egov June 2012

ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON E-governance ` 75 / US $10 / ISSN 0973-161X

Nitin Gadkari National President, Bharatiya Janata Party

June 2012 VOLUME 08 n ISSUE 06 n ISSN 0973-161X

J Satyanarayan IT Secretary, DeitY, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India

Sanjay Malhotra Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Govt. Of Rajasthan Dr Sudhir Krishna Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India

Donald P Wahlang Commissioner and Secretary Information Technology, Communication, Health and Family Welfare, Sports and Youth Affairs, Govt. of Meghalaya

Manjula Prasher Secretary, Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt of India

Solutions for better governance

in the information age

RS Sharma Director General & Mission Director, UIDAI

Ravi S Saxena Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat

Rajendra Kumar Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Delhi

www.egovonline.net 15 - 16 June 2012, Le Méridien, New Delhi

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june 2012 issue 06 n volume 08

President: Dr M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr Ravi Gupta Consulting Editor: Ashis Sanyal

Editorial Team Group Editor: Anoop Verma (editorial@elets.in) governance Manager – Partnerships & Alliances: Manjushree Reddy Senior Correspondent: Rachita Jha Research Assistant: Sunil Kumar education Research Analyst: Sheena Joseph Senior Correspondent: Pragya Gupta Research Assistant: Mansi Bansal Health Product Manager: Divya Chawla Principal Correspondent: Dhirendra Pratap Singh Research Assistant: Shally Makin

Web Development & Information Management Team Sr. Executive Officer - Web: Ishvinder Singh Sr. Executive Officer – Information Management: Gaurav Srivastava Associate Developer: Anil Kumar Information Technology Team Dy. General Manager – IT: Mukesh Sharma Executive-IT Infrastructure: Zuber Ahmed Finance & Operations Team General Manager – Finance: Ajit Kumar Legal Officer: Ramesh Prasad Verma Sr. Manager – Events: Vicky Kalra Associate Manager – HR: Sushma Juyal Associate Manager – Accounts: Anubhav Rana Executive Officer – Accounts: Subhash Chandra Dimri

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egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

Ideas for Optimal e-Governance in the World

T

he e-Governance scenario has come a long way ever since computers were first introduced in government offices. e-Governance is already playing a seminal role in bringing development and growth and ensuring better services to the people. Now the world at large is talking about creating online and mobility solutions that allow citizens to avail of services from the government in a seamless and transparent manner.

Yet it is also a fact that the e-Governance initiatives of various governments are largely being done on a piecemeal basis. There is a lack of holistic vision and that is perhaps the reason why the resultant benefits, in many cases, are not as great as what they could and should be. Speaking particularly of India, the e-Governance initiatives have been achieving much better results ever since the government started using the innovative Public Private Partnership models. Perhaps such holistic approach based partnership models should be replicated in other parts of the world. And the good ideas in e-Governance from other parts of the world can also be replicated in India.

On 15th and 16th of June we are hosting the prestigious eWorld Forum, 2012 in Le MĂŠridien, New Delhi. The basic aim of eWorld Forum, 2012 is to provide a much needed international platform for discussing a new array of innovative strategies for making e-Governance a success on a much larger scale. The June issue of the eGov magazine serves aims to serve as a precursor to the vibrant debate and discussion on e-Governance that we will have at the eWorld Forum, 2012.

In the creation of the issue we are taking a rather broad approach towards e-Governance. The idea is to analyse various aspects of e-Governance from every possible angle. If e-Governance is about cutting edge technology, then it is also about the state of the infrastructure and the social and political realities. So in the pages of the June, 2012, issue of the magazine you will find articles, interviews, case studies and columns from every possible angle.

We have interacted with politicians, government officials, top private sector players and the thought leaders to get their ideas on the best ways of blending ICT with administrative processes and making the system of governance efficient, cost effective and transparent. These discussions conducted in the pages of the magazine, on developing integrated strategies for e-Governance, will be carried forward at the eWorld Forum, 2012, and hopefully they will lead to better quality of life for people.

We hope that you will enjoy reading this issue as much as we found joy in creating it. ravi guptA Ravi.Gupta@elets.in

Email at subscription@elets.in to get previous issues

March 2012

April 2012

May2012

June 2012 / egov.eltsonline.com / egov

5

Contents june 2012

second grid grid name issue 06 n volume 08

14

UIDAI AADHAAR Social Inclusion Remains our Prime Focus

25 public security

Combating Cybercrime

10 | cover story

34 Digital Economy A Chronicle of Ideas in e-Governance CEOs Interactive Digital divide has started vanishing from the country, and the credit for that must also go to the myriad e-Governance initiatives that the central and state governments have launched

12

interview Dr Sudhir Krishna

interview K K Singh

On creating better urban infrastructure in the country

On the role of Rolta in areas of e-Governance and defence

16

38

interview Ravi S Saxena On e-Governance initiatives in Gujarat

18

interview Rajendra Kumar On e-Governance initiatives in the National Capital Territory of Delhi

interview Rajesh Goel On HUDCO’s role in the creation of affordable housing for citizens

44

interview Vivek Sharma On e-Governance projects that Wipro is participating in

20

48

On the e-Governance projects in Rajasthan

On the importance of solar energy

interview Sanjay Malhotra

interview Tarun Kapoor

22

50

On the e-Governance projects being launched in Meghalaya

On BJP’s vision for promoting IT in the country

28

60

interview Donald P Wahlang

interview Peter Gutsmiedl On using TETRA for enhancing urban security in urban areas

6

36

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

interview Dr Arvind Gupta

Session On Digital Economy With Nitin Gadkari

40 Financial Inclusion Department of Posts New Technology for Better Services

42 legal angle Cyber-

law And Data Security

46

Power and Green IT Green Energy through ICT

52 e-Maharashtra

e-Maharashtra 2012 Maharashtra’s mega e-Governance Event

54

J Satyanarayan Fundamental Right to e-Service

55

virtualisation & cloud Tide over the Data Deluge with Virtualisation

58 analysis Imperatives for an Innovation Agenda in India

interview Oommen Chandy On the myriad e-Governance initiatives being taken by the state of Kerala

further reading Editorial 05 news 09

Index of People and Organisations

www.facebook.com/egovonline www.twitter.com/egovonline

Featured in this issue...

Index of People A • Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director - Global Community Affairs ,Microsoft, ......................................................................10 • Anil Deshmukh, Minister, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Government of Maharashtra.........55 B • Balasaheb Bhausaheb Thorat, Hon’ble Minister, Revenue and Khar Lands, Government of Maharashtra....................53 D • Debjani Ghosh, Intel...............................................................34 • Deepak Ghaisas, GCV Life Pvt Ltd.....................................34 • Donald P Wahlang,Commissioner and Secretary Information Technology, Communication, Govt Of Meghalaya....................................................................................22 • Dr Arvind Gupta, National Convener, BJP IT Cell.........50 • Dr Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy......................................................................47 • Dr Jaijit Bhattacharya, President, Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research; Director, South Asia, Hewlett Packard..........58 • Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, Government of India................................................................................................. 9 • Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).......................................................46 • Dr Sudhir Krishna, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India......................................12 H • H C Sirohi, State Election Commissioner, Bihar................ 9 J • J Satyanarayana, IT Secretary, DeitY, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt of India................................53 • Jyotiraditya Schindhia, Minister of State, Ministry of Commerce and industries........................................................10 K • K K Singh, Founder Chairman & CEO, Rolta..................36 • Kaku Nakhate, Bank of America.........................................34 • Kiran Shaw.................................................................................. 9 M • Manjula Prasher, Secretary, Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt of India..........40 • Manuel Villamayor, Director Government & Secure Identification Division NagraID – Kudelski Group...........30 • Ms Fauzia T Khan, Honb’le State Minister, General Administration, Information and Publicity, Government of Maharashtra.................................................................................54 N • Naina Lal Kidwai, FICCI ......................................................34 • Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat......................... 9 • Nitin Gadkari, BJP IT Cell, the party President...............51 O • Oommen Chandy, Kerala Chief Minister.........................60 P • P Balaji– Sony Mobile ...........................................................34 • Pankaj Jain, Director, ESET India (ESS Distribution Pvt Ltd).................................................................................................25 • Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Head, Pavan Duggal Associates...........................................................42 • Peter Gutsmiedl, CEO, Cassidian India.............................28 • Pramod Deval, Director- Public Sector Industries, iGATE......................................................................................... 26 • Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai Executive VP,Kerala State

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egov / www.egovonline.new / June 2012

Council for Science & Tech,Govt of Kerala; ........................10 R • R K Bansal, Managing Director, Uniline Energy Systems Pvt Ltd...........................................................................................48 • Rajendra Kumar,Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Delhi.................................................................18 • Rajesh Aggrawal, Secretary, IT, Government of Maharashtra.................................................................................53 • Rajesh Goel, General Manager (IT), Housing and Urban Development, Corporation Limited (HUDCO)................38 • Rajesh Tope, Honb’le Minister, Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra..............................53 • Ravi S Saxena, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat................................16 • RS Sharma, Director General & Mission Director, UIDAI. 14 • Rupesh Kumar Shah, Deputy General Manager (IT), HUDCO.......................................................................................39 S • Sam Pitroda, Adviser to Prime Minister.............................. 9 • Sanjay Malhotra, Department of Information Technology & Communication.....................................................................20 • Sanjeev Gupta, Accenture .....................................................34 • Seema Hafeez, Sr Economic Affairs Officer,UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs,......................10 • Shankar Agarwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Govt of India..............................................................10 • Som Mittal, Nasscom ............................................................34 • Swadheen Kshatriya, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Revenue and Khar Land,Government of Maharashtra.................................................................................53 T • Tariq Ahmed Karim, Bangladesh High Commissioner.10 • Tarun Kapoor,Joint Secretary (Solar), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy..............................................................48 V • Victor Bodiu, Secretary General of the Government of Moldova; ......................................................................................10 • Vijay Mhaskar, VP, Information Management Group, Symantec.......................................................................................34 • Vivek Sharma, General Manager and Business Head,Government and Defence vertical, Wipro.................44 W • Walter Fust Member of the ITU/ UNESCO Broadband Commission; ..............................................................................10

Index of Organisations A • Accenture .................................................................................34 • American Chamber of Commerce Center........................34 B • Bank of America......................................................................34 • Bihar State Election Commission.......................................... 9 C • Cassidian India........................................................................28 • Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research (C-DEP)......34 • Centre for Knowledge Sovereignty.....................................34 D • Data Security Council of India.............................................25 • Department of General Administration, Information and Publicity, Government of Maharashtra.................................54

• Department of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra...................................................53 • Department of Information Technology & Communication, Government of Rajasthan........................20 • Department of Information Technology, Government of India...............................................................................................53 • Department of Information Technology,Government of Delhi..............................................................................................18 • Department of Information Technology,Government of Maharashtra.................................................................................53 • Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt of India..........................................................................40 • Department of Revenue and Khar Land,Government of Maharashtra.................................................................................53 • Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat.16 • Departmment of Information Technology & Communication, Govt Of Meghalaya...................................22 E • ESET India (ESS Distribution Pvt Ltd)..............................25 F • FICCI.........................................................................................34 • Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Government of Maharashtra...................................................55 G • GCV Life Pvt Ltd.....................................................................34 H • Housing and Urban Development, Corporation Limited (HUDCO)....................................................................................38 • HP India....................................................................................58 I • iGATE........................................................................................26 • Intel.............................................................................................34 • IRCTC......................................................................................... 9 K • Kaspersky Lab............................................................................ 9 • Kerala State Council for Science & Tech,Govt of Kerala; ..........................................................................................10 M • Microsoft...................................................................................10 • Ministry of Commerce and industries, Govt of India....10 • Ministry of Defence, Govt of India.....................................10 • Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Govt of India....47 • Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India.12 N • NagraID – Kudelski Group...................................................30 • NASSCOM...............................................................................25 • NeGP..........................................................................................44 R • Revenue and Khar Lands, Government of Maharashtra.53 • Rolta...........................................................................................36 S • Sony Mobile .............................................................................34 • Symantec...................................................................................34 T • The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)......................46 U • UIDAI........................................................................................14 • Uniline Energy Systems Pvt Ltd...........................................48 W • Wipro.........................................................................................44

news

news projects people policy products

Bihar Voters may soon have e-Voting facility e-voting functional, the mobile phones of the voters will be registered in the voters list. The voters will be informed about their number in the voters list and their polling centres so that they exercise their franchise using their mobile phones.

The Bihar State Election Commission has decided to allow e-voting from the next urban bodies polls so as to make it convenient for voters to exercise their franchise from their homes. State Election Commissioner H C Sirohi has told reporters that in order to make internet

India generates largest amount of spam in the world: Kaspersky Lab

TRAI

Tariff for Digital Cable TV is reduced From July 1 a new tariff structure for digital cable systems will come into effect in the four metros of Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata. Under the new TRAI order, a viewer can opt for a maximum of 100 free-to-air channels for a minimum of Rs 100 that will mandatorily include five channels of each genre, including news, sports, infotainment, music, lifestyle, movies and general entertainment. This will include 18 Doordarshan channels which must be carried.

Indian Railway

e-Ticket cancellations bring 750 crore revenue to the railway department e-Ticket cancellation has become a major source of revenue for the Railway department. Such cancellations are fetching the railways an annual sum of `750 crore, in the period between

Statistics from Kaspersky Lab reveal that this year (till April), India has generated the maximum amount of spam, 11.2 percent, followed by the USA with 8.5 percent and Vietnam with 7.1 percent. As per the Kaspersky Lab’s report,

“The percentage of spam in email traffic was up by 2.2 points from March and averaged by 77.2 per cent globally. In April, malicious files were found in 2.8 per cent of all emails. Over 20 per cent of phishing attacks targeted Facebook users.”

Narendra Modi@narendramodi: Launched ‘Collector Manual’ containing a gamut of laws, rules & acts that would be of great help for new IAS officers http://nm4. in/KD766s.

Times of India@timesofindia BlackBerry phones to assist cops manage traffic better -http://toi.in/BaR3Va

2005 to 2011. If a confirmed ticket is cancelled more than 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, the penalty is `70 for an AC first-class ticket, `60 for AC Tier-2, AC Tier-3 and AC chair car, `40 for sleeper class and `20 for a second-class ticket.

RTI

Govt. makes it easier for NRI’s to use RTI The Central Government has agreed to start sale of Indian Postal Orders through internet after payments being made in foreign currency. Indians abroad will be able to log on to the department of posts website and register themselves. They will also need to upload a copy of their passports as proof of citizenship and make the payment for the RTI online. NRIs can directly file their RTI query related to central government departments online. The department will send the RTI directly to the concerned information officer who can login to verify that the payment has been made.

Kiran Shaw@kiranshaw: It is important to enforce specific rules and regulations to set up and operate hospitals and clinics in the (cont) http://tl.gd/gu8ojs

Dr Manmohan Singh@PMOIndia #UPAReport2012: Nearly 100 million new phone connections bought by people, 40m in rural areas. http://pic.twitter.com/o45GUv9D

Sam Pitroda@pitrodasam The State Innovation Councils need to prepare an #Innovation Roadmap for a ‘Decade of Innovation’ http://tinyurl.com/77nqxc9

eGov Magazine@egovonline Uttarakhand banks to be connected

by CBS link by March 2013 http:// tinyurl.com/clyyw7c

for latest e-Governance news - follow@egovonline

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

9

eworld forum

A Chronicle of Ideas in e-Governance Digital divide has started vanishing from the country, and the credit for that must also go to the myriad e-Governance initiatives that the central and state governments have launched

T

he breathtaking developments in ICT have led to the creation of a global information society.

Through a range of online systems, people across the globe have become interconnected and there are seminal changes in the way we live, learn, work and collaborate with each other. In such a scenario, access to solutions that can provide latest information have become potent tool for empowering the people and communities in their quest for new opportunities, dignity and a better life.

As ICT continues to come up with even more efficient streams of information and conducting business, there is the fear that the divide between haves and have-nots, within and across countries, might intensify. That is why e-Governance systems are necessary to ensure that all sections of society are able to take advantage of the better technologies as

Sessions at eWorld Forum 2012 • e-Governance: Now & the future • ICT for Urban Governance • Power & Green IT • m-Gov Services & Technology Framework

• Virtualisation & Cloud • Proactively Open Government • Biometrics • Financial Inclusion

they become available. e-Governance systems, based on local languages, can be especially effective in India where large numbers of people in rural areas are not conversant with the proper usage of ICTs. On 15th and 16th of June 2012, Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd., will be celebrating e-Governance by holding the eWorld Forum, 2012, at Le Méridien hotel in New Delhi. This is one of the most prestigious e-Governance events of the year, and it is primarily bolstered by the participation of eminent figures from the government, industry, academia, and the social and cultural landscape.

