Defence Forces Armed with ICT : March 2012 Issue

Elections 2.0 ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON E-governance

Social media - the new battleground for politics

` 75 / US $10 / ISSN 0973-161X

march 2012 VOLUME 08 n ISSUE 03 n ISSN 0973-161X

Citizen First Bringing

Urban

Governance on an p24 e-Platform

Securing Networks:

Going beyond the Perimeter

p44

Defence Forces Armed with ICT

V S Mahalingam Director, Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, DRDO KPM Das Vice President, National Security and Defence, Cisco India

Dr Atiur Rahman Governor, Bangladesh Bank

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Contents march 2012

second grid grid name issue 03 nâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; volume 08

state focus Citizen First: Bringing Urban Governance on an e-Platform With growing urban population, muncipal bodies face new challenges

data centre & Security Data Centres Architecture & Security The Data Centre business in India is booming

report Euro-India SPIRIT Harnessing EU-India ICT Research Cooperation

08 | cover story

Defence Forces Armed with ICT

ICT technology is bridging the gap between India and Europe

Defence forces around the world are racing to keep pace with the blazing pace of advances in the field of ICT

interview Manoj Agarwal IGP, SCRB, Government of Gujarat

interview V S Mahalingam Director, Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, DRDO

interview KPM Das Vice President, National Security and Defence, Cisco India

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

interview Renu Budhiraja

tech story Securing Networks: Going beyond the Perimeter Network security is an important element of the security system

analysis Inclusive Growth through Mobiles â&#x20AC;&#x201C; II The policy environment around mobile ecosystem

Senior Director, DIT, Government of India

further reading

interview Dr Atiur Rahman Governor, Bangladesh Bank

Editorial 05 News india News 22 industry News 52 world news 54

Building Safe, Secure and Comfortable Society

CT, particularly on mobile platforms, is recognised as a critical tool in health, education, governance, media, farming, and in response to natural disasters. But it is the researchers in the field of defence who have innovated some of the most landmark ICT systems. The ARPAnet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Networks) from which the modern Internet began its journey in the late 1960s was started with a completely military objective. During the last two decades leading ICT companies have sold goods and services to defence organisations enabling them to dramatically improve their surveillance and intelligence capabilities. Instead of iron, it is sensors based on advanced microchips that symbolise the new sinews of war. But similar microchips also find their way in many civilian devices. In this issue of eGov we are putting the spotlight on the role that ICT is playing in defence and security. Hardly anyone will argue against the critical need of using latest technology to enhance the capabilities of our defence forces. But when it comes to managing the security of our public or privately owned online systems, there exists a range of opinion on how to accomplish this goal. We need to enhance the security, and we also need to maintain the efficiency of the one-click one-touch system. To present a complete picture of the existing security scenario we have collated views from the defence, government establishments and from the leading private players. What makes the current issue of eGov stand out is the comprehensive interaction that we have fostered with government departments and the Public Sector Units. While the private ICT companies help us in building an efficient, interconnected, and transparent world, it is the government entities that have the ultimate responsibility of keeping systems secure. The discussions on security scenario that we started in the February issue of the magazine have continued through the March issue and finally led us to the engrossing discussion on issues of public safety, security and disaster management at the SecureIT (http://secureit.eletsonline.com/) conference on 1st March 2012. Inspired by the large strides that Maharashtra has made in fostering digitally inclusive society, we have chosen Mumbai as the venue for the eMaharashtra 2012 (http://emaharashtra. eletsonline.com/) in April. The eMaharashtra is part of our plan to focus on the public sector units and private players on state level, so that we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss out on local issues. In our opinion a better understanding of issues of national and international ramifications is only possible when we start engaging at local and grassroots levels. We look forward to having your feedback for March issue of eGov.

ravi guptA Ravi.Gupta@elets.in

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march 2012 issue 03 n volume 08

