issues as may be relevant to an interested in the subject with a focus on common literate man.

Anil K Sharma, Superintending Engineer, Central Public Works Department, Government of India

Over all it is a very good magazine. Kindly include e-Governance success stories from all organizations, collect important public opinions on each project and publish it.

S. Sreenivasa Rao, Scientist-B, NIC, India

It’s a very good magazine. It can become better to include some impact and performance and maturity model for e-Governance like CMM. More coverage on standards and architecture is solicited.

Dr. K. Subramanian, DDG& IT adviser, CAG, NIC

It is very informative magazine focusing on the developing section of e-Governance locally with international tidbits. Many-many congratulations for completing 3 years of publication.

Partha Sadhak, Assistant Manager, Stock Holding Corporation India Pvt. Ltd., India

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egov > STATE-SPEAK

TAMIL NADU

Infrastructure for e-Governance Service Delivery Firmly in Place Dr C Chandramouli, Secretary, IT, Government of Tamil Nadu What is the approach adopted in implementing the state Mission Mode Project (MMP)? What is the progress of their implementation?

Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) have been prepared for 14 state Mission Mode Projects and have been forwarded to Government of India for sanction of funds. These DPRs are being evaluated and the sanction of funds is expected early.

In the interim period, 6 mission mode projects viz., enhancing e-Services of civil supplies, registration, municipalities and town panchayats, taluk (block) offices, collectorates and transport departments are being rolled out.

How would you rate your state’s progress towards making it an e-Ready state?

The state has been adjudged as a ‘leader’ in terms of e-Readiness. The state has fully laid the foundation for e-Governance by establishment a comprehensive State Wide Area Network (SWAN), a Data Centre and a number of pioneering citizen service applications. These services will be delivered through the Common Service Centres. The tender for award of Common Service Centres is under finalisation and will be awarded by December 2007. Thus, the state continues to be a leader in e-Governance.

What are the business opportunities for the private sector in implementing the various e-Governance projects running in your state?

The Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network (TNSWAN) project has been implemented in the state in Public Private Partnership mode with TCS. Similarly CSC is also implemented on a PPP mode.

What is the status of SWAN and CSC programme in the state?

Tamil Nadu, is probably the only state, which has a comprehensive State Wide Area Network. The tender for Common Service Centres is also under finalisation and will be awarded to private operators soon. A large number of

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citizen centric services are being planned.

Please share with us on the capacity building programmes being planned / implemented in your state.

Comprehensive plans have been made for building capacity in the state of Tamil Nadu. Proposals have been formulated and have been submitted to the government of India for sanction. An exclusive agency - ‘Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency’ has also set up for this purpose. An e-Governance academy is also proposed for carrying out in-service training of government servants.

What are your state’s key achievements in implementing e-Governance projects?

As stated earlier, the TNSWAN and the State Data Centres have already been established. The front end delivery system i.e., the Common Service Centres will also be placed in January 2008. Thus the infrastructure required for delivery of e-Governance service is firmly in place. A large number of innovative and pioneering e-Governance applications have also been developed in the areas such as treasuries, registration, land records, transport, municipalities, agriculture, etc. The detailed project reports for 14 mission mode departments have also been made ready and are ready to be implemented on receipt of funding.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the e-Governance projects? How are they being overcome?

Change management is the fundamental challenge being faced in e-Governance projects.

What is going to be the main focus for next few years?

The state has put in place the necessary infrastructure. It has also developed a large number of innovative applications in e-Governance on the ground.The focus is now on standardisation of these applications and delivery to the citizens on a common platform.

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