• Enabling e-Gov: e-services delivery • Cyber Security, Public safety, & Disaster management • ICT Best practices in PSUs

The June 2012 issue of eGov magazine has been designed to be a precursor to the eWorld Forum, 2012. We have interacted with a many leading stakeholders from the field of ICT to come up with opinions that provide us with a glimpse of what the discussions at the two day eWorld Forum will be like. In the pages that follow we have tried to cover the topic of almost every session that we are going to have at the eWorld Forum.

The interviews and the write-ups provide a succinct account of the views of the leading stakeholders on the various aspects of the e-Governance, which is now flowering in India and rest of the world.

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

11

in person

Dr Sudhir Krishna

Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India

Creating sustainable and inclusive urban

infrastructure in India

T

ell us about the key challenges in creating infrastructure for better urban mobility in the country?

It is well understood that planned urban development is key to the speedy growth of the country. Efficient mobility solutions are the backbone of urbanisation. The key challenge in introducing effective urban mobility systems is usually the fact that these systems are required to be created in the most developed regions of the cities that are already very crowded. This makes the laying of BRTS corridors or metro rails viaducts rather complex as the construction process contributes to congestion and pollution. The ideal situation would be to ensure that mobility solutions, or at least planning for the same should precede urbanisation.

Please tell us about the mandate of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA).

“The key challenge in introducing effective urban mobility systems is usually the fact that these systems are required to be created in the most developed regions of the cities that are already very crowded,� Dr Sudhir Krishna, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India

12

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

UMTA is a single window for providing all regulatory approvals relating to urban transport. It is also expected to bring in greater coordination and synergy among different modes of transport and their regulators.

While this would finally call for amendments to the various legislations that relate to the specific authorities, in the interregnum, it can function as a coordinating body under the executive authority of the State Government and the local bodies.

in person

all projects could be completed on time.

The bottom line is that we have learned some important lessons for the next phase of JNNURM.

What are the ways in which ICT is bringing transparency in the building of new infrastructure?

In respect of urban transport, the solutions from ICT are going to play a key role in enabling us to obtain greater synergy and optimum benefits from

Housing is a vital component of urban development, but there is a huge gap in its demand and supply. What steps is the Ministry taking to make it possible for a middle class or poor family to own a house of their own in the urban centres?

We have become more specific in advising the States and the local bodies to make appropriate provisions for hous-

“In urban transport,

the solutions from ICT are going to play a key role�

Tell us about the new policies that the Ministry is planning to improve the state of the infrastructure in our urban areas.

The Ministry (MoUD) has plans to provide enhanced focus on the spatial planning for cities and their periurban areas, for which we intend to update/ revise the UDPFI Guidelines and prepare a panel of consultants. We are also intending to revisit the Urban Water Supply initiatives. This is being done with the purpose of reorienting the focus on recycling of used water and making the water supply and other urban infrastructure projects self sustaining.

How do you assess the performance of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)?

Phase-1 of JNNURM, which has technically concluded on 31st March 2012, has been hailed as a great success, though there have been umpteen learning lessons as well. While we have been able to pump in about one lakh crore of rupees in the urban infrastructure projects, which includes contributions from the Centre, States and the Local Bodies, not

targets

According to the India Infrastructure Report, 1996, during the next ten years about 28,035 crores of investment will be needed for urban water supply, sanitation and roads. *** The Central Public Health Engineering (CPHEEO) has estimated the requirement of funds for 100 percent coverage of the urban population under safe water supply and sanitation services by the year 2021 at `172,905 crores. *** Estimates by Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) indicate that the amount required for urban transport infrastructure investment in cities with population 100,000 or more during the next 20 years would be of the order of `207,000 crore

the investments that are being made.

For water supply, the SCADA systems enable enhanced efficiency and transparency. Similar benefits are available in respect of solid waste management. It is difficult to conceive of urban infrastructure without ICT solutions.

Given the fact that the needs and aspirations of the urban population keeps evolving at a rapid pace, where do you see the Ministry of Urban Development ten years from today?

India being a vast country with relatively low level of urbanisation, the future is surely laden with steady, if not exponential, growth of cities and urban population. Currently the level of urban population stands at 31 percent. This should grow by almost 10 percentage points in every decade. This makes the task of the Urban Development Ministry very exciting.

The challenge would have to be met through international and intranational cooperation for exchange of knowledge and expertise and improved programme management, besides building the capacities of the local bodies. We are working on numerous ideas.

ing for different economic segments of the society in the land use plans of the cities and local planning areas. We have also started advocating mixed land use, which should lead to a gradual smoothening of the price curve for housing.

Under the 12th Five Year Plan, what kind of new urban infrastructure initiatives are being planned?

We have decided to focus on spatial planning for the cities and their surroundings, for which Transit Oriented Development would be of essence. Besides, improvement in the quality and quantity of water available to the citizens will also receive greater amount of attention.

In your opinion what are the ways by which the IT industry empowers diverse human assets and raises expectations?

Intelligent Transport Solutions have turned out to be a core need for efficient and effective management of public transport systems. Similar results are also visible from use of IT in the planning and management of other urban infrastructure, be it water supply, sanitation, solid waste management or street lighting. We need more and more IT solutions and solution managers.

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

13

UIDAI

aadhaar

Social Inclusion Remains our Prime Focus “Aadhaar is an initiative, which will give a unique identity to residents, especially the marginalised, so that they can benefit from an array of social welfare schemes designed for them. This remains our prime focus area as we embark on the second phase of enrolments, which will cover 40 crore more residents,” says RS Sharma, Director General & Mission Director, UIDAI

A

fter achieving the 20-crore-enrolments target for the first phase much before the deadline, the UIDAI plans to achieve its present target of 40-crore-enrolments, by the next 18 months.

The first phase was a fantastic learning experience for us. Based on this experience, we have formulated a ‘refresh-strategy’, which aims at making the entire process, from enrolment till delivery of Aadhaar letter, more stringent and quality-oriented. We have managed to iron out all the inconsistencies in order to ensure that the second phase is managed better. This gives us confidence that the residents will not find a reason to complain.

The Refresh Strategy According to the refresh strategy of the UIDAI, the Authority would now perform quality checks at every stage, from enrolments to the delivery of Aadhaar letter to resident. Dataentry errors at the time of enrolments shall be reduced to nil, with the help of technological and administrative checks.

Also on cards are heavy penalties, for enrolment agencies who digress from the laid-out and approved process.

Other highlights of this strategy are continuation of enrolments through the multiregistrars model, sweep approach to cover

14

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

part of which eligible residents shall be able to access services and benefits with the help of their Aadhaar identity. UIDAI technology shall offer authentication of your identity even through a mobile phone. Within seconds you shall be able to establish that you are, who you claim to be, you are.

Positive impacts of technology

RS Sharma, Director General & Mission Director, UIDAI

maximum number of residents of district/state, and stringent review of master data for pin code validation. In a bid to improve the overall experience of a resident, the UIDAI plans to promote online appointments for enrolments in the second phase, apart from setting up permanent enrolment stations at district/taluka level in States/Union Territories that have covered majority of their population.

The key rationale for Aadhaar is to provide a real-time online verifiable identity to the residents of India, in a bid to create transparent service/benefit delivery architecture in the country.

A major highlight of the second phase shall be the Aadhaar-enabled service delivery, as

Technology has positively affected the Indian society. Like the case of Internet Banking and online railway reservation, which, in terms of utility, have got a thumbs-up from the masses.

Likewise, would the resident not be happy if their identity is authenticated remotely, without residents fearing for its theft? Aadhaar simply aims at development of the country and this driving force shall be seen more assertively in the second phase of enrolments.

We have initiated pilot studies in various parts of the country to test how Aadhaar can be used as a platform of providing benefits to residents who are entitled to it. Some of the schemes being administered using Aadhaar as an enabler are: MNREGS payments, LPG distribution, monthly ration through PDS including kerosene.

The UIDAI is leaving nothing to chance and aims at setting a global benchmark for identities’ database management. Considering its past record and the access to technology it has, the Authority promises better results as it steps into the second phase of enrolments in the country.

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in person

Ravi S Saxena

Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat

Gujarat on G-Cloud

G

ujarat has taken many new initiatives in e-Governance. How would you rate the state’s response to e-Governance?

“e-Governance of today will be the fountainhead for governance of tomorrow,” says Ravi S Saxena, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat

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Gujarat has been at the forefront of e-Governance and has demonstrated a vision and foresight as is evident from the fact that we set up Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN) way back in 2001. Today this is the largest end to end IP-based network across the state, covering almost 38000 nodes. We have almost 50,000 mail addresses on our Exchange Server. We also have all districts and talukas of Gujarat covered vertically and horizontally with this State wide Intranet.

We have a robust State Data Centre and most of the applications have moved to the data centre. The setup of SDC and Mini Data Centres operates as a Government Cloud (G-Cloud) for rolling out departmental citizen services, due to the collaborative policy structure of the Department of the Science & Technology (DST). This SDC provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IAAS), as the departments’ key result areas are limited to developing their applications alone and the core infrastructure is provided and managed by the DST. Gradually, the SDC also would provide Platform-as-aService (PAAS) to all departments who are supposed to host their applications in the SDC. This has become possible due to collaborative method of DST acting as a support organisation for the IT Road map of each department, thereby bringing uniformity in their standards and framework for applications.

This shifts the onus of infrastructure availability, platform suitability and major security concerns from the departments to the SDC and yet the departments will have full control over the operations and administration of their application.

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Also tell us about your projects for bringing more connectivity to rural areas.

Most remarkable of all, we have eGram – a VSAT broadband network operational since 2007 across 14000 villages of Gujarat making it possible to think of rolling out applications for complete rural population. In terms of connecting villages and rural populations, this is the only experiment in India, and even in many other countries of the world. We are able to run 35 pairs of video conferences in a 13 mbps exclusively dedicated pipe within the e Gram network across villages or between Taluka and villages. Chief Ministers’ grievance-redressalthrough-video program SWAGAT also uses this facility for interaction with rural populations. We also carry out webcasting through PAWAN (Panchayat Wide Area Network) channels.

Gujarat State Geospatial Data Infrastructure has integrated GIS with departmental ERPs for fine-tuning the process of planning for grassroots level resource allocation. It has been appreciated even by the Planning Commission of India. We have also been able to implement Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan project providing 11 computers, one display unit and KU band dish antenna which enabled each school to have satellite based learning sessions running in more than 15000 schools. The e-Governance applications in Gujarat have brought not only transparency and accountability in the administration but have also sensitized the people about its advantages and effectiveness over conventional procedures. In a nutshell, it’s been an inclusive and holistic response to e-Governance since we began our journey.

Please shed some light on the progress of UIDAI scheme in your state.

Aadhar is still at the preliminary stage of development in Gujarat, but we have developed the policy of making all the existing applications to become Aadhar compliant. This would finally help in unifying the large number of demographic data bases of the people of Gujarat. We need to ultimately reach a level, where a citizen should never be asked to furnish information about him, much less prove it, before an entitlement is rolled out to him or her. Some countries in the west have made it a law. But in India ordinary citizen still goes from pillar to post to prove who s/he actually is.

The e-Governance projects that have been immensely successful include • Statewide Integrated Hospital

and Results, educational

in State wide Food and Civil

Management System

and skills oriented content

Supplies sector

• e-Mamta (tracking mother and

broadcasting through satellite in

• e-Court, State Wide Attention

child health)

education sector

on Grievances by Application of

• Drugs Logistics Information

• Crop management, fertilizers

Technology(SWAGAT) chaired by

System (Central Monitoring

and seeds information, live

Hon’ble CM of the State

for Drugs Stock and Health

interactions with Agriculture

• District, Taluka(Block) and

Programs)

University scientists, livestock

Village(SDTV) level in Grievance

• 104-Non Emergency Helpline,

monitoring in agriculture sector

Redressal

tele-medicine

• e-Ration card, bar-coded

• Citizen service delivery

• 108-Emergency Helpline in

coupons, bio-metric based

framework at SDTV as well

health sector

verification, stock monitoring

as in municipal corporations,

• Online Teachers Recruitment

and supply management

municipalities(MCM)

In your opinion what are the ways by which the IT industry empowers diverse human assets and raises expectations?

The growth witnessed on account of ICT in the last 3 decades surpasses the development of the entire human history. It has changed the culture, civilization and the entire thought process of human being triggering the need for innovation in day to day life. ICT has raised the bar regarding efficiency of the delivery of services exponentially, thereby raising productivity levels equally high.

A whopping 68% Indian population live in rural areas. Increased tele-density, broadband reaching villages, digital content based training in schools, skill development and scientific advisory in agriculture industry, crop management and informal sectors through VSAT channels, digital land record and bio-metric based identity for resource distribution are some of the major ways which raises the productivity and empowers the rural life.

On the other hand, while the Urban India is growing at the rate more than 51% on average, it is a challenge to maximize the availability of e-Facilities along with high tech infrastructure to cater to the high demand arising from such regions. Smart grids for civic services and utility payments, smart classrooms, m-Compliant information availability, automated security and traffic management are the basic ways essential to Urban Sector touching lives of

humans. With growing inclination towards Electronics Manufacturing Clusters setup across the country, in upcoming years, the demand for skilled men power is going to boost in the ICT sector.

Given the fact that technology keeps on evolving at a rapid pace, where do you see the e-governance ten years from today? e-Governance of today will be the fountainhead for Governance of tomorrow. Along with technology evolution, the Government must also reengineer its conventional procedures.

Ten years down the line I see the aspcts of e-mi-Governance getting converged ultimately into “The Governance”. The existing infrastructure, procedures, network, technology, applications will work in unified environment where every requirement will be served as a service instead of current scenario of individual activity per se. With setups like G-Cloud and implementation of open standards, the entire existing e-Infrastructure will enable the environmentally challenged remote states to roll out the Services on any platform. However, adoptability and citizen engagement will continue to be a cause for concern. It will be subject to policy level decision; I foresee the coming into being of an Open Government system, where there is scope for easier collaboration between departments and citizens.

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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in person

Rajendra Kumar

Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Delhi

Delivering

e-services to citizens

H

ow do you look at the e-Governance initiatives in Delhi as compared to that in other states?

As far as, impact factor analysis of e-Governance initiatives in Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) is concerned, we have never gone for any kind of formal approach like Social Audit. This is because our state is very compact and impact can be often be calculated by taking direct feedback from citizens and other institutions. Acceptance level of initiatives like Jeevan (CSC) is very high as transactional graph is ascending. Our internal system of monitoring of delivery of services [e-SLA] leads us to conclude that the systems are very robust. The level of inefficiencies has declined.

Tell us more about your e-SLA project.

Our e-SLA project has earned the appreciation of different forums for the following reasons:(i) Its intension is to imbibe a culture to deliver in time bound manner, not to establish a coercion mechanism to punish only. It has a provision of incentive also for better performers. (ii) It is totally e-enabled and citizens can check the status of their application online. (iii) Higher/Senior officers can view overall performance of their Department as well as all Departments in consolidated manner.

Tell us about the e-Governance projects of your state that have been immensely successful? “We are planning to incorporate mobile services in our e-initiatives for providing better services to the people,� says Rajendra Kumar, Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Delhi

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egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

e-SLA and 3D GIS Projects are very successful and beneficial for the citizens of the country. These projects are also beneficial for the government as they bring efficiency and transparency. In my opinion, these projects can be replicated.

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Main focus area of DIT, GNCTD, is to take up projects that qualify the following criteria:(i) It should be for masses. (ii) It should be innovative. (iii) It should leverage existing infrastructure.

Tell us about your ongoing projects.

The new projects in GNCTD, which are at different stages of completion are as follows:(i) Common Application software project for Food & Supply Department has been implemented. (ii) Bar Coded Supply change system of Liquor sale in Delhi. (iii) Implementation of e-District initiative which is at the conceptualisation stage. (iv) Implementation of new commercial taxes system in Trade & Taxes Department, which is more efficient and user friendly.

What are your future plans in terms of e-Governance projects?

We are planning to incorporate mobile services in our e-initiatives for providing better services to the people. New e-payment systems are being developed to enable citizens of Delhi to make payments to the Government for the provision of a range of services. There is also the plan to deploy some common Umbrella Software like Human Resources Information System (HRIS), Finance & Accounting Management System including Treasury /PAO. Very soon, all States specific MMPs will be in place apart from other state initiatives meeting local requirements.