President Dr M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr Ravi Gupta GM Finance Ajit Kumar DGM Strategy: Raghav Mittal Programme Specialist: Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar partnerships & Alliances Sheena Joseph, Shuchi Smita EDITORIAL Anand Agarwal, Divya Chawla, Dhirendra Pratap Singh, Pragya Gupta, Shally Makin (editorial@elets.in) Sales & marketing Delhi & NCR: Jyoti Lekhi, Ragini Shrivastav, Fahimul Haque, Rakesh Ranjan (sales@elets.in) Mumbai: Rachita Jha | Pune: Shankar Adaviyar Bangalore: Puneet Kathait | Hyderabad: Amit Kumar Pundhir | Ahmedabad: Sunil Kumar circulation & subscription Jagwant Kumar, Mobile: +91-8130296484; Gunjan Singh, Mobile: +91-8860635832 subscription@elets.in Design & Creatives: Bishwajeet Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Thakur, Shyam Kishore Web Ishvinder Singh, Anil Kumar img Gaurav Srivastava IT infrastructure Mukesh Sharma, Zuber Ahmed Events Vicky Kalra human resource Sushma Juyal legal R P Verma accounts Anubhav Rana, Subhash Chandra Dimri Editorial & Marketing Correspondence egov – G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA–201 301, India Phone: +91-120-2502181-85 Fax: +91-120-2500060 Email: info@egovonline.net egov is published by Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd in technical collaboration with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS). Owner, Publisher, Printer: Ravi Gupta, Printed at Vinayak Print Media Pvt. Ltd, D-320, Sector-10, Noida, U.P. and published from 710 Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50 Noida, UP Editor: Ravi Gupta © All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic and mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage or retrieval system, without publisher’s permission.

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There has been tremendous development in the ICT sector over the last 3 years. I was at the eHealth forum at eASIA 2011 and was impressed to see the initiatives taken. I would expect that ideas are quickly transformed into reality. In the developing world people get lost in the hype. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the clutter of new tools and information available. Cutting through all the hype to see what really works for your project implementation can be a challenge. When you focus all your effort on tools and tactics but don’t have a clear strategy behind your actions some serious holes in your project will start to surface in three main areas. 1.The education level of the population targeted 2. The skill and competence of the healthcare provider and last but not the least, 3. The maintenance and care of the high tech gadgets. In the third world a lot of projects are destined to fail miserably because of our total disregard for the art of management, especially its inherent maintenance and repair aspect. The idea of Total Quality Management has to be hammered into our ‘recalcitrant’ heads with zero tolerance for inefficiency and mismanagement. Javed Zaman on eGov February Interview An ICT Vision for Digital Bangladesh

Fixing of maximum amount that can be charged , may not be such a good idea. With the introduction of pulse in seconds, the mobile was not considered expensive, as the shorter you speak,lower you pay. Fixing a maximum may lead to prolonged conversation, thus choking up the airwaves and reducing the utility of mobile, as both the parties cannot be

contacted during the long conversation. Why not we think of banning the confusing packages being offered by the leading operators. All calls are to be charged on second basis or minute basis and there cannot be any packages excepting the unlimited usage. This may provide a level playing field. CVRK Swami TRAI is considering an upper limit on mobile call charges

Congratulations Team UID. Definitely UID will go a long way in tackling corruption and deliver efficiencies. Dr Manmohan Singh should be congratulated for this step and we all must appreciate the importance of the project. I also ask Sri Nandan Nilekani to stay strong; the project Aadhar will really transform India bottoms up and will help deliver govt services to the targeted people. Rama Anne on eGov portal News item, Reaching the Bottom of Pyramid A plethora of institutional arrangements are available at central as well as state level - why create one more government agency just for capacity building? NISG is competently doing the same, besides providing commendable consultancy services. Best part is, NISG earns its own revenue. It would be far more economical to strengthen NISG by inducting cadre officers at senior management level so as to balance the skill distribution. Phaneendra V on eGov portal News item, National Institute for e-Governance (NIG) in the 12th Plan Write in your reactions to eGov news, interviews, features and articles. You can either comment on the individual webpage of a story, or drop us a mail: editorial@elets.in

special feature

niit technology

NIIT TECHNOLOGIES tAKES BIG striDES IN PARAMILITARY FORCES

IIT Technologies, India’s leading IT solution provider, takes pride in being an active partner in many crucial Government initiatives. The company has been providing business impacting IT Solutions and Services to Indian Government establishments for over a decade. It has also been an IT transformation partner for a few Central Paramilitary Organsations of India. NIIT Technologies’ best-in-class solutions architected using the latest software design and engineering practices enable clients to automate various functions, improve process efficiencies and enhance their speed of execution. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is the entity which looks after the internal security of the country, including border related security with a few neighbouring countries. There is a special focus by MHA on strengthening and re-structuring various organisations under its ambit, to make their operations more efficient and in this way protect human life, assets and maintain peace. Automation is seen as one of the key enablers in these initiatives. Therefore, MHA has embarked on the automation of various paramilitary forces, state police organisations and other agencies, to make the systems more efficient. The aim is to have at hand the right information

on various incidents at the right time, so that qualitative decisions can be made to combat and manage security. Here’s a look at some of the projects that NIIT Tech has been working on with the government.