What is the overall budget allocation for the e-Governance department in the current year and what has been the amount spent?

Budget has never been constraint for e-Governance initiatives in GNCTD. The budgets that get made are often department specific. The government is basically focussed on providing the funding for the e-initiatives being taken by different organisations.

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The e-Governance projects are conceived with great deal of planning and vision. The procedures we follow are in line with the government’s guidelines and we always endeavour to use the best technological resources. NCT of Delhi is rich in terms of service infrastructure and diversities are also very less as compared to other states. However, despite many advantages, challenges also are there. In my opinion, these challenges are primarily due to the Multiplicity of Authorities. At times problems crop up as there is lack of awareness about new systems and there can be resistance to adoption of new technologies. The thing is that different projects face different challenges, and there is no common methodology to overcome these.

However, capacity building, sensitisation and strategic approach are effective ways to overcome these challenges.

Which are the main focus areas of the e-Governance department in your state and how far have you been able to implement them?

ff

What are the major challenges faced by your state in terms of e-Governance implementation?

Kindly share your thoughts about how you are overcoming these challenges.

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June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

19

in person

Sanjay Malhotra

Secretary, Department of Information and Technology, Govt. Of Rajasthan

Social, financial and digital inclusion through e-Governance

T

ell us about your vision for the state’s IT department.

The Government of Rajasthan’s vision for IT are empowerment and inclusion for its citizens; empowerment of citizens to exercise the Right to Public Services on the ‘Sevottam’ model; and inclusion encompassing social, financial and digital inclusions by leveraging technology to reduce these divides. For us, manifestation of this vision is e-Governance! Our strategy to realise this vision has following cornerstones: (i) focus on services, particularly the Government to Citizen (G2C) services underpinned by requisite Government Process Re-Engineering and Change Management; (ii) creation of a robust, secure and scalable service delivery platform underpinned by sharing of common infrastructure elements of the State Data Centre, State Wide Area Network, Common Service Centre kiosks and State Service Delivery Gateway; (iii) emphasis on Capacity Building and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to enable and accelerate rapid development, deployment and delivery of services.

Tell us about the initiatives that your department is taking to bring about growth in the state’s IT industry.

Creating ecosystem for a globally competitive IT/ITES industry, particularly for the local SMEs and Start-ups in the State, is in spirit with the draft National IT Policy 2011, as well as the current NASSCOM priorities, to spur innovation, entrepreneurship and job opportunities beyond the established metros or Tier I cities in India and beyond the established companies in India. Although we have not opted for a preferential pricing in procurement from the local industry, trading it off for competiveness; we are significantly investing in IT infrastructure throughout the state, which in turn shall enable the local industry to deliver better, faster and cheaper than the established centres of excellence and hopefully, in turn trigger the accelerated growth snowball effect associated with better Return on Investment.

“Successful implementation of IT projects requires people who understand both – the IT and the domain,” Sanjay Malhotra, Secretary, Department of Information and Technology, Govt. Of Rajasthan

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egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

How would you rate the state’s response to e-Governance?

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), which takes a holistic and integrated view of e-Governance across the country, provides us a framework to drive our e-Governance efforts as well as to meticulously review, scrutinise and introspect the progress

in person

we have made. Rajasthan’s response to e-Governance in last few years has been notably good.

We’ve enacted key enabling policies, facilitated the ecosystem, expended efforts towards sensitization of backend departments and significantly invested in internal capacity to realize our vision.

The graph below is a graphic representation of the maturity, adoption and social application of emerging technologies.

As with emerging technologies, similar pattern may be observed for e-Governance initiatives.

The curve has also taught us that as important as the initiation, gestation and delivery of technology and availability of resources are, nothing is more important than the eGov intent, readiness and change management associated with people and processes. We have established successes in the State that are points on the Plateau of Productivity, for example, the eMitra/CSC kiosk network ensuring several lakhs citizen transactions every month; and at the same time we’ve other initiatives that have gone from inflated expectations to disillusionment to slope of enlightenment, for example, the recent success with e-Procurement system in the State.

Tell us about the e-Governance projects of the state that have the potential to be replicated?

Our eMitra/CSC kiosk network, notably its scalability to enable high-volume utility bill payments, integration with online payments, delivery of digitally signed certificates at the tehsildar level, pilot of digitally signed land records Jamabandi and excellent MIS reporting is a commendable project, notwithstanding few of its weaker areas manifesting from its gradual evolution, has the potential to be replicated widely in other states.

Replication of successes in other states and within the state is, without a doubt, an efficient and additional means to accelerate our growth;

and if I may, I believe that the originator(s) of the exemplary success also have the ownership to the extent to trivialise its replication.

What are the main challenges that you face in the implementation of e-Governance projects?

At the core, it’s all about delivering services to the citizens and businesses, and so paramount challenge remains rapid development, deployment and delivery of services. Most states including Rajasthan have had measurable albeit mixed successes with establishing the core infrastructural elements, and therefore a rich bouquet of services is key to maximising the benefits afforded by the novel assisted-delivery CSC kiosks setup all across the country. Sensitising departments that e-Governance is not so much so about the lower-case ‘e’ but about Governance remains a challenge. Sustained leadership including political support and administrative will; and perseverance are thus paramount.

Please shed some light on the progress of UIDAI scheme in your state.

The much-awaited first-of-its-kind AADHAAR scheme of UIDAI is a game changer; it is of paramount importance as it shall accelerate effective and efficient delivery of services.

The scheme is in its early phase, given the current focus on citizen enrolments. Rajasthan has given full priority to AADHAAR and we’ve achieved about 85 lacs enrolments so far. It cannot be understated that the profound impact will come as more and more services realise the benefits of UID. This is also catalysing a paradigm shift in the way e-Governance applications are developed --from stand alone apps in silos, to a new paradigm based on integration. Recently, we have started a pilot project in the Kotkasim tehsil of Alwar district, where distribution of kerosene through Public Distribution System (PDS) is being integrated with AADHAAR. UID based authentication will enable us to ensure only the right people are provided their

“AadhaAr is of paramount importance

as it shall accelerate effective

and efficient delivery of services” What are the main challenges being faced by the officials in the position of IT secretary?

share and no more or no less than what they deserve!

Across the four pillars of eGovernance – People, Processes, Technology and Resources, the key concerns are: (i) Inability to replicate isolated successes with a quick turnaround, (ii) Lack of skills in the government sector for large-scale effective project management, visionary enterprise architecture, deep understanding of software development/lifecycle and thoughtful process re-engineering; and the resulting delays in overall project execution, and (iii) zero or poor connectivity at the district, block and village level. Successful implementation of IT projects, in governments or private sector, requires people who understand both – the IT and the domain; it is usually difficult to find and recruit such people with the right mix. Another challenge we face often is with respect to the change in design or scope of a project. As we move forwards, we learn newer and better ways of doing things, and thus change is inevitable; however our procurement rules and procedures are usually not correspondingly flexible to accommodate such changes.

In your opinion what kind of experiences and sensibilities as an administrator, must an IT secretary bring to his job?

Policy formulation, its implementation and decision making are key distinguishing attributes of an administrator. Information Technology exhibits unique challenges that an aspiring administrator and to-be IT secretary may appreciate: as the industry is very young, there is a very rapid pace of change and growth, necessitating speedy learning as well as unlearning to be effective. Appreciation of change management and capacity building is vital.Understanding and knowledge of the IT industry is always helpful, but most importantly, I believe, it is being highly committed to the cause of Governance and being deeply passionate to bring about a change – to transform; as e-Governance is about transformations and not translations!

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

21

in person

Donald P Wahlang

Commissioner and Secretary - Information Technology, Communication, Health and Family Welfare, Sports and Youth Affairs, Govt. of Meghalaya

Bringing development and growth in Meghalaya through ICT

T “The mandate of the IT Department is to provide responsive and cost-effective information technology solutions and services that enable different organs of the state to successfully achieve their respective missions,” says Donald P Wahlang, Commissioner and Secretary - Information Technology, Communication, Health and Family Welfare, Sports and Youth Affairs, Govt. of Meghalaya

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egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

ell us about your vision for the state’s IT department.

The IT Department’s vision is to use ICT as a tool for bringing development and growth to Meghalaya. The mandate of the IT Department is to provide responsive and cost-effective information technology solutions and services that enable different organs of the state to successfully achieve their respective missions.

Some of the important initiatives taken by the state to improve the IT industry include: a) Setting up of an IT Park in collaboration with STPI. b) New IT Policy in tune with the fast changing industry demands which includes several special provisions to promote IT and IT enabled services industry. c) Allotment of additional 80 acres plot in New Shillong Township for development of an integrated IT Park. d) Enhancing basic IT training infrastructure base, in educational institutions e) Creating a pool of employable youth, by tying up with NIIT, Symantec, ARENA Multimedia and other premier IT education institutes – schools and colleges, in the State to impart free training.

The Department of IT also has a scheme where meritorious students are given laptops.

How would you rate the state’s response to e-Governance?

Meghalaya has made good progress in implementing a number of e-Governance initiatives which include various

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Mission Mode Projects (MMP) both at National and State levels. It is a matter of pride that Meghalaya has become the first state in India to roll out all four core infrastructure projects under NeGP i.e. State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG), State Data Centre (SDC), State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and 225 mandated CSCs. We have now shifted our focus on rolling out maximum services, so as to achieve ultimate vision of NeGP, which consists of making services available at the doorstep of the citizen.

State’s response to these e-Governance initiatives, especially at apex level has been very encouraging. There is complete unanimity and convergence of ideas at department’s level that these types of IT interventions are essential for inclusive growth, transparency and efficiency in governance. Challenges in terms of infrastructure, especially connectivity and power are primarily responsible for slow adaptation at grassroots levels. However, the State is steadfast in its resolve to march ahead on the path of e-Governance to achieve the vision of National e-Governance Plan.

According to you what are the main e-Governance projects of the state that have been immensely successful?

In our state, so far we do not have any e-Governance Project, which may be termed as path breaking or being immensely successful. We have just established the necessary backbone e-Governance Infrastructure. However, I am quite positive that once e-Health and Meghalaya Mass Information Collaboration Projects, which are under implementation, become fully functional, these will prove to be quite successful. Besides above, I feel that the state needs to be commended upon for having completed all designated e-Gov infrastructure projects without any time or cost over runs, despite being located in a difficult area which lags far behind in terms of all progress indices at National levels. Implementation strategies followed by us are worth emulating by others.

What challenges do you face in the implementation of e-Governance projects? e-Governance project implementation challenges would depend upon which part of the country are you working in. The main challenges in our state are: (a) Power & Connectivity. (b) Movement in terms of air, road and rail.

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(c) Availability of appropriate skill levels, locally. (d) Political will to implement change. (e) Sparse rural mass. (f) General internal security situation in entire North East. (g) Perception of IT industry about the state.

All above challenges are quite common in most parts of the country and have no remedy or quick fix which fits all. Each challenge is different and demands a unique solution or handling.

The success to my mind lies in being alive to the fast changing situations and taking each problem head on, rather than brushing them aside. Ours is a state where decision making curve is very

conducting awareness workshops and trainings for all stakeholders on security DOs and DONTs would definitely help bringing about the security orientation and responsiveness in all.

What are the main challenges being faced by the officials in the position of IT secretary?

The challenges faced by an IT Secretary are manifold. The main challenge lies in understanding and ensuring that the investments made in IT are aligned with the strategic objectives of the government especially with regard to new technologies. Emerging technologies are excit-

“The State is steadfast in its resolve to march ahead

on the path of e-Governance” short and crisp. Approachability, from the Chief Minister down to the lowest level functionary possible is the key to faster solutions.

What steps do you think should be taken to ensure that the best practices are implemented while hosting of important state government sites?

I strongly believe that, security considerations should be an integral part of the design phase itself and the development or deployment activities should implement the best security and coding practices available for websites and portals. I recommend a proactive approach to factor in all security measures in “Do it right the first time” manner and having a regular and strict monitoring and security policy enforcement framework in place.

As security is a continuous process and frequent security audits by independent agencies should be the norm for all IT infrastructures and applications. Moreover, the department concerned which is monitoring the development of website or an application should make sure, that the implementation agency is strictly following the security and best practices guidelines issued by various authorities like DeiTY, STQC or CERT India.

Having a state level structured security monitoring body or a Security Council would also ensure that the required security policies are enforced more effectively. At the same time,

ing in possibilities, but I believe that we have to be judicious in the adoption and usage of the same. One should be able to discern the returns on investments (ROI) very carefully, rather than falling prey to consultant or industry driven initiatives. IT Secretary must understand as to how proposed or new technological interventions will fit into the overall service delivery goal of the Government and at all times keep in mind the needs of the citizen and departments and create an enabling environment to sustain the growth and also deliver quality service.

Does Internet need regulation?

I don’t think, Internet as such can be regulated.

With the technological advancements happening every day, even, if you put some restrictions and try to control the content in the internet, you would have to work very hard to keep pace with the endless possible ways in which the intruders can attack and spread harmful contents and worms etc. into your network and devices. The best way to deal with malicious software and spywares is to prevent them from entering into your network by having state of the art infrastructures like firewalls, proxies and advanced systems like Intrusion Detection and Prevention. These systems should always be kept updated with latest patches and enhancements to make sure the latest intrusion attacks can be detected and prevented. All applications and devices inside the network should be governed by the security and acceptable usages policy guidelines.

public security

Combating Cybercrime

“The breaches that happen in India are mostly the handiwork of semi-professional hackers and hacktivists, who are usually looking for easy targets” Pankaj Jain, Director, ESET India (ESS Distribution Pvt Ltd)

T

he Indian government is the custodian of valuable data that belongs to a large number of Indians. So it is necessary that there should be a level of trust between the citizens and the government entities entrusted with storing and safeguarding the data. If trust is not there, citizens might not be willing to share their data with the departments and that will lead to the failure of many initiatives. The IT Ministry has framed laws to ensure that the data is safeguarded. But laws alone cannot ensure data security. For achieving security, we need to deploy hardware and software solutions at all levels.

Official statistics from NASSCOM and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) shows that 9,000 Indian websites were hacked in last 5

India, the IT infrastructure should be such that the hacking episodes can be avoided.

Globally we are seeing a significant rise in cases of APT or “advanced persistent threats,” which are very sophisticated hacking attacks aimed at governments, companies, political or social activists and performed mostly by large groups of hackers, who may or may not be without probable corporate or government support.

In India also such incidences are on the rise.

Recently, we had the episode of Bangladeshi hacker group named “Bangladesh Black HAT Hackers” attacking thousands of Indian websites, including sites of Border Security Force (BSF) and several Indian ministries in response to an incident on Indian-Bangladesh border. The hackers targeted the websites of Indian ministry’s, political parties, Bollywood stars, and large financial and media organisations as well. The web resources were exposed to DDOS attacks through botnet created by Bangladeshi hackers.

Then there was the case in Rajasthan, where more than 20 government websites got hacked.

According to the official statement from Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications & IT, more than 100 government websites have been compromised by hackers in the past three months. The data we are getting from blackhat forums indicates much higher numbers.

Hackers are making money years. Considering the fact that majority of the breaches go unreported in India, it is our estimate that the real number of hacking episodes could be about 10 times more than what the official estimates indicate. Why do the hacking cases go unreported? Primarily because there are no rules to compel an organisation to report the hacking episodes. The most surprising thing is that even the large organisations come to know about a data breech only after it has been reported by the hackers themselves.

Targeted by hacktivists As far as the cyber threat landscape in India is concerned, we are not talking about such sophisticated attacks as Aurora or Stuxnet.

These attacks did have an impact in India, but the thing is that the country was not the primary target. The breeches that happen in India are mostly the handiwork of semi-professional hackers and hacktivists, who are looking for easy targets. So the attacks are relatively simple.

But the thing is that in a rising economy like

Globally, the hackers seem to be making lot of money. They have become professionals.

The estimates made by ESET indicate that the global earnings of cybercriminals are in the tune of $ 7-8 billion in 2011. The monthly revenue of some large cyber criminal groups runs into tens of millions of dollars. The revenues of cyber criminals seem to be much more than enterprises’ spending on IT security. Moreover, such revenues with rather small expenses on organising cyber attacks allow hackers to invest more in R&D and technology improvements.

Fighting cyber crime means lot of innovative thinking on part of security agencies. The cyber criminals are armed with latest software and hardware tools and they are constantly changing their strategies. People have to be advised that they should create long passwords. Many times hackers are able to pick up targets easily as there are passwords as simple as “1234.”

The bottom line is that the human factor plays more important role in cyber security than technology itself.

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

25

special feature

igate

LEVERAGING AADHAAR FOR DIRECT SUBSIDY LPG Distribution & Direct Cash Transfer using Aadhaar based Biometric Authentication

By Pramod Deval, Director- Public Sector Industries, iGATE

T

he broad level objectives of the government are improvement in standard of living, inclusive growth, facilitate wealth generation, and good governance. These are to be achieved in a simple, moral, accountable, responsive and transparent (SMART) manner. Characterized by its non-profit nature, scale, diversity and the need of appropriate use of the tax-payers money, the government has the challenges of efficiency, effectiveness and convergence.

E-Governance is all about leveraging Information & Communication Technologies for functioning of the government in all the three areas- G2G, G2B and G2C to overcome these challenges.

Subsidy management is an important lever of the government to ensure all-inclusive growth and minimum standard of living for all. Subsidies are provided either through indirect manner, i.e. through manufacturing and distribution agencies or through direct manner- i.e. cash aid or compensation directly to the beneficiaries. As only a small portion of indirect subsidies is believed to reach the target beneficiaries, direct subsidy is preferred wherever feasible. However, in order to ensure effectiveness of direct subsidy management, the system should have adequate means of

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egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

recognizing genuine beneficiaries at the time of identification and subsequently at the time of benefits disbursement. Due to lack of a full-proof mechanism, direct subsidy mechanism could not be invoked in most of the cases.

Aadhaar is envisaged as the solution to address the challenges of beneficiary identification and authentication. As LPG is one of the highly subsidized commodities, the task force recommended implementing LPG distribution as the first priority for the Aadhaar pilot. Accordingly, the three marketing companies (IOCL, HPCL & BPCL) initiated the pilot project to leverage Aadhaar for LPG distribution and direct subsidy transfer in select areas that had good penetration of Aadhaar enrollment.

The project involved data seeding in an organic manner, building an application with various functionalities such as new refill bookings, new connection registration, capturing delivery schedule, and biometric details, encrypting and authenticating the same through UIDAI-CIDR, managing delivery confirmation, receipt generation and updating the system. It also involved mechanisms for de-duplication checks and managing exceptions. iGATE, a Tier I software solution provider empanelled by UIDAI, was awarded the project.

The company, in close coordina-

tion with various stakeholders finalized the requirements, built the application and integration andset up the necessary infrastructure. This included hosting and dedicated connectivity, identified appropriate biometric handheld devices, ensured integration among the various systems of different oil marketing companies, coordination and training the distributors and delivery boys, implementation and rollout. Through the data seeding process, the UID numbers of LPG consumers and their family details are seeded in a secured database.

At the time of refill distribution, the recipient is authenticated using the fingerprints against the UIDAI- CIDR database in an online manner. The successful authentication ensures that the delivery is made to the genuine consumer and is not diverted to fake or ghost beneficiaries.

After successful authentication, the system provides a trigger to release the payment of the subsidized amount to the Aadhaar enabled bank account of the LPG consumer.

The program allows removal of indirect subsidies to the LPG or oil marketing companies, and the prices of LPG cylinders will be decided in the competitive market without any impact to the targeted beneficiaries. The subsidy amount will be credited

directly to the eligible consumers after delivery. Besides preventing the leakages, the removal of indirect subsidies will also make the entire supply chain much more efficient and lead to the judicious use of LPG based on the market value, instead of the subsidized and artificial value.

The project, the first one to implement Aadhaar for service deliveries was successfully rolled out in January 2012 and is in operations for the last five months. The project also provided some valuable learning to improve the efficiency and overcome operational challenges, which are currently under implementation.

Based on the success of the project, the government has announced the decision to rollout the same for 50 districts during the fiscal year 2012-13. The project is also set to changeover from indirect to direct subsidies wherever appropriate and ensure that the benefits of social schemes reach the target beneficiaries. The potential areas are diesel, kerosene, fertilizers, food, and public distribution systems- PDS.

Pramod Deval, Director, Public Sector Industries, iGATE

public security

Peter Gutsmiedl CEO, Cassidian India

Cutting edge technology for urban security units, etc. to communicate amongst them securely, instantly, clearly and without interruption, via voice and data. IT allows a host of strong security features to be incorporated as well like authentication, end-to-end encryption, disabling of stolen radios, etc. which are not available on alternate technologies.

Cassidian has deployed TETRA network at Indian Parliament.

How does the system increase Parliament’s security?

“TETRA has been designed to serve as a mission-critical communication technology to be used by government agencies for ensuring public safety in urban areas,” says Peter Gutsmiedl, CEO, Cassidian India, in exclusive interview with eGov

T

ell us about TETRA?

TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) is an open Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). It has been designed to serve as a mission-critical communication technology to be used by government agencies for ensuring public safety in urban areas. It is robust and reliable compared to legacy analogue systems or even commercial cellular mobile telephone systems. TETRA enables public safety forces like the police, firemen, emergency medical

28

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

In 2010, Cassidian along with its partners deployed a modern TETRA radio network at the Indian Parliament. The state-of-the art, digital and secure communication system helps in enhancing the coordination between the different agencies entrusted with Parliament’s security.

Cutting edge TETRA handsets along with the supporting network infrastructure provides security personnel with the option of accessing data, including images of Parliament personnel, visitors and vehicles, at the push of a button. This considerably improves access control. Cassidian handsets are also integrated with GPS. Therefore, controllers can track movement of people and vehicles. The network is backward integrated allowing complete interoperability with legacy analogue systems. Importantly, the entire system is designed in such a way that future security applications can be developed based on customer requirements and can be integrated seamlessly with the existing network.

Have you installed such a system anywhere else in India?

Last year, the Cyberabad Police in Andhra Pradesh inaugurated a TETRA communication network provided by Cassidian. The installation, commissioning and activation of the system were done in collaboration with Sanchar Telesystems.

The system comprises nine base stations and provides the local police with coverage over a record

area of 3600 square kilometres. The Cyberabad Police are among the first police organisations in India to use a secure communication network of this size and functionality including clear voice, data/image transmission capabilities and an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system. In Sri Lanka, the Airport & Aviation Services Limited (AASL) has chosen Cassidian to equip the Bandaranaike International Airport near Colombo with a secure TETRA radio communication network. In fact, Cassidian has delivered around 215 mission-critical radio networks to more than 70 countries and enjoys leadership position in largescale or nation-wide networks.

What kind of training do these systems need for the police to operate them?

The training can be grouped into two main types - operational and maintenance. Operational training is for the control room personnel and the end-users. It is a simple training, which aims to familiarise the users with the functionality of the handsets and network’s operational capabilities. Maintenance training is more in-depth and is meant for the technical staff, and this ensures 24X7, fail-safe availability of the system.

What is the most important advantage of TETRA? TETRA is the state-of-the art technology to make cities in India safer. It enables different police and security organizations and emergency response teams to come together on a single shared communication network which is robust and secure and guarantees fail-safe, seamless communication and information flow in times of emergencies. An important advantage of TETRA is that it can be configured to interface with the legacy systems in use by the security forces and allows for a smooth step-by-step migration. This ensures that significant investments by customers in legacy systems do not go waste.

special feature

NagraID

Paradigm shift

“anywhere-anytime” New Identity “e-Service ID Display Card” for a more secure and converged e-ID World We have examined and solved the problem of ensuring the wide acceptance and use of the new electronic identity documents, thereby enabling citizens, control authorities and administrations employees to easily understand and use the new eID technology, and to provide an efficient implementation of the citizens identification & authentication and e-Government services procedure

By Manuel Villamayor, Director Government & Secure Identification Division NagraID – Kudelski Group

D

uring the last decade security and privacy became the most important issues for governments, enterprise and individuals. The industry has been challenged to find secure solutions in response to the proliferation of new types of threats (illegal immigration, organized crime, cybercrime, terrorism, etc.) and the growing volume of global trade and travel.

Following the recommendations from the smartcard industry and inspired by the new electronic passport with biometrics, PKI, etc, driven by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) some Governments based their Citizens ID’s documents such as national ID’s, resident permits, driving license, health cards, weapon ID’s, social cards, etc, on complex smartcards that required huge investments and several years to

30

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

develop the infrastructure and to deploy the necessary equipment for the authorities, administration and citizens to use these new electronic ID documents.

Also, the control authorities, government administration and citizens needed to be educated in the new technology and how to use these new documents for e-Services, and therefore some governments decided to provide

smartcard readers free of charge to the public to stimulate new smartcard use for e-Government services.

Unfortunately after a few years of trials and huge investments, we can now say, that despite all the efforts made by the government administration in charge of the e-ID programs, the actual function of and how to use the new smartcard still

remains unknown for most of the citizens and control authorities.

Key Elements Based on those unsuccessful experiences other governments developing the electronic ID programs have made it a priority to find solutions that fulfil the essential needs of the citizen and have focus on the following five key elements: • high secure • low investments • quick implementation • use of the existing network infrastructures to avoid more investments, • and convenience ...meaning easy to use for citizens, control authorities and administration employees…

Furthermore, considering the economic recession that most governments are suffering from today, the

NagraID

special feature

Convergence & Convenience to simplify the e-ID World

Converging Citizens ID’s thanks to the e-Service ID Display Card

combined ID’s become a top priority for most of the countries that are looking for a citizen “e-Service card” that allows different government departments like the ministry of interior, health department, ministry of transport, ministry of foreign affairs, social affairs, defence, etc.. to interact with an “e-Service citizen card” while keeping the ownership of their own databases.

Converged Solution After analysing and fully understanding the needs

and requirements of an e-ID program, we developed the universal and converged smart card solution that can be used anytime-anywhere by different Government departments secured by Password Authenticated Connection Establishment (PACE) protocol that ensures Digital Authentication Protection required on Secure citizens e-ID’s, e-Government, Corporate e-ID’s and e-Commerce ID’s use applications. This “e-Service ID Display card” is the “inviolable key” that protects the Citizens’

Digital Identities against counterfeits, manipulation and identity theft and acts as an overseer, to reliably enable “anytime & anywhere” Citizen’s Identification and authentication by the authorities, and ensure secure e-Transactions with public and private organizations offering

e-Service ID Display Card: for the new generation of secure identity documents

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

31

special feature

NagraID

Simplifying our life...

Robust Authentication Using Unclonable and Inviolable Process Protocol:

In a Digital World, convenience is the key to access to technology & e-Services

‑ Dual “Personal Identification Document” => PID ‑ and “Dual Sign-On => DSO validation (Voice or Digital)

=> 2 people must be authenticated (agent + citizen) to allow and validate the process identification request • Officer checking in the field the status of a citizen e-Service Card ID (eDL, Resident Permit, etc...)

Voice checking - Authentication using the standard Military or Police radio network

2 Low investments ‑ do not require smartcard readers 3 Quick implementation ‑ using existing data bases 4 Use of the existing network infrastructures to avoid extra investments ‑ such as telephone (GSM/ GPRS), smartphone (WLAND), walkie-talkie (police/military network) and computers (Internet), to obtain instant electronic authentication & identification 5 Convenience ‑ meaning easy to use for citizens, control authorities and administration employees …a real plug & play solution

Digital checking: Identification & Authentication using the standard mobile network and a basic SMS capable phone

Digital checking: Identification & Authentication using LEGACY infrastructure and any smart phone

the most secure protection from data theft and misuse.

In addition, this card is the lastest generation of Secure Identity Documents that provides governments, citizens, corporations and e-Consumers a higher visible security, greater user-friendliness and the best privacy protection.

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egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

How the e-Service ID Display Card works?

1 High Secure Four High Security Authentication Levels: 1 First presence, Your presence => Unique 2 Something you have and cannot be cloned or

counterfeited => Display card - eID 3 Something that is yours and unique => CAN1 + OTP2 4 Second presence, someone controlling => Agent

NagraID’s Government & Secure ID Divisions’ investigations have concluded that the issues with the traditional smartcard are based on the fact that during the last five years we have seen governments investing in complex and expensive smartcard ID solutions requiring huge investments in infrastructures and we believe that this feature gives an excellent appraisal and shows how the new “e-Service ID Display card” can bring about a plug & play solution to the existing e-World infrastructures, network and communication tools.

Card Authentication Number

1

One Time Password based on Dynamic

2

Signature Key

For further information please contact : secureID@nagraid.com

Our Partners consider us trusted advisors and technology providers for the Digital & ID Security industry Citizen ID’s • National ID • Electronic Passports • Health Card • Driving License • Resident Permit • Weapon Registration...

Identity & Access Management • Logical access • Physical access • Virtual Private Network (VPN) Key Card • OTP • PKI • Certificates • Document Access Corroboration…

NagraID (Switzerland), offers tailor made products and value-added solutions, services and transfer technologies for citizens ID’s, corporate ID’s, financial and e-Consumers ID’s markets.

NagraID’s advanced technologies and product families are the results of 35 years of experience in micro-electronic product development, including 20 years e-Passports - inlay and cover in secure contactless technologies, mulMADE in SwitzErlAnD tiple patents and engineering processes crowned by Swiss high precision, quality methodologies and heritage.

Our goal is to provide to selected Partners and Customers the best technologies & solutions to increase their added value proposition and to help them to ensure future business and growth…

The Nagra ID “e-Service Display Card” is the last generation of Secure Identity Documents that provides Governments, citizens, corporations and e-Consumers with a higher visible security, greater user-friendliness and the best privacy protection.

e-Consumers Card • e-Gaming • e-Commerce • e-Loyalty…

Nagra ID a Kudelski group company Crêt-du-Locle 10 2301 La Chaux-de-Fonds Switzerland Tel: +41 (32) 924 04 04 www.nagraid.com

Your contact for Government ID solutions: Government@nagraid.com

Your contact for Secure ID solutions: SecureID@nagraid.com

Digital Economy

CEOs Interactive Session On Digital Economy With

Nitin Gadkari

T

he CEOs’ interactive session on digital economy was organised by NASSCOM, FICCI, American Chamber of Commerce, Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research (C-DEP) and the Centre for Knowledge Sovereignty on 3rd May 2012 in Mumbai. BJP National President, Nitin Gadkari, was the chief guest at the session, which was attended by Naina Lal Kidwai, FICCI; Som Mittal, Nasscom; P.Balaji – Sony Mobile; Debjani Ghosh, Intel; Sanjeev Gupta, Accenture; Jaijit Bhattacharya, C-DEP; Deepak Ghaisas, GCV Life Pvt Ltd; Kaku Nakhate, Bank of America; and few others.

The speakers at the session spoke about the following: • e- Governance • The current scenario of the Indian technology industry

Nitin Gadkari addressing the interactive session

• Issues plaguing the technology sector • Industry role in executing different e-Governance projects Speaking at the event, Nitin Gadkari said,

Nitin Gadkari

National President, Bharatiya Janata Party

“Policies need to have continuity and consistency so that they’re predictable for businesses. It’s not a challenge to keep international investors interested in the market” 34

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

“Politics alone isn’t enough to bring about socioeconomic transformation. Entrepreneurship is the key.”

On the subject of roll out of e-Governance systems, Nitin Gadkari said, “Technology providers should focus on creating the best technologies. They should also propose nationwide rollouts. We can work with our own governments as well as where we’re in opposition, to manage the consensus for such implementations”.

On the subject of social media, Shri Nitin Gadkari had this to say, “We do wish to allow freedom of speech, but that should not be misused to destroy someone’s life. We need to propose an integrated policy solution, which takes care of concerns at both ends, instead of pushing for complete freedom without any restrictions.”

in person

K K Singh

Founder Chairman & CEO, Rolta

Developing

ideas in Technology

H

ow has ICT industry evolved in India from the time when you started Rolta in

the early 1980s?

At the time when we started Rolta, the IT industry was not quite developed. The scope of IT was also not fully understood then. IT was being deemed as a technology that had the potential of replacing labour and thus leading to rise in unemployment. In our country, labour replacing technologies are not favoured. But now the realisation has dawned on us that IT never replaces labour, rather it poses as an excellent way of generating employment opportunities for large numbers of people. Today it is possible for people who are doing low paying traditional jobs, to get some training and move on to a better paying IT jobs. IT is a job creator. Over the last 30 years, millions of new jobs have been created due to IT and the country has earned handsome returns in form of taxes, etc.