Boarder Security Force On January 5, 2012 Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, launched the ‘Intranet Prahari’ project in the presence of BSF Director General, U.K. Bansal, and other senior officials in New Delhi. The project was rolled out in just 18 months, a tremendous achievement given the scope of the work. BSF (Border Security Force) jawans posted in 237 locations, can now access their personal data (salaries, arrears, pensions, family pensions, etc.) from their posted locations with the launch of the Intranet Prahari project. NIIT Technologies has set up three data centres, including the main data centre in the CGO Complex, New Delhi, a disaster recovery data centre in Bangalore (in a different seismic zone), and 10 mini data centres at the frontier headquarters. NIIT Technologies has rolled out an extensive training programme for around 150 officers and their subordinates. The company has also provided training to over 20,000 personnel, on how to use the ERP package in their day-to-day work, and to enhance their

efficiency and productivity.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) NIIT Technologies has developed an Intranet called SELO for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that covers the Human Resource, Inventory, Finance, Operations, Payroll and Workflow functions, up to the group centrer/Battalion levels. This has been deployed over 100 locations across the country with connectivity provided through remote infrastructure (LAN/WAN). Project SELO is an enterprisewide computerisation project for the CRPF. This means that essential tasks such as operations, intelligence, training, inventory, budget and finance, etc., hitherto performed manually, have now been computerised. Applications for these functions have been developed, and plans are afoot to interconnect all these departments. NIIT Technologies has designed the applications keeping in mind the specific needs of the CRPF and the need to

integrate its different software solutions. NIIT Technologies has additionally trained a large number of CRPF personnel in various functions, including DBA/networking/messaging, among others. Around 150 people have been trained in computer operations, while over 1,050 people have undergone implementation training.

Sashastra Seema Bal NIIT Technologies has customised Intranet SELO’s payroll software to implement the payroll for the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The company has also developed a solution for Border Out Post (BOP) management, and implemented the same for the SSB. NIIT Technologies has a history of successful implementations of IT solutions for defence and paramilitary forces. NIIT Technologies rich experience in implementation of turnkey assignments brings repeat business for the company from the forces.

March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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Defence Forces

Armed with ICT Anyone who watches what is going on in tech should not be surprised by the fact that defence forces around the world are racing to keep up with the blazing pace of ICT advances Anoop Verma, Elets News Network (ENN)

he top new military trend is one that is known for its economy of scale. It consists of systems that are packed with cutting edge innovations from ICT, and are smaller, remote-controlled and brimful of intelligence. This is indeed, a new era. The era of rather small and unmanned drones. The Indian Air Force is currently flying the Israeli-made Searcher II and Heron for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes. About 100 Searchers are in operation on Indian borders in western, northern and eastern regions. According to a senior IAF official, “IAF is ready to induct more drones in view of their capability of using high-technology to perform specific tasks on the borders.” The ICT technology being used in modern drones has come so far that basic computer knowledge is no longer essential for remotely flying an UAV. In many cases, military personnel are able to control the drones and direct their deadly payload from thousands of miles away by using just a mouse, joystick and ergonomic pad. “ICT is the single most important factor for the success of military operations in air, ground or water. Access to real-time, authentic and secure information is necessary for enabling the military commander to take the most crucial decisions. In net-centric

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

world, commanders at all levels must be integrated through ICT so that they can have a common picture of the operation being carried out,” says Major General R C Padhi.