When you started Rolta, what was the vision? How has that vision evolved over the years?

“The business environment has completely changed. In the 1980s we used to take years to import a single computer, today we can do it instantly,� says K K Singh, Founder Chairman & CEO, Rolta, in an interaction with Dr Ravi Gupta

36

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

We started Rolta in 1982. At that time, no one had the idea about the golden future that IT was going to have in the world. But I had great amount of fascination with computers and IT. That is why I started an IT company.

At the time of its founding, Rolta was fully focussed on IT. We intended to create an IT company that could grow rapidly. Those were the days when it was very difficult to import a computer system; it took three or four years to just get the licence for importing. But we somehow managed to survive under those tough conditions and eventually we started providing services to many major companies. This happened in the first two-three years of our existence. We also started an office in California. We are one of the pioneers in IT.

in person

Today Rolta has diversified into many different areas. Please tell us about the inspiration behind your diversification strategy.

base for thousands of services from the government and even from the private industry.

What kind of growth are you expecting in the Indian IT market and especially in the government spending on the IT?

At an early stage, we realised that there was very little difference between Rolta and every other IT company. At that point of time also TCS was one of the largest IT companies. Frankly speaking, we felt threatened by TCS. If a company like TCS were to review its pricing and operational strategy, it could lead to our customers moving on to TCS. That is why we started concentrating on vending solutions that were not being sold by any other company. We started creating GIS software in India and soon we managed to capture around 60 to 70 percent of the market. We also entered the field of engineering solutions and we managed to capture about 80 to 85 percent of the market. In 1990, we received an award from Government of India for achieving highest export in the GIS category. From 1995 onwards we started focussing on defence in a big way.

In the 1990s, when Nasscom was formed, the IT market size was around 1 billion dollars only.

Today the revenues of Indian IT firms is close to $100 billion. Recently Nasscom has released a report stating that from 2012 to 2020, the total size of the IT market would become $200 billion. In this, the domestic market is expected to contribute around $40 billion, which is equivalent to approximately 2 lakh crores. IT industry is showing very healthy growth in India. We have always been deeply focused on Indian market and we are expecting significant amount of growth in the domestic segment.

Where do you see Rolta in the year 2020? What is your vision for the company?

You have acquired many companies in last five years.

In last five years we have become a most solutions oriented company. We have also acquired many companies in order to enhance our portfolio of technologies and systems. Instead of saying that we will develop every solution ourselves, we were getting hold of solutions from the companies that we have acquired. As a result of this strategy we are now quite rich in technologies. Our customers are appreciating the fact that we bring a large number of technologies to the table. We are also providing solutions for e-Governance.

How have the times changed from when you started in the 1980s and today?

The business environment has completely changed. In the 1980s, we had to run around for permits and permissions, but now we can take decisions freely in most cases. The liberalised business environment is at par with what we have in developed countries. There are large numbers of studies that show that India and China will be the top economies of the world by 2025. So there is lot of improvement that is happening in India and rest of Asia, and the companies that are focused on these parts of the world are sure to benefit from the growth. Earlier they used to say that this is the technology that is available in other parts of the world, but we will release it in India after few years. Now we have the situation

where every new technology gets released in India at almost the same time as in other parts of the world. In fact, there are large numbers of instances where technologies get developed in India to be released in other parts of the world.

The country has now become home to hundreds of new entrepreneurs who are doing a great job and are fuelling growth.

Tell us about your solutions in the e-Governance vertical.

We are providing a range of software solutions for e-Governance in India and abroad. In Middle East we have done e-Governance projects of almost $100 million. In India also we are involved in many e-Governance projects. We are expecting a big growth in e-Governance vertical.

Just to give you one specific example – the UIDAI programme, started by the government of India, has in my opinion the potential of becoming a

We are very clearly seeing ourselves as a major player in the defence vertical and in many other sectors. Our aim is to be a fully diversified company. Defence is such a large sector that even if you can grab a small share of it, you increase your revenues many times. We see tremendous potential for ourselves in defence. We have a big focus on homeland security. We are providing homeland security solutions to many states.

Engineering will continue to be growth area for us. Geo Spatial systems will also be on our radar, we will continue to grow in this sector.

Today IT contributes about 25 percent of our revenues. This again is a very large market and it has tremendous potential to grow. We will continue to focus on improving our IT revenues.

Rolta enjoys a large presence in Middle East. Tell us about some e-Governance project that you are involved with in Middle East.

We have a very prestigious contract to create a 3D modelling of Abu Dhabi. The entire city, from building to building, road to road will be modelled in 3D. The model will be so complex that anyone can virtually enter any building and explore it. At the time of natural disasters, the 3D model will enable rescue teams to find out the best ways of entering or exiting from any building. There is simply no end to the ways by which the 3D system can be used for enhancing security of the city.

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

37

in person

Rajesh Goel

General Manager (IT), Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO)

“Bridging ‘housing divide’ in the country”

T

ell us about the social initiatives that HUDCO has taken to serve the economically weaker sections of the population.

The principal mandate of HUDCO is to facilitate housing & infrastructure development in the country with a special thrust on meeting the housing needs of the ‘deprived’ i.e. the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Low-Income Groups (LIGs). exclusive focus on serving the ‘unserved’ and thus bridging the ‘housing divide’ in the country. HUDCO is proud to have supported over 1.5 crore dwelling units since its inception. One in every sixteen houses in the country have availed HUDCO’s financial assistance.

HUDCO’s operations are guided by its social responsibility. It has been assisting the Government in the implementation of major social programmes such as the Two - Million Housing Programme (2 MHP), Night Shelters, Integrated Low cost Sanitation(ILCS), Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), National Slum Development Programme (NSDP), Valmiki-Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY), JnNURM (Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission), Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor(ISHUP) and is now expected to take a lead role in implementing Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY).

What kind of financial assistance is HUDCO providing in urban and rural areas?

HUDCO extends techno-financial assistance to benefit the masses in urban and rural areas under a broad spectrum of programmes.

HUDCO’s coverage spans across the total arena of housing, right from land acquisition to construction, renewals, etc. In Urban Infrastructure, HUDCO also focuses on utility, social as well as commercial infrastructure. HUDCO provides subsidised lending for Economically Weaker Section, even lower than its borrowing cost to facilitate the Government’s mission of providing ‘Affordable Housing for All’. The same is partially cross-subsidised from its other commercial lendings.

“The principal mandate is to facilitate housing & infrastructure development with a special thrust on meeting the housing needs of the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Low-Income Groups (LIGs)”, says Rajesh Goel, General Manager (IT), HUDCO, in an interaction with Sunil Kumar

38

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

Can you tell us about the ICT solutions that HUDCO is using to bring more efficiency into its operations?

HUDCO has always been a pioneer in adopting modern ICT solutions. It was one of the first PSUs to link its offices through WAN. HUDCO imparts

in person

able in silos and not in a centralized place. This is leading to lot of duplication of efforts in operations of various departments as well as making it difficult to give organisation-wide picture from a single system. In order to have seamless flow of information between different departments and functions, for better control of the processes and for leveraging advances in IT systems for business gains, HUDCO has decided to implement an integrated ERP system covering following departments: • Operations: Project Loan and Retail Loan • Finance and Accounts: Loans Accounts and Financial Accounts • MIS : Scheme Information System/ EIS • Resources: Term Loans and Bonds, Fixed Deposits, Asset Liability Management • HR & Administration • Consultancy and Design

Rupesh Kumar Shah Deputy General Manager (IT), HUDCO (Provided information on IT Security and Strategy) utmost importance to IT as a tool to achieve its operational excellence in all its facets. Hudco has a robust Intranet and website for effecting requisite communication with its internal and external stakeholders. HUDCO has been using major applications like Financial Accounting, Loan Accounting, Scheme Information System, Payroll, CPF and HRMS. All the applications have been build on Oracle Forms. The application is deployed on web with all Regional offices having access to the applications hosted at central server through WAN. These applications are routed through an excellent Intranet application along with website which takes care of the requirement of our internal as well as external stakeholders.

All locations are connected to MPLS VPN cloud provided by Sify. As a part of e-governance, our borrowers have been provided with a window on our website so that they can view the status of their Project, Loan and Ledger also. All possible measures towards paperless office have been accomplished for its employees through its Intranet.

Tell us about the new ICT projects that you are planning.

Over multiple years as per the needs of different department’s business processes, customised systems were developed at HUDCO. These systems evolved over the years, but still information is avail-

regional office. Movement of backup media to the offsite backup storage area is controlled and logged. All logical backups of the database is on daily basis on all working days and physical backup is taken fortnightly by the Database Administrator. Backup of parameters and configuration of the network devices is taken by the Network Administrator as and when the configurations are altered. Root backup of Application Server and Database Server is taken monthly by the Network Administrator and back up of web server is taken monthly by the Web administrator. Physical cutting of media is done before disposing. Access to backup media is restricted on a ‘need to know, need to do’ basis. Record is kept for documenting the retrieval of archive data on Servers with name, date and signatures of concerned application owner, database/network/

“One in every sixteen

houses in the country have

availed HUDCO’s financial assistance” Enterprise-wide IT application roll-out is a good occasion for looking at current business practices adopted by HUDCO. HUDCO also wishes to implement Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Risk Management and GRC using Business Intelligence (BI) and appropriate tools.

web administrator and signatures of custodian of backup along with the details of data recovered and reasons thereof.

Tell us about the IT security solutions that are in place at HUDCO.

The quantum of housing and infrastructure shortage in the country is such that there remains a huge gap to be filled in this sector. The urban housing shortage in the country is currently estimated at a whopping 26.53 million units, which will require an investment of over Rs. 3,61,300 crore as per the 11th plan estimates, which has now been updated to Rs 6 lakhs crores. As per the preliminary assessment by the Planning Commission, the infrastructure sector needs nearly Rs 40 lakhs crores by 2030, as per HPEC headed by Dr I J Ahluwalia. The development of housing and infrastructure sectors is crucial for sustainable growth of the economy. In view of growing urbanisation, there is also a need for development of harmonious and inclusive cities.

HUDCO’s corporate vision 2020 envisages a quantum jump in the scale of its operation. We aim to achieve a turnover of Rs one lac crores by 2020, while aiming to support nearly one million dwelling units per year on an average.

IT Security in HUDCO is an important aspect of our IT Strategy. We periodically conduct Risk Assessment and review Security Architecture covering Network Security, Vulnerability Assessment of Operating Systems, Database, Webserver & IT Applications, Network & Security Devices, Video Conferencing System, Individual Applications, Backup & Recovery, Antivirus, Disaster Recovery. Preliminary level disaster recovery measures are being taken where database logs shipping process is in place along with tape archives being placed at offsite locations periodically. All backup media is stored in fire resistant cabinet at head office and also at one more location in Delhi along with one copy in Hyderabad regional office as offsite backup location. Frequency of replication of data backup is weekly in Delhi and monthly in Hyderabad

Tell us about the challenges that HUDCO faces in fulfilling its social obligations. What are the solutions for these challenges?

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

39

Financial Inclusion

Department of Posts

New Technology for Better Services Manjula Prasher, Secretary, Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt of India, provides us with an overview of the new technological ideas that are being implemented by the department to ensure better services to the people Manjula Prasher, Secretary, Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt of India

D

epartment of Posts caters to the public through Departmental and Gramin Dak Sevaks managed Post Offices. There are 154688 post offices in the country, out of which 25154 are departmental post offices and 129416 Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) managed post offices which are predominantly in the rural areas. Around 89.8 percent of post offices are located in rural areas, rest are in urban areas. Till the month of March 2012, 24969 departmental post offices had been computerised, out of these 19890 have been provided with network connectivity.

The software solutions deployed at the Post Offices include: • Meghdoot for postal operations • Sanchay Post for saving bank function • Postal Life Insurance software for PLI work Meghdoot and Sanchay Post are in Local Area Network (LAN), while the Postal Life Insurance software operates in the Wide Area Network (WAN) software.

Electronic money transfer The money remittances done through Post Offices by electronic means are:-

40

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

i) iMO: iMO is an instant web based money transfer service through Post Offices (iMO Centres) in India. You can transfer sums ranging between INR 1,000 to INR 50,000 from designated iMO Post Offices. The payee has to collect the payment from the Post Office Counter.

ii) eMO: eMOs are transmitted electronically from the Post Office of Booking to the Post Office of delivery and the payment is made at the doorsteps of the payee. Therefore, the transmission time involved in manual MO is reduced considerably. The maximum limit of money remittance is Rs. 5000/-.

Financial Inclusion

iii) Collaboration with Western Union and Moneygram: Remittances from abroad can be received instantaneously and the payment is made at the Post Office counter on production of security code and authorised identity proof. Remittances of up to Rs. 50,000/- is payable in cash.

Remittances to other countries iv) through Eurogiro (MO Videsh): Money Order Videsh, a new offering of India Post, facilitates remittances to foreign countries and receiving of remittances from foreign countries through the medium of Post Office. The service was launched in 2009.

Modernisation plans The LAN based software limits the reach of the Post Offices and therefore, the department has taken up the implementation of IT Modernisation Project in 2012 under Plan scheme for which an outlay of RS.1877.2 crore has been made by the Government.

The project has the following components:• It will establish IT infrastructure of Data Centre and Disaster Recovery Centre and networking of all Post offices including Grameen Dak Sewaks (GDS) managed Post Offices in rural areas.

• The project envisages development of integrated modular scalable applications for mail, banking, postal life insurance, advanced financial services and ERP solutions for accounts and HR operations of the Department.

• The GDS managed Post Offices will be provided with rural ICT devices with required applications for performing postal, banking, insurance, retail operations.

• Provision for training, change management, capacity building of the employees of the department along with setting up of the Project Management Units at Department, Circle, Region and Division levels for smooth and timely implementation of the project.

Department of post projects

go to Infosys, TCS, Sify, RCom The Department of Posts

these projects over a period

Integration and Reliance

(DoP) has been trying to

of two years. The Depart-

Communications Infrastruc-

induct technology in a big

ment will seek additional

ture for Data Centre.

way. In March 2012, letters of

funds as and when the need

intent were issued by Depart-

arises.

Infosys has got Letters

DoP will put all the necessary

Sify and Reliance Com-

of Intent for two projects

softwares in place along with

munications Infrastructure

which are for Rural System

procurement of requisite IT

for different technology

and Financial Services

hardwares. The Department

advancement projects.

Integration. Tata Consultancy

has set for itself the agenda

Services has received Letters

of computerising all its 1.55

has got approval of Rs 1,877.2

of Intent for Change Manage-

lakh post offices across the

crore to be spent across

ment, Sify for Network

country by 2013.

ment of Posts to Infosys, TCS,

The Department of Posts

modular software covering all areas of postal operations.

There is focus on setting up of infrastructure including Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Centre, networking of all the departmental post offices and change management to upgrade the employees’ skills. Introduction of core banking in networked post offices and setting up of 1000 ATMs is also part of this Project. In addition, during the 12th Plan it has been proposed that the postal department should have 3000 ATMs. In case of GDS managed post office, computer hardware having mobile connectivity will be provided. This will ensure the availability of a platform in which banking, money remittance and insurance related services can be provided and the rural populace can become a part of modernised IT network of the Department of Posts.

The requirement of adequate and latest hardware i.e. computers, servers, printers, label printers, barcode scanners, UPS, Gensets etc. in mail processing Offices has been assessed and these components will be supplied under the IT Project.

Deployment of new technology The IT modernisation programme is being taken forward in such a way that it leads to the creation of integrated scalable modular software for both Departmental and Gramin Dak Sewak managed Post Offices. This plan scheme is being implemented through 8 different RFPs which are now in different phases of implementation. The IT Project envisages implementing integrated, scalable,

Under the technology advancement programme,

Facilitating financial inclusion The Rural ICT solution would enable GDS managed Post Offices in rural areas to provide electronic delivery of postal services, money orders, MGNREGS, postal banking, insurance etc. The Rural ICT Solution will be implemented in phases. In pilot phase, selected GDS managed Post Offices in certain circles will have pilot projects for 3 months during which

the solutions will be tested and their efficacy will be judged. Thereafter, the solution will be implemented in GDS managed Post Offices in other rural areas of these Circles. After successful implementation in pilot circles the rural ICT solution will be implemented in all the GDS managed Post Offices of the country by 2013-2014.

The Computerisation and networking of all the Post Offices in the Rural Area is sure to bring following benefits: • The Post office will become the focal point of delivery of social security schemes of the State.

• This will enable paperless transactions for mail, postal banking and insurance • All the accountable articles meant for delivery can be tracked and traced.

The Department of Posts is also aiming to promote financial inclusion in the country by emerging as a one-stop shop for retail products and by offering a single window facility for banking, money remittances and other financial products and services including social and civic initiatives such as the NREGS and National Old Age Pension Scheme.

the author is Secretary, Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt of India

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

41

legal angle

Cyberlaw

And Data Security Proactive compliance with the parameters of Indian Cyberlaw is indeed the urgent necessity of today. Compliance, Compliance & Compliance is the only way to nirvana for all stakeholders in the digital ecosystem Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Head, Pavan Duggal Associates

E

arlier, the scope and ambit of the Information Technology Act, 2000 was limited to use of computers, computer systems and computer networks. However with the advent of the mobile revolution, it was felt that the applicability of the said law needs to be extended to all kinds of mobility related devices.

As such the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 amended the Information Technology Act, 2000. These amendments came into effect from 27th October, 2009. Consequently, the Indian Cyberlaw is applicable to all mobile devices and communication devices whether it is cell phones, mobile phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants or combination of both or any other device which is used to communicate audio, video, image or text.

By virtue of Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, electronic format has been granted legal validity. Prior to the coming into effect of the Indian Cyberlaw, there was no legislation that granted legal sanction and validity for the electronic format. However, Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 has provided the framework for giving legal sanc-

42

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

tion to electronic format. Section 4 stipulates that where any law provides that any information or any other matter shall be in writing or in the typewritten or printed format, then notwithstanding anything contained in such law, such requirement shall be deemed to be satisfied if the information or matter is rendered

or made available in the electronic form and is further accessible so as to be usable for the subsequent reference. The net effect of this is that all the output of computers, computer systems, computer networks, computer resources and communication devices is granted legal sanction and validity under the Indian Cyberlaw.

legal angle

Concept of Intermediaries The Indian Cyberlaw has also come up with a unique concept known as “intermediaries�.

Intermediary is defined under Section 2(1)(w) of the amended Information Technology Act, 2000 in the widest possible terms. Any person who on behalf of another person receives, stores or transmits any particular electronic record or provides any service with respect to that record becomes an intermediary in India.

A perusal of the said definition would clearly show that the definition is indeed very wide and includes within its ambit vast number of legal entities doing business or activities in the electronic ecosystem. These would include Telecom Service Providers, Network Service Providers, Internet Service Providers, Web Hosting Service Providers, Search Engines, Online Payment Sites, Online Auction Sites, Online Marketplaces and CybercafĂŠs. Further the law has also stipulated the liability of intermediaries for any third-party data, information or communication link made available by them.

Chapter XII of the Information Technology Act, 2000 details such liability.

This liability is applicable for all service providers who are providing services pertaining to providing micro-payments in rural areas as also all m-banking and m-commerce service providers and all online banking activities amongst other things. Any entity who is an intermediary in the context of electronic governance ecosystem would have to ensure that it complies with the parameters of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 states that as a principle, intermediary shall not be liable for any third party information, data or communication link made available or hosted by him, provided certain conditions are fulfilled. These conditions include that an intermediary has to observe due diligence while discharging its obligations under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and also observe such other guidelines as the Central Government may prescribe in this behalf. Intermediary is mandated not to initiate the transmission, select the receiver of the transmission and select or modify the information contained in the transmission. Further intermediaries are required that on receiving actual knowledge or being notified by the Government that any information, data or communication link residing in or connected to a computer resource control by the intermediary

is being used to commit an unlawful act, then intermediary must expeditiously remove or disable access to that material on that resource.

This needs to be done without vitiating the evidence in any manner whatsoever.

A watershed moment in cyberlegal jurisprudence Section 79 represents a watershed in the history of cyber-legal jurisprudence in India. All service providers will have to ensure compliance with the parameters of Information Technology Act, 2000 including Section 79, so long as they deal with the electronic format as also use of computer systems, computer networks and computers resources.

Most of the service providers in the electronic governance ecosystem have no clue about the requirements of law. Most of the said service providers and electronic projects are operating without ensuring compliance of the parameters of the amended Information Technology Act, 2000 and rules and regulations made there under.

With advent of the mobile revolution, it was felt that the applicability of Information Technology Act, 2000, needs to be extended to all kinds of mobility related devices This presents a huge challenge as far as Indian nation is concerned. Non-compliance with the parameters of the Information Technology Act, 2000 presents two major legal exposures for all service providers who are providing any services in the electronic governance ecosystem or electronic or mobile commerce or banking activities. Such service providers need to appreciate that in case if they do not comply with the parameters of the Indian Cyberlaw, they could potentially face both civil and criminal legal consequences. The civil consequences could consist of being sued for damages by way of compensation upto 5 Crores INR per contravention under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and beyond 5 Crores INR in a court of competent jurisdiction. These are the summary proceedings and can be initiated provided

the parameters of Section 43 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 are fulfilled. Section 43 prescribed various grounds of damages can be sought including on the ground of unauthorized access, downloading, copying and extracting data, introducing a computer contaminant, damaging of computer system or diminishing value or utility of information residing therein or affecting the same injuriously by any means as also other grounds.

Further the top management of such intermediary company could also be exposed to criminal consequences which could consists of imprisonment for the top management ranging from three years upto life imprisonment.

Clearly, the Information Technology Act, 2000 has a huge impact on compliances.

All relevant stakeholders who are providing any services of any kind whatsoever in the electronic governance ecosystem have to wake up to the new reality that they have to ensure compliance with the parameters of Information Technology Act, 2000. If they do not do so, not only could their business be impacted, but more significantly their exposure to unwanted consequences could have a detrimental impact upon their standing, reputation, goodwill and repute.

The providers of m-banking and m-commerce as also other intermediaries have to specifically ensure that they not only comply with the parameters of the Information Technology Act, 2000 but also comply with the parameters of the Information Technology Rules, 2011.

It is pertinent to point out that on 11th April, 2011, the Government of India notified four distinct set of rules which are collectively known as Information Technology Rules, 2011. These include the Information Technology (Electronic Service Delivery) Rules, 2011, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices And Procedures And Sensitive Personal Data Or Information) Rules, 2011, the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 & the Information Technology (Guidelines for Cyber Cafe) Rules, 2011. These Rules provide various parameters of compliance by the relevant stakeholders.

the author is Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Head, Pavan Duggal Associates

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

43

in person

Vivek Sharma

General Manager and Business Head, Government and Defence vertical, Wipro

NeGP has

provided a big boost to e-Governance projects

T

ell us about the e-Governance projects that you are involved with at centre and state level.

In India, e-Governance has taken great strides in the last four to five years, especially after the coming of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). We have had a fair amount of success in the e-Governance vertical across diverse government departments. Wipro has played important role in several large as well as medium sized projects in diverse areas of health, education, administration, services, applications, infrastructure, defence, security. We have been involved in UIDAI imitative, we have been part of e-district initiative and we have also had fair amount of success in infrastructure projects like the State Data Centres, which are coming up in many states across the country. In CCTNS project also we are playing an important role. Some of our e-Governance projects have already been executed; some of them are under execution.

The largest e-Governance project that we have successfully executed is Employees’ State Insurance Corporation’s (ESIC) Project Panchdeep.

Tell us about your experience of executing the Project Panchdeep.

Vivek Sharma, General Manager and Business Head, Government and Defence Vertical, Wipro, spoke to eGov on various aspects of the e-Governance projects being launched in the country

44

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

The Employee’s State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has partnered with Wipro to establish a comprehensive and complex IT eco-system managing the delivery of medical care services for employees. It is the largest such social welfare scheme in the world. The project was worth approximately Rs. 1182 crores. It involved development of software applications and IT infrastructure that covers 2220 sites across India with large roll out of over 20 million biometric identity cards and a database of over 50 million fingerprints. So the Panchsheel has also led to the creation of one of the largest biometric databases outside the UIDAI scheme and the NPR. The project was divided into five broad categories. The first category was devoted to developing a system of confirming the identity of the various employees enrolled into the project. The second had to do with creation of IT infrastructure, things like data centres, storage facilities, security systems, etc. The third category of the work was one

in person

that involved development of a software that can cater to the functioning of the entire healthcare segment. Then there were the insurance applications. And finally, there was the aspect of networking all the 2220 locations so that we had a broad framework of networked locations.

Wipro’s solution comprises of the following

• A biometric based

finance, HRMS, Payroll,

hardware such as servers,

identification system for IP by

materials management, library

storage, security and network

What is your response to the e-Governance policy that is currently active in the country?

Tell us about your expectations from the government.

providing them with identity

management

devices ensuring an integrated

cards, ensuring that subscribers

• An end-to-end solution for

and secure information

(IP) receive their medical and

project management (PMD)

retrieval system.

other benefits.

• A statistical and enterprise

• Alternate power mechanisms

• A Unified Information System

intelligence system enabled

at branch offices and

Given the size and the complexity of some of the e-Governance projects, it is necessary that there has to be a substantial amount of commitment from both sides. In case of Project Panchdeep, we had commitment of all the stakeholders for making the project operational in time. The government was very clear about the targets that had to be achieved while executing the project. There was clarity about the first milestone that had to be achieved. From our perspective we would like to see a better coordination between the centre and the states to decide how the e-Governance services get finally rolled out in the country.

automating all internal and

high data analytics capability for

dispensaries ensuring maximum

external processes connected

improved decision-making

up-time.

with ESIC.

• State-of-art voice and

• Change Management leading

• Core insurance application

videoconferencing equipment

to speedier adaption of IT by

for contribution (revenue)

for ESIC offices making it a

the users

management

future ready workplace.

• Countrywide user and admin

• Medical Information system for

• Wipro networked 2220

training for ESIC staff and users

hospitals and dispensaries used

locations

of the medical and ERP systems

by doctors, nurses, pharmacists,

• An Enterprise Management

• Maintenance and support for

medical technical staff and

System for managing system

all software and hardware for a

administrators.

performance and SLA

period of five years through its

• Enterprise Resource Planning

monitoring

Facility Management Services,

enhancing productivity of

• A centralised data and

centralized help desk and

ESIC employees running

disaster recovery center with

onsite support.

What new trends in e-Governance are you witnessing?

With the advent of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) and Mission Mode Projects, the e-Governance sector has received a huge fillip.

Before this we were only having department based initiatives for computerisation, etc. But

now we are having e-Governance solutions that are being provided on a much larger scale, their focus is to not just improve the functioning of a particular department. Rather, the e-Governance projects being planned currently are focussed on improving the quality of gov-

Benefits from

Employees’ State Insurance Corporation’s (ESIC) Project Panchdeep

• More than 60 million IPs

• The national-level CDR

by reducing redundant data

and their families are availing

provides for better quality of

entry and processes

medical services at any ESIC

clinical care anytime anywhere.

• The online system reveals

facility across India

• Wipro’s automated services

the complete list of the IPs

• Daily count of patients being

resulted in greater efficiencies

to employers for a simplified

treated using the system across

with lower turnaround time and

method for calculating

ESI locations—75,000+

faster claims processing

contributions and payments.

• As each claimant was issued

• Reduced operational

• Better flow of information/

two smart cards (one for himself

costs and redundancies as

approvals through the online

and one for his family), it became

a result of better inventory

workflow as compared to the

easier to access medical services

management

conventional system, which

even if the insured person (IP)

• Automated and improved

needed the physical transfer of

was at another location, thereby

resulted in fewer errors and

files across India.

saving time and effort.

increased employee productivity

ernance in general and bringing about seminal improvements in quality of people’s lives. Now the idea of having anytime, anywhere services online from the government have become very popular with the net savvy generation. So e-Governance is an idea whose time has come.

Purely from a technological standpoint, the biggest trend in e-Governance is that now there is increased reliance on cloud based solutions.

When it comes to e-Governance, what is your dream project?

It is very difficult to say what a dream e-Governance project would be like. The field of e-Governance is so vast that there is so much that can be considered from a perspective of what can be done and what cannot be done.

We are having e-Governance projects in fields of education, healthcare, administration, infrastructure, defence, security, etc. The overall aim of e-Governance is to bring better benefits to the people; hence a dream e-Governance project would be one that can bring maximum amount of benefits to the people. Actually there cannot be a single dream project; there can be series of dream projects for many different verticals.

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

45

Power and Green IT

Green Energy

through ICT

Power consumption in India looks set to rise steadily over the next decade, so it is imperative for the Indian government to steer a push towards wind and solar power Dhirendra Pratap Singh, Elets News Network (ENN)

W

hile addressing the first meeting of the Solar Energy Industry Advisory Council (SEIAC) in New Delhi, the Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah, called upon the industry leaders to invest in Solar Energy Projects in the country. The Minister stated that in the country there ex-isted a vast scope for developing solar energy applications as still many parts of rural India do not have access to grid connected electricity.

“It is high time India taps non-conventional energy sources to meet its growing demand for power. The country now depends more on

46

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

fossil fuel, which is very costly. So we should move towards harvesting solar and wind energies,” says the Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah.

Harnessing Solar Power The government is providing a host of benefits for setting up solar projects based on both grid con-nected as well as off grid applications. In high altitude places in Ladakh, solar energy has changed people’s lives. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has proposed specific targets for capacity addition from wind power, small hydro power, solar power and bio-power in the country for the pe-riod 2012-17 in its Twelfth Five

Year Plan proposals submitted to Planning Commission.

In the Twelfth Five Year Plan period a target of 29,800 MW comprising 15,000 MW wind power, 2,100 MW small hydro power, 10,000 MW solar power and 2,700 MW bio-power, has been proposed for capacity addition of grid-interactive renewable power. R. K. Bansal, Managing Director, Uniline Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. says, “Use of renewable energy is going to serve in big way as we have limited supply of oil or diesel. By end of this decade we see lots of positive changes with respect to use of clean technology.”

“Considering increase in the demand of renewable power i.e. solar power system,

Power and Green IT

Uniline Energy has designed Solar Power Conditioning Unit (PCU). Govt. of India is taking steps under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to promote growth of renewable sector and they have already issued licenses for 8 M.W. solar power plant and for rooftop solar power, we are expecting policy within next 3-4 months,” R K Bansal adds.

Key Support for Sustainability The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has sanctioned projects for installation of 9190 numbers of standalone SPV power plants on panchayat buildings in Rajasthan (9168) and Punjab (22) in 2010-11. During 2011-12, the Ministry sanctioned installation of 4779 numbers of standalone SPV power plants at village panchayat buildings in Chhattisgarh (7), Jharkhand (4683), Karnataka (30) and Punjab (59). There is a lot of demand from rural areas.

With growing impetus from the government, solar energy and other green technologies are now the focus areas of many Indian corporate. The companies are racing compete for a share of the fast-growing market for climate-friendly technologies. New wind farms and solar power generation facili-ties are being set up. There is also the move towards creating environment friendly light bulbs and all kinds of appliances and devices. The

Green Choices • Turn on Power Management • Set screensavers to None • Buy Energy Star rated computers • Use laptops instead of desktops • Turn off peripherals when not in use • Turn off power at power point to stop phantom / standby loads

• Close unused applications • Turn off monitor when not in use • Measure your power consumption Where is IT saving environment now?

• Electronic banking, electronic receipts, electronic pay slips, Intranets, Wikis, electronic

form handling, email instead of post, email instead of fax, duplex printing, saving us from repetitive tasks, decision support systems, electronic commerce, instant messaging, electronic magazines & newspapers, online services such as email, document handling and computer maintenance.

Dr R K Pachauri

Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

“ICT can check power consumptions through development of efficient systems”

Dr Farooq Abdullah

Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy

“If proper policy support is provided, renewable energy can meet up to 80% of global energy demands by 2050”

focus is not only on creating greener industry, but also on ensur-ing that people can live in greener homes.

Last year, Moser Baer Clean Energy commissioned a 30 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) farm at Banaskantha district in north Gujarat. The plant will supply an estimated 52 million units of energy in a year - roughly the amount that Kerala consumes in a day.

Says Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), “The rapid growth of the ICT sector in India makes it imperative that future activities in this field fully meet the objec-tives of sustainability and social responsibility. ICT can check power consumptions in the economy by expanding their outreach to more and more sectors and make them greener.” He adds, “ICT could help build a more equitable system. We need the right leadership to promote this and partnership involv-

ing government, the industry and research institutions.”

Initiatives for a greener tomorrow There is also a move being made for producing bio-diesel. According to reports, plants with an aggre-gate capacity of 3470 tonnes per day have been set up in the country by private companies.