Drones – hi-tech and deadly A wide array of drones are being manufactured by the Israeli defence establishment, including one of world’s largest and most technologically advanced drones, the Heron TP Eitan, which costs an estimated $35 million. With a wingspan of 26 meters (85 ft.), the Heron TP Eitan is of the size of a Boeing 737 passenger jet and can reach an altitude of 12,000 meters. But the biggest manufacturer and user of high-tech drones is the United States. A recently released Congressional report states that drones now account for more than 31 percent of all military craft in USA. This means that one in three aircrafts in USA are drones. We can only imagine the kind of cutting edge ICT that goes into these drones. The technology is a classified secret. Equipped with sensors and micro-cameras to detect enemies, nuclear weapons or victims in rubble, these remotely piloted drones are capable of transmitting live video, audio and other data from hostile territory in all kinds of weather conditions, they are also capable shooting at targets with flawless accuracy. Military technicians sitting in the other side

of the world can control the Predator drones by using a computer and a joystick. Only two miles from the cow pasture in Ohio, where the Wright Brothers learned to fly, there is the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. There researchers are working at a project on miniature unmanned drones, which are of the size of insects and birds, but are capable of spying and even firing missiles from air. These miniature drones are inspired by nature, in the sense that they replicate the flight mechanics of different insects and birds. Some of the drones even look like the inhabitants of the natural world. For good reason, the base’s indoor flight lab is called “micro-aviary.” The micro-aviary is equipped with 60 motion-capture cameras to track every movement made by the tiny robots. The drones themselves are programmed by a computer to fly and they can execute all kinds of acrobatics in the air. The rapid miniaturisation of the aerial drones due to new advancements in IT technologies is transforming the way we address our security related concerns and fight wars. Presently we are having drones that can loiter in the sky for more than 24 hours and provide real-time all-weather surveillance and reconnaissance over entire cities. The California based AeroVironment Inc. had unveiled the hummingbird drone in February this year.

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Developed by the California based AeroVironment Inc. the remote-controlled hummingbird plane is inspired by biology â&#x20AC;&#x201D; such as the hummingbird â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and is equipped with video and audio equipment that can record sights and sounds. Such devices can be used for spying purposes and also for attacking remotely located targets

March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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ICT for security & surveillance Give us an overview of the role that

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Major General R C Padhi Additional Surveyor General, Surveyor General’s Office

“The country must start focussing on having indigenous war equipments. Import of weapons is an expensive proposition. At times it is difficult to manage the upgrades of high technology imported systems” 10

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

This drone can fly at 11 miles per hour; it can hover and perch on a windowsill. However, the bird is still a prototype. Mostly operators use radio-controlled devices to control such small drones. But newer systems are being developed that can be controlled through commands send by tablet computers. It has been in the reports that India is developing solar-powered spy drones, which can cruise in the sky for several days at a time. Once they become operation these high-altitude, long endurance (HALE) solar-powered UAV will provide a cost-effective and flexible 24x7 ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) platform. These HALE drones can easily be compared to a satellite that orbits closer to the ground. “Solar efficiency is low but we are looking at a payload of around 50 kg (sensors, cameras etc). We will seek some collaboration from either US or European companies,” says Dr Prahlada, DRDO’s chief controller R&D (aeronautics). Last year the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared an Rs 1,500 crore DRDO project to develop the Rustom-H MALE (medium-altitude, long-endurance) drone. Being developed for the three services, Indian Army, Indian Navy and the

P J Nath CEO, Nelco Ltd. spoke to eGov on the role that Nelco, a TATA Group company, is playing in Indian defence sector

Indian Air Force, the Rustom is capable of operating for 24 hours with a 350 kg payload. Its first flight is expected to take place in 2013. Once it becomes operational, the Rustom will replace or supplement the Heron UAVs, which are currently in service with the Indian Air Force. Then there is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) called DRDO Nishant, which is meant to carry electrooptical, electronic intelligence and communication intelligence payloads. Nishant has already been developed and is currently undergoing field-testing. Once it becomes operation, Nishant will be used for intelligence gathering over enemy territory and also for recon, training, surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction and damage assessment.