The National Policy on Biofuels notified by the Govt. of India in December, 2009 has laid down guide-lines for promotion of production and utilization of bio-diesel for blending with high speed diesel. Re-search on development and cultivation of improved varieties of Jatropha for increasing the production of bio-diesel has been taken up under projects funded by the Ministries of Agriculture, New and Renewable Energy and Science & Technology.

State-wise break up of bio-diesel plants installed in the country is given below:June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

47

Power and Green IT

R K Bansal

Managing Director, Uniline Energy Systems Pvt Ltd

“Next decade should be the decade of clean energy. Hopefully we will have clean energy from wind, solar power or some other means”

State-wise break

up of bio-diesel plants installed in the country

S.No

State

1

Andhra Pradesh

2

Chhattisgarh

13

3

Gujarat

60

4

Haryana

30

5

Maharashtra

210

6

Uttrakhand

50

7

West Bengal Total

Walk into the Wipro campus in Bangalore’s Electronic City, and the first thing you notice is the wind-mills. This year in February, the Adani Group announced that it had commissioned a 40-MW solar power project, touted as the coun-

interview

“Gradually renewable power will be more competitive in terms of price and volume” How important is renewable energy and clean technologies to emerging markets, such as India?

All the emerging markets including India have huge energy shortage. We have to take into account that the use of energy per capita is still significantly growing. We haven’t enough fossil fuels to sustain our growth. So clean technologies are very important.

Is it realistic to expect solar energy to meet the growing energy needs of these countries in the next 10-15 years?

Tarun Kapoor

Joint Secretary (Solar), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

48

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

There are major opportunities in renewable energy in India. At present, the percentage of renewable energy is about 5-6 percent. In India, we have huge wind resource (potential more than one lakh mega watt), solar and hydro and waste bio mass. The role of renewable energy will increase in India and gradually renewable power will be more competitive in

Installed capacity (in tonnes per day) 2510

500 3373

try’s largest, in Gujarat’s Kutch district. For Adani, India’s largest pri-vate thermal power producer, it is the first major project in the renewable energy space. Mahindra & Mahindra company has made sustainability its growth mantra.

terms of price and volume. If the pricing of energy takes into account environmental damage, this would boost investment in and the use of renewable energy sources. Innovation and technology are rapidly reducing development costs.

What are your views on National Solar Mission?

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) is creating an atmosphere for the solar energy sector in India. Phase I of the National Solar Mission has been a learning one, and now we are ready for the Phase II. So far, the Mission has been able to create an atmosphere and the focus has come to solar.

National Solar Mission is Very successful so far. We are organising several training programmes to meet developmental challenges in terms of building capacity in solar energy.

What are the biggest challenges in the growth of solar energy in India?

Though, the cost of solar panels has decreased dramatically over the last years but it is still high for a country like India. So it is a challenge to convince people to install costly solar energy devices.

Price of solar power is the biggest challenge.

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in person

Dr Arvind Gupta

National Convener, BJP IT Cell

“Social Media is most democratic and unbiased media”

A

s convener of BJP’s IT Cell, what is your mandate?

Information Technology has always been an important area of growth and we at BJP have been early adopters of such cutting edge technologies. The IT Cell of the party is mandated to work on various processes of internal modernisation, which envisages usage of latest technologies. We need technology for enabling better political outreach and engagement. The IT Cell also takes care of issues regarding policy, governance and IT Industry.

What is the vision of the BJP for India’s IT industry?

“e-Governance projects have been started by many departments, but these services need constant improvements to make them more effective. We need high-tech tools that can enable better communication between the citizens and government,” says Dr Arvind Gupta, National Convener, BJP IT Cell

50

egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

BJP views the IT Industry as a sunrise industry, which will play a seminal role in changing the fortunes of our nation. This sector is second largest domestic industry after the banking sector. Due importance must always be accorded to the IT Industry. India is a global leader in IT Industry and BJP works with our state governments, and the parliament to ensure that the needs this Industry are addressed adequately. BJP has been on the forefront of promoting domestic IT industry. In fact, the BJP had released a separate IT Vision Document in 2009.

in person

7th National meet of BJP IT Cell At the 7th National meet of the BJP IT Cell, the party President, Shri Nitin Gadkari emphasised the importance of Information Technology in providing good governance and reducing corruption. He shared the examples like PDS system in Chhat-

to reach out to common citizens for educating them on political issues. Government through policy based incentives can enable internal agencies and external providers to create content that highlights India’s history, heritage and culture, while also instilling a sense of nationalism in today’s youth.

tisgarh and eProcurement project in Karnataka and how these projects have helped improve citizen services and reduce corruption. He also stated that we should be open to all IT best practices and ideas.

At the national meet a unanimous demand was made to the government to initiate a fast track projects for building high speed digital highways down to each Tehsil and village block. Such project can of help in improving citizen services in rural area. The meet also demanded that minimum broadband speed be increased from the current 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps and subsequently to 1024 to enable delivery of better educational content and e-Governance to the rural areas of India.

Do you think that the social networking sites can be a medium of social reform? What must the government do to optimise the capabilities of the social networks?

Social Media is the most democratic and unbiased media. It has no single owner. It does not have influential shareholders. This makes it completely independent of powerful forces. Anyone can open an account and be a publisher, broadcaster etc. Many movements across the world, including India, have relied on social media to garner immense amount of popularity. These movements have used the very low cost social media solutions to build public opinion. Governments, policy makers should harness the power of this medium to listen, engage and respond to the citizens. Many BJP Governments and leaders have been using this medium for precisely the same. Gujarat, Karnataka are leading examples.

In Delhi, BJP has used crowd-sourcing strategies to solicit the views of citizens on Delhi Vision 2025. The governments need to come out with a better Social Media Usage policy and encourage departments to use Social Media. Internal Training and Evangelising is required for governments to adopt the same and understand the power of this medium.

What is your view of the e-Governance projects that have been started in the country?

Technology assisted governance and administration will go a long way in solving many of

the issues being faced by our country. e-Governance projects have been started by many departments, but these services need constant improvements to make them more effective.

We need high-tech tools that can enable better communication between the citizens and the government.

What is your dream e-Governance project? Please tell us about one e-Governance project that you think will be most beneficial for the common citizens of the country?

There are many projects that can be quoted from online recruitment, ePDS, Electronic Land Records, Online Birth Certificates. Any project which eases the life of ordinary citizens, brings transparency in government processes and automates administrative work would be most beneficial to common citizens.

What are the ways by which modern IT technology can be used to awaken a sense of national pride amongst India’s youth and acquaint them about India’s great culture?

Internet is a great enabler when it comes down to creating and disseminating low cost content to a much larger audience. e-Learning is an idea whose time has come. The creation of local content in Indian History and culture for Internet, tablets and mobile phones should be encouraged. We have started Yuva iTV an initiative

These days there is lot of discussion on the subject of malicious content that is often being placed on different outlets on the Internet. In your view what are the best ways by which we can regulate the Internet?

Internet and Social Media have created many new issues. With every new development in technology, some lacunae might emerge. But the positives always outweigh the negatives. We cannot regulate the Internet like we do regulation on other media. Most of the social media platforms have avenues for self regulation and that along with the existing IT Act of India is enough to tackle the problem of malicious/objectionable content in India. Censorship via the Intermediary as proposed by the Government via IT Rules 2011 is not required as sufficient laws exist to prevent seditious, malicious and hate speech related content.

In your opinion what should be done?

It is important that efforts are made to clarify objectionable content and introduce a Dispute Resolution Authority for user generated content related disputes.

The world economy is suffering from an economic downturn.

What must the government do to revive the Indian economy, and especially the IT sector?

Government needs to listen to the industry, stakeholders and opposition parties to resolve the policy paralysis that we are currently having the country. Growth is primarily services driven and IT Industry is contributing significantly to same. The basic needs of the IT Industry are very simple. There has to be a consistent IT SEZ Policy, there must also be MAT Protection in SEZ. We have to provide incentives for local manufacturing and for locating IT Industries in Tier 2-3 cities. Innovation and entrepreneurship should be encouraged with the creation of a vibrant eco system.

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

51

e-maharashtra

e-Maharashtra 2012 Maharashtra’s mega e-Governance Event Ishvinder Singh, Elets News Network (ENN)

T

he e-Maharashtra 2012, a prestigious ICT and e-Governance event for the State government of Maharashtra, was held on 27 April 2012, at the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan, Nariman Point, Mumbai. The event was attended by Ministers and Senior Executives from the State government, industry leaders, thought leaders, policy makers, academicians, researchers, technology vendors and other eminent delegates. e-Maharashtra 2012 served as a vibrant platform for dialogues, debates and deliberations on the various avenues by which effective e-Governance can be brought to the state of Maharashtra. Effectively this event became a platform for seeing, feeling and understanding the future of e-Governance services in the state of Maharashtra and rest of the country.

During the event prestigious e-Maharashtra awards were also conferred on leading developers of solutions in e-Governance in various categories. The recipients of the awards were judged by an eminent panel of independent jury, who followed the basic criteria of recognising excellence and innovations in e-Governance space.

With the purpose of bringing in more awareness, e-readiness and familiarity to nominated solutions, the awards were given under another category of ‘Public choice’ (through online voting), other than ‘Jury choice’ award.

There was overwhelming response for the online public poll – a whopping 22,775 votes were polled.

Putting spotlight on Maharashtra The e-Maharashtra 2012 was organised by Centre for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) and Elets Technomedia and was supported by the Department of IT, Government of Maharashtra. The event also had the support of UIDAI West region, and of associations like YASHADA, ISODA and TAIT. e-Maharashtra served the purpose of directing the spotlight on the initiatives taken by various government departments in Maharashtra, for creating a better physical and virtual infrastructure.

The fact that the solutions from ICT are leading to seminal improvements in the quality of life in the State’s towns and villages, became fully established through the presentations of many stakeholders.

Digital divide is slowly disappearing In urban areas of the country many new technological systems have already taken root. But in rural areas in general, technology is yet to make a substantive breakthrough. In that context Maharashtra has fared better than many other States in the country, in making the best aspects of modern technology available to its rural population.

The e-Maharashtra event introduced to many of us, a host of new e-Governance initiatives, that have been launched by various government departments in the rural areas.

We also learned about the contributions that the private sector companies are making in the creation of cutting edge ICT infrastructure in rural areas.

Organisation of the mega event Rated as one of most desired speaking opportunities for ministers, officials, CEOs, thought leaders and academicians, the e-Maharashtra event had inaugural speeches from: • Shri Balasaheb Bhausaheb Thorat, Hon’ble Minister, Revenue and Khar Lands, Government of Maharashtra • Shri Anil Deshmukh, Honb’le Minister, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Government of Maharashtra • Mse Fauzia T Khan, Honb’le State Minister, General Administration, Information and Publicity, Government of Maharashtra • Shri Rajesh Tope, Honb’le Minister, Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra • Shri J Satyanarayana, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of India Shri Rajesh Aggrawal, Secretary, IT, Government of Maharashtra, delivered the welcome address. The event was divided into different sessions, each one of which focussed on certain section of e-Governance in Maharashtra.

The invigorating summits included those that were on - Success Stories & Opportunities, ICT in Healthcare, ICT in Financial Inclusion, Taxation, Excise and Finance, ICT in Education: Moving Towards a Knowledge State and Urban Governance and Infrastructure The additional feature for the event was the ‘e-Maharashtra Expo’ that showcased a wide array of the latest technology, technology products and solutions, especially designed and developed for the government, businesses and end-users.

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e-maharashtra

Fundamental Right to e-Service “The IT policy, which is now in draft stage and is going through the process of consultation in various ministries, is focussed on ensuring that the IT revenues in the country are in range of US $100 billion to US $300 billion.”

D

The broad scope of IT

uring the last three years, the IT industry in the country has been clocking revenues in excess of $100 billion, which is equivalent to almost 5 percent of the country’s GDP. IT has led to a tremendous rise in the level of employment in the country.

Close to 28 lakh people are engaged in the IT industry across the country. We are globally recognised as a superpower in IT. Anyone who goes through the 12th Five Year Plan document will realise that today the availability of funds is not a core problem.

Improving quality of people’s lives National Policy on Electronics has been formulated to provide further fillip to the hardware side of our industry. The idea is to bring renewed focus on manufacturing sector. Currently we are depending heavily on imports, if this trend continues, then it is likely that by year 2020, we might be spending more of foreign exchange for importing hardware than what we spend on oil imports. It is important that we have some kind of policy to encourage domestic manufacturing in hardware.

Impressive efforts are being made to improve the quality of people’s lives through the use of solutions from ICT. Many new ideas have implemented in the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). Several Mission Mode Projects are underway. PDS, healthcare and education are also going to come under the ambit of e-Governance. Ministry of Corporate Affairs

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J Satyanarayan, IT Secretary, DeitY, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India started its on-line registration system in 2006.

Till now more than three lakh companies have registered through the system.

Another example of a successful e-Governance project is the Passport Sewa Kendras. A total of 77 PSKs have been planned, out of these 70 have already been rolled out. These PSKs have brought seminal efficiency in the way by which passports are delivered. Applicants no longer have to stand in queue from 4AM in the morning, as was the case once upon a time. Instead, they can take an appointment online. In most cases, the applicants are able to finish their work at the PSKs in less than 45 minutes. There is impressive amount of transparency in the system.

Many new datacentres have also been created.

The capacity is being used to fuel nearly one lakh Consumer Service Centres ( CSCs) in the country. The National Knowledge Network (NKN) is linking up all the educational institutions of Higher Learning and Research in the country.

As many as 1500 institutes, including the IITs and IIMs, are linked with a gigabyte fibre across the country. The R&D work is also progressing at a fast pace. A state of the art research centre has come up in Mumbai. There is also a supercomputing facility in Pune, Maharashtra.

The IT policy, which is still in draft stage and is going through the process of consultation in various ministries, is focussed on ensuring that the IT revenues in the country are in range of $100 billion to $300 billion. The policy also envisages greater focus on e-Governance. In future, we could have a system where it becomes a fundamental right of citizens to have access to online facilities. Right to eService could become a fundamental right.

The scope of IT is now so broad that it seems quite possible that IT department could become a part and parcel of every other department in the country. Obviously language has a very important role to play in the field of technology. I am happy to note that the government of Maharashtra is taking several initiatives in this regard. The state is developing a language laboratory, which is dedicated to developing the Marathi language on the Internet. In Maharashtra very good work has been done under programmes like eSetu which was started few years back.

The aspects of security and privacy are also important. The IT technologies should be secure enough to ensure that an individual’s privacy is not violated by vested interests.

virtualisation & cloud

Tide over Data Deluge with Virtualisation “Organisations require a very nimble approach to IT management, as it can enable them to manage this data in an efficient manner,” says Vijay Mhaskar, VP, Information Management Group, Symantec

W

e are on threshold of being caught in a flood. A flood of data to be precise.

According to the global research firm IDC, worldwide information is doubling in less than two years, with 1.8 zettabytes of data created and replicated in 2011. IDC has also predicted that the digital data in India will grow from 40,000 petabytes in 2010 to 2.3-million petabytes in 2020.

It becomes very crucial for any company to manage data well since information is the fundamental fabric that connects myriad aspects of the business into a seamless whole. Businesses rely on information technology to develop new opportunities, as well as to operate efficiently and comply with corporate governance practices and industry regulations.

Virtualisation for data management

Vijay Mhaskar, VP, Information Management Group, Symantec

Big data from government The Government sector is a big contributor to the data deluge. A number of initiatives from the government have led to this massive information growth. Case in point is the digitisation of land records that started in 2009.

The UID project is expected to create a lot of information which will need to be managed efficiently. The largest biometric identification system in the world, this project requires systems that can store data properly, protect it as well as manage it in disasters. The recent push from the government to encourage e-filing is another case in point.

Challenges in managing data Organisations require a very nimble approach to IT management, as it can enable them to manage this data in an efficient manner.

A number of challenges emerge in managing this data.

• Storage is the biggest concern. The growth of the digital universe continues to outpace the growth of storage capacity.

• Retention and archival of this data is a big issue that needs to be addressed.

• Securing this data, especially given the sensitive nature of this sector, is critical.

Enterprises are increasingly utilising new technologies to meet demands of data storage.

There are a number of new technologies that are vying for the attention of IT managers and CIOs. However, there are only a few innovations that can actually help companies improve their top-line performance or bottom-line productivity. Virtualisation is one of them.

Virtualisation has gained a lot of traction in the recent times. It finds favour with small and big companies alike. It brings with it the promise of radically transforming computing for the better by reducing costs and increasing agility.

Such transformative technologies have gained a lot of attention in recent times due to the benefits that they provide: • Reduced IT Costs - These technologies offer institutions a streamlined, automated and cost-effective way to deploy and support both computing resources and users, while also meeting regulatory requirements for privacy and reporting.

• Increased Security –Better endpoint controls are enabled through cloud and virtualization • Improved Flexibility - They helps institutions become more agile by providing the employees access to their workspaces from any location. With streaming technology, users can get access to their applications anywhere, anytime, on-demand.

• Hours Saved –Many enterprises have eliminated much of the manual work associated with application management, saving thousands of technician hours annually.

Technology is evolving at a rapid rate, and virtualisation is no longer just about consolidation and cost savings, but is about the agility and flexibility. IT leaders also see virtualisation as the first step in moving their data centres to a cloud model of IT service delivery.

Virtualisation promise scalability, automation, elasticity, and cost-effectiveness. But restricting virtualisation to development environments or noncritical applications, limits the benefits that this technology can deliver. Best results can only be achieved by conducting virtualisation on a larger scale.

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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viewpoint

Unique Identification Initiative…..Ironically the underestimated one!

U

ID may well be the first important and most necessary step towards realization of so called connected or joined-up government. Also it is happening at an appropriate time, as government is heading fast towards such a requirement, in order to derive maximum benefits from some of the flagship schemes being implemented countrywide under NeGP. Government is pushing its reform agenda to improve the service delivery mechanism in the country, through integrating various social sector schemes, like PDS, NREGS, among others, through UID. Every other day we get to know, reported estimate of the leakage of fund in such schemes, anywhere between INR 20 to 30 thousand crore per year. Here lies the benefit-cost outcome of the UID initiative. The fundamental principle of UID scheme is to address the issue of the inability of the poor and underprivileged, to prove their identity which is one of the biggest barriers preventing the poor from accessing benefits due to them, from various schemes.

Just think about millions of migrating labour workforce spread all over the country, losing their identity the moment they leave their own habitats and one will immediately appreciate the underlying principle. UID can efficiently save the leakage of scarce government resources in most of these developmental programmes and the saved fund can be ploughed back to other initiatives. In my considered opinion therefore, the true potential of the UID Scheme is yet to be estimated. When fully implemented, it is bound to be regarded as the most impacting transformational initiative in the governance paradigm since our independence.

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Ashis Sanyal, Consulting Editor, egov

There prevails a common mix-up in terms of effectiveness of UID and effectiveness of delivery of stated deliverables of various flagship government schemes. Let us appreciate the fact that UID is only to establish correct identity of a person who may or may not be a beneficiary of a scheme. The effectiveness of any specific developmental scheme would still be with the operating guidelines of that scheme, in which UID will now be an important enabler, to establish the unique identity of a probable beneficiary. Earlier to UID, there was no robust technology-inspired system, to establish identity of a person and consequently there were many evidences of duplication of identity. With UID attributes correctly applied, the chances of identity duplication would now be greatly minimised. UID would now uniquely establish the identity of the beneficiary in various pro-poor schemes and there would be definite blockade

to leakage of resources. Of course there are some issues being debated, such as right to individual privacy, misuse of data, or data security as a whole. UIDAI must be taking all possible steps to ensure that an appropriate legislative framework be in place. But it is a fact that such a large scheme, being implemented in a diverse country like ours, will have many dimensions including cultural ones. Surely all such important aspects are being debated by UIDAI with Special Interest Groups, to find the best solution suitable for our diverse country. We should remember that many projects similar to this initiative did not meet with success in many countries including the developed ones, for one reason or other. These countries are watching to see how a billionstrong nation could dare to embark on and complete successfully such a large programme.

However, the very important component of ‘Awareness and Communication’ in UID implementation, is to be essentially dealt with a defined strategy. UIDAI has rightly positioned an institutional mechanism, with an Advisory Council comprising external professionals, to deal with this matter. How important is this component? After 60 years of continuous election process in the country, still our average vote polling across the country never exceeded 60-65%! And still government has to spend lot of money every year, to create the awareness that we should go out and cast our vote! This reveals the paramount importance of this issue of awareness. Time is the essence for this UID project.

We have now reasons to believe that this fact has gone very well with the Authorities. FM’s 2011 Budget Speech also clearly indicated a quantified deliverable….”from 1st October 2011, 10 lakh UID numbers will be generated per day”. We are very much in the right direction. We cannot afford to miss this bus!

3

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analysis

Imperatives for an Innovation Agenda in India Innovation is critical to ensure that gaps between the oft-mentioned ‘two Indias’ can be narrowed and the economic and social growth can be made more inclusive. Innovation places the information and communication technology (ICT) industry at the centre-stage, making it an engine of the knowledge economy Dr Jaijit Bhattacharya, President, Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research; Director, South Asia, Hewlett Packard

I

n the fiscal year 2011, the number of applications for patents filed in India rose to 37,000 from 34,000 in the previous year. Of these applications, 80 percent came from outside India. Even as India continues to make its mark as a ‘knowledge’ economy, the creation, application, commercialisation and protection of knowledge—all need more work before India can be at the forefront of innovation in the world. Above all, there needs to be a national agenda for innovation, which penetrates down from policy to the individual user.

Learning from other countries When it comes to policy, the US, UK, Europe and China are the leading examples of nations with clear innovation agendas outlined. In UK, the existing framework under the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) has been performing well, especially on the lifelong learning and early-stage venture capital front. The Innova-

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tion Nation White Paper outlines the future of innovation in the country, providing intellectual leadership by suggesting new policies based on new imperatives. Highlights include provisioning for ‘hidden’ innovation and demand-driven ideas and fostering collaboration between public, private and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to transform public services.

The US, recognises a vision and strong culture of innovation, and more importantly, successful commercialization of innovation in the country. The National Innovation Initiative (NII) outlines the next phase in this journey, focusing strongly on the three pillars of talent, investment and infrastructure. In both, the US and the UK, there is recognition of the fact that the focus of research is skewed towards certain sectors—health science and defence in the former and pharmaceuticals and aerospace in the latter. There is, therefore, a conscious move to even the playfield for innovation in all sectors.

The European Union (EU) stresses on innovation at both the Union level as well as the regional level. For Europe 2020, the three priorities identified include smart growth, sustainable growth and inclusive growth. The EU’s Innovation Policy places strong emphasis on social innovation, recognizing it as “an important new field which should be nurtured.” The Policy suggests creating a virtual hub of social entrepreneurs and supporting them with a European Social Fund (ESF).

China has been a strong science and technology innovation player. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), along with the Ministry for Science and Technology have been reviewing the policies for innovation in the country and have come up with gaps that we, in India, would be quite familiar with. As its medium and long-term objective, China wants its dependence on foreign technology to reduce by 30 percent and be among the top five countries in the world in terms of domestic invention

analysis

patents granted, and the number of international citations of its scientific papers.

Imperatives for India The innovation strategy for India needs to have four very clear objectives to enable innovation at the bottom of the pyramid (for and by the next billion), create an innovation ecosystem, focus on local capabilities for both near- and long-term benefits and harvest existing innovations so that the benefits reach a larger potential user base. This quadri-focal strategy is outlined in the figure below: Even as the near-term benefits spark immediate interest, the long-term vision needs to be on creating a culture of innovation. And even as we invent solutions at the institutional level, we need to create a nurturing environment for innovations developed at the individual and grassroots level. The four types of innovation need an organisation created to identify and seed ideas to harvest them. Budgets need to be created to support innovations and interfaces evolved with other government agencies, the private sector and academia to foster them.

To build the environment for innovation, the strategy needs to address the following factors: Ensure research converts to innovation: Research is integral to innovation, but it doesn’t end there. For research to convert into meaningful innovation there needs to be a three-way understanding between the public sector, the private sector and the academia. Collaboration between industry and labs, creating a framework for jointly-funded research, creating a functioning lab-less research capability that leverages the existing facilities in the private sector, universities and the government itself, and ensuring feedback for research are the other important factors.

Create a strong legal structure: The intellectual property rights (IPR) ecosystem is a minefield that needs careful navigation coupled with a sturdy framework. For innovation to truly prosper, it is important that the IPR of all solutions and innovations are legally protected.

One of the biggest concerns for small entrepreneurs and individual inventors is that they don’t know enough about existing IPR and end up inadvertently infringing on them or losing their IPR to larger corporations. These entrepreneurs need specialised legal and IPR support even as they are being incubated. Small enterprises and individuals need to have access to online IPR systems so that they can protect their IPR. Such systems should include online patent filing.

Long-term benefits

Quick near-term benefits

Strategic Innovations

Institution driven Innovation Top Down Driven by Government/ Companies

Enable business partnerships and incubation: The gap between idea and adoption is filled only by the successful commercialisation of research. For this, there need to be strong linkages between research and industry. The industry, with its in-depth understanding of the market and resources that can help bring innovation to market, can help take the innovation to its logical conclusion. This can be through direct or indirect involvement. An organisation could support incubation through new and existing qualified entrepreneurs, support technology acquisition through buy-outs, or even have summer-break programs for potential student entrepreneurs to work on their ideas. In today’s complex world of technology, new innovations cannot thrive without access to existing IPR.

“The gap between idea and adoption is filled only by the successful commercialisation of research” Encourage community participation: Inventions like jugaad are examples of demanddriven responses. Jugaad maximizes asset utilization by reusing the same pumpset that helps in irrigation, to also power the cart that helps take the farm produce to the mandi and provide locomotion to the villagers, thus optimizing the economy as a whole and making the local economy more efficient. In fact, jugaad is a symbol of community-driven innovation.

However, it is also a perfect example of how our policies stifle innovation. As per the Central Motor Vehicles rules, jugaad is illegal. Not

Innovation Society

Harvesting Existing Innovations Bottom Up Driven by Society

only is jugaad illegal, there have also been no steps taken to introduce this innovative solution to other parts of the country such as the south or the east, thus depriving them of the benefits from this innovation.

Develop policies to incentivise innovation: There are three requirements on the policy front for innovation—formulation of appropriate strategies for promoting technological development, identification of trade and fiscal measures to encourage technology development, and developing of a framework for standardization, certification and accreditation.

Innovation needs a fertile environment where it can take roots. Incentives in the form of capital investment, finance and favourable taxation are critical. There also need to be policies for the government to enable procurement of innovation. Current procurement policies disincentivize innovation. Technology and IPR framework, availability of a talent pool and better access to market are all necessary to foster innovation as well.

India offers a unique chance and a ready testing ground for new initiatives and services. Innovation aimed at inventing for the next billion will be most critical to develop, because that will help narrow the divide between the haves and the have-nots in the Indian state. The proposed US $5 billion India Inclusive Innovation Fund , to be launched by the Indian government later this year, is a step in the right direction. Innovation, however, will always be driven by people’s creativity and enterprise. And that’s what policy makers need to nurture.

the author is President, Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research; Director, South Asia, Hewlett Packard

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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CM speak

“We are now giving maximum importance to infrastructure development. Great focus is being placed on building roads, because roads bring connectivity and lead to a situation where prosperity can seamlessly flow into all parts of the state,� says Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in conversation with eGov

60 egov / www.egovonline.net / June 2012

CM speak

Oommen Chandy Kerala Chief Minister

“Kerala can be an attractive investment destination”

T

ell us about your vision for bringing development in Kerala. Tell us about the development projects that you are planning.

In education and healthcare, Kerala fares much better than the other states, but we are lacking in infrastructure. It is not possible for us to attract investments, as long as we don’t have the right kind of infrastructure. We are now giving maximum importance to infrastructure development.

Great focus is being placed on building roads, because roads bring connectivity and lead to a situation where prosperity can seamlessly flow into all parts of the state. Then there is Kochi Metro, which is soon going to be a reality. The ambitious high-speed rail corridor that we are planning between Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalapuram is going to be unique project in India. For BPL families we have implemented a scheme for providing rice at 1 Rs. We are also coming up with schemes to help poor families get access to proper medical treatment at very reasonable costs.

Tell us about your ideas for bringing technological advancement to the state. What are your long term goals for using ICT in governance and in other spheres?

In the world around us, a technological revolution is taking place. All of us should become part of this revolution, which will lead to many benefits for society. The technological revolution is as significant as the agriculture revolution, which took place few decades ago. In Kerala we have had many types of agitations in the past.

Some of these agitations have tried to portray the computers as an enemy of the people. The signal was sent out that the computers were the reason why there was unemployment in society. That is why Kerala got left behind in the IT sector.

However, now things are changing. Computers are now being embraced by the people and the industry. Everybody wants to use computers, laptops, and mobile phones. We are now planning a mission 2030. This is a long term plan for making Kerala a top destination for technology. Once the technological systems are in place and the right kind of infrastructure is there, everything else will come. We will have investments, which will lead to immense job opportunities. There will also be better facilities for education and healthcare.

Regarded as a Karmayogi, the Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has devoted all his time and energy during the last four decades for the well-being and development of the people of Kerala. An undisputed mass leader, he has established unbreakable links with Kerala’s society. He has deep understanding of the important role that cutting edge technology and world class infrastructure can play in improving the lot of citizens in the state. Under his leadership a host of programmes have been launched to put all round development of the state on fast track...

June 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

61

CM speak

Most of the villages are already connected.

The connectivity in Kerala is better than that in most other states of the country.

New infrastructure is continuously being created for improving the reach of broadband. So if there are any gaps in connectivity, it will soon be covered.

Though Kerala has the highest literacy rate in the country, the unemployment rate is quite high. Please throw some light on how you plan to

transport systems. Sam Pitroda has taken the innovation initiative and has formed a committee. Sam Pitroda has become associated with the state government for planning initiatives to bring about rapid development in the state.

Ten large projects have been approved.

Sam Pitroda will be creating a detailed project report in all these ten areas.

Please give us an overview of your initiatives in the education space.

I feel pride in saying that in the field of

“Kerala is moving towards a new phase, where it can be seen as an attractive

Investment destination�

In your plans to turn Kerala into a fully developed state, what are the challenges that you are facing? How do you plan to overcome these challenges?

The major challenge that we face is one of changing the mindset of the people.

The people of the state are successful everywhere in the world, but somehow they are not as successful in their home state.

We need to change the mindset of the people at a local level. We also need to change the systems of governance. I have full support of the NRI community and also of the people in the state.

Everyone understands that any development in infrastructure is going to be beneficial to everyone. We are conversing with people at local levels and trying to tell them about the benefits that new infrastructure and new technologies can bring to them.

What are you doing to ensure that there is broadband connectivity even in the rural areas?

The state government is trying its best to expand the reach and scope of broadband.

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getting personal Date of birth 31st October 1943 Birthplace Kumarakom in Kottayam district of Kerala QUALIFICATION BA, BL Institutions attended Schooling at St George H.S Puthupally and College Education from CMS Kottayam and SB College Changanassery and BL from Law College Ernakulam

tackle the problem of high unemployment in the state.

We know that unemployment is a very serious issue. The problem can only be solved if we have the basic infrastructure for job creating industries to come up.

We are intent on improving our infrastructure. As I already mentioned that if the infrastructure is developed, development will automatically arrive. Kerala is full of opportunities all it needs is the political will to create a proper investment climate. Now the political will is also here. We are creating infrastructure for investors, by infrastructure, I do not mean subsidies. I mean just the basic ground on which industries can come up. Once there is all round development, the problem of unemployment will get resolved.

Tell us about your plans to develop the coastal areas of Kerala.

Kerala is lucky to have 550 Kilometres of coastline. Unfortunately we are not in a position to utilise even one percent of our coastal capacity. Now we are planning to develop many small ports.

We are also taking several initiatives to encourage the development of coastal

education, Kerala is at the forefront.

It is far ahead of most other states in the country. But the achievements of Kerala are limited to K12 section. In higher education we are not doing that well. We are now planning to do something to enhance the scope of higher education in the state. With better educational infrastructure in place, the state might even be able to attract foreign students.

Through our magazine would you like to give us a message for investors and ordinary citizens?

I want to give the message to the Kerelaites who are residing out of Kerala and also to the investors who want to come to Kerala that the state has already changed. Now Kerala is moving towards a new phase, where it can be seen as an attractive Investment destination. The state is dedicated to provide a transparent system for making investments in all kinds of new projects. We want more Investors, we want more investments. We want to create more job opportunities in Kerala. Growth is ensured, as people in the state have also warmed up to having new infrastructure.

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