Ground based defence and offence Recently NIIT Technologies Ltd. implemented ‘Intranet Prahari Project’ for Border Security Force (BSF) personnel. This project enables BSF personnel in 237 locations to access their personal data from wherever they are posted. Under this project state-of-the-art data centres have been established; the Main Data Centre; a Disaster Recovery Data Centre (in a different

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seismic zone) and Mini Data Centres at Frontier HQrs for data storage. Sufficient cyber security measures to ensure network security and to prevent data loss or pilferage have been incorporated. Network connectivity has been extended to brigade level. Regarding the safety features installed in the Data Centres built for the Intranet Prahari Project, Venkat Patnaik says, “The systems are based in structures with state of the art Building Management System including fire alarm and extinguishing capability. There are CCTV cameras, bio-metric access control, Intrusion Prevention System, multiple firewalls, Central Anti-Virus deployment. Additionally there is MAC based authentication of desktops/laptops connecting into the network. Also there is closed network with no internet browsing/ external email.” KPM Das, Vice President, National Security and Defence, Cisco Systems says, “Convergence is here and now- networks carry voice, video and data with equal assurance. Combat signalers design, and build tactical networks to enable mobility – the network components are on the move, so are the platforms like battle tanks and ICVs and so are the soldiers with tablets and hand-held devices. This three-fold challenge is met by engineering architectures based on IP and use of protocols which are hardened for the battlefield conditions of impairment and disruption. Corps of Signals, around the world, has to be a step ahead of the general staff and commanders in ensuring that paradigms stay current and enable tactical-doctrinal shifts.” Surely the evidence of cutting edge ICT is not confined only to aerial tools. Even the groundbased systems are incorporated with the best from the world of ICT. Platforms for conducting land-based battles, the heavy battle tank (MBT), infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), tactical vehicle, etc. are carry all kinds of hardware and software to enable night vision, navigation in all kinds of terrain, communication, remote sensing and accurately aiming at distant targets. In water we have ships such as patrol craft, corvette, frigate, destroyer, multi-purposes support ship, and aircraft carrier. The radars that are used by military for detecting intrusions on land, sea and air are basically software based devices. Lt Gen AKS Chandele, PVSM, AVSM (Retd), Former Director General EME, says, “Effective utilisation of the electromagnetic spectrum and denial of the same to the adversary would be the centre of gravity in future warfare. Along with other cyber security mea-

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Venkat Patnaik Senior Vice President & Head India Govt. Business, NIIT Technologies

“Intranet Prahari Project will bring a culture of electronic exchange of information through emails, e-notesheets, etc. It will reduce workload of paperwork and free up manpower for field operations” sures, cyber warfare will include ICT based early warning systems for real time detection of enemy’s intrusions and their neutralization.” All modern militaries make use of some kind of Battlefield Management System (BMS), which is the software that lets top military leaders plan their strategies. Sections, platoons, companies, regiments, brigades, divisions, as well as corps make use of communication technology that is in some cases far more advanced than what is available for civilian use. The telecommunications equipment and the electronic countermeasures equipment are again softwarebased tools. These tools are used to develop seamless linkages between sensors, weapon Lt Gen AKS Chandele PVSM, AVSM (Retd), Former Director General EME

“We are in the Information Age and the future combat space will be the electronic battlefield. Information dominance over the adversary is of critical importance”

systems, commanders and their personnel in a networked environment. The power and the efficiency of the force is enhanced, as networking leads to new cohesion between maritime, land, aerospace and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) domains. Lt Gen AKS Chandele adds, “Battlefield management is becoming network centric, with sensors, shooters and command and control systems being linked. Military relies on ICT to coordinate their forces and control their weapon systems. However, the battlefield will always remain people centric, since beyond the network is ultimately the human being.” The transformation that ICT has made in the field of battle is glaringly obvious. Once the defence forces used to be armed with so called “dumb bombs,” which being bereft of intelligent software were completely incapable of accurately choosing or selecting targets. They could not differentiate between high-value targets and the unimportant ones. So the collateral damage on usage of dumb bombs would be fairly high. With ICT powered weaponry, the defence establishments around the world have a way of ensuring that there is minimum collateral damage. Instead of steel, microchips have started symbolising the new sinews of war. The defence industry has for many years been producing surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles that can adjust their trajectory while speeding towards an enemy target. While there are remotely controlled missiles and drones in the air, on the ground there are unmanned armoured vehicles. Cutting edge ICT is being used to develop deep sea mines that can identify a ship by analysing the vibration caused by the ship’s hull. This means that the mine will have no difficulty in differentiating between a military and a civilian target. The Ministry of

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Pratik Chube Country GM - Products & Marketing, Emerson Network Power

Secrecy in Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) were merged with CAIR. Today CAIR is regarded as the premier laboratory for R&D in different areas in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as applicable to defence. Out of 300 personnel employed in the organisation 150 are well qualified scientists. During more than two decades of its existence, CAIR has developed a number of Information Systems, Communication Systems and Security Solutions. The organisation is also being credited with doing quality R&D work in Intelligent Systems technologies.

Ground based robots

“Security remains the biggest concern for our online systems. Virtualisation has added extra security capabilities to the data centres, owned by defence departments or civilian sectors, in the form of closer management of virtual systems” Defence, in India, established Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) in Oct 1986. During the initial years, the research focus of this organisation was in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Control systems. In November 2000, R & D groups working in the areas of Command Control Communication and Intelligence (C3I) systems, Communication and Networking, and Communication

A document from Department of Defence in USA states that by 2030, up to a third of the fighting force in USA would comprise of robots. The Virginia based, Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has started testing a quadruped robot that can traverse all sorts of terrain and act as a pack mule for soldiers. Known as Legged Squad Support System (LS3), this semi-autonomous robot is developed from

Boston Dynamic’s Big Dog and Alpha Dog robots. Packed with advanced sensory systems, for vision and sound, the LS3 prototype is fully capable of distinguishing between trees, rocks, soldiers, and other obstacles. The LS3 is still going through a testing phase; ultimately it must be able to carry 400lbs for 20 miles without refuelling within 24 hours. The system can also serve as an auxiliary power source that soldiers can use to recharge batteries for handheld devices. As the LS3 shows, the design of the military robots is not necessarily human-looking. Basically, their design element is based on the kind of tasks that they are expected to perform. Advanced armies are already using robots that are equipped with radar vision and supersensitive sensors and can handle broader range of tasks, ranging from picking off snipers to serving as indefatigable night sentries. Nothing can escape detection from an unblinking digital eye. The Israeli army has been using robots for assisting troops in combat for tasks such as surveillance, reconnaissance, anti-mine and anti-IED role, urban area combat, casualty extraction etc. Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) and Long Distance Tele-Operation (LDTO) robots can be controlled through the secure Internet connection or even by cellular signals. They serve the purpose of keeping soldiers out of harm’s way. The CEO of iRobot, Colin Angle, says, “One of the great arguments for armed robots is they don’t panic under fire.” In some quarters fears have been expressed about robots taking over. But Colin Angle finds such fears to be completely unfounded. “There is no question of robots taking over,” Colin Angle says. “People taking robot and sensing technology and incorporating them into their own bodies is much more imminent.” ICT is also leading to seminal improvements in the performance of soldiers. Soldiers

Dr Gulshan Rai Director General, Computer Emergency Response Team – India (CERT-In)

“CERT-In’s mandate includes the collection of information pertaining to cyber incidents, issue vulnerability notes, advisories, white papers and the analysis of those incidents” March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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are equipped with high tech communication equipment and sensors that allows them to keep track of large areas in the battlefield. Even the Internet was first developed with a military objective in mind. The grandfather of today’s Internet, the ARPAnet, came into life in 1969. Funded by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defence, the network was initially meant for defence related projects at universities and research laboratories in the USA. ARPA stands for the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is a branch of the military that developed top-secret systems and weapons during the Cold War. Finally the Internet evolved out of the ARPAnet and today we are having the Twitter and Facebook revolution. The Internet could only happen because four major innovations happened under the ARPAnet. These were: in 1971, the system of email or electronic mail got developed; in 1972, the telnet, a remote connection service for controlling a computer came into being; in 1973, the file transfer protocol (FTP), which allows information to be sent from one computer to another in bulk, was developed. The ARPAnet is just one example of how military technology has transmogrified into something that has proved to be seminally beneficial for the world. Many other modern tools from ICT that we are using in civilian space today were first developed for military purposes. “The period of the world wars is replete with examples of technologies being first developed for military and then being put to civilian use as well. Military technology has always been transferred for civilian uses where possible.

Nitin Walia Director, Xgen Plus

Strategies for cyber warfare

“The threat of cyber terrorism is haunting the world. The Internet of the year 2012 has become so diversified that it now dominates terror circles. These groups will continue to use the internet as a prime medium for recruitment and communication” ARPANET of DARPA morphed into the internet. Composites used in tanks etc. are now used in utensils. Similarly, today’s cutting edge technology such as recognition systems can be used in home security systems in future. Navigation systems in aircraft can give direction to

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egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

GPS used in civilian fields, including in cars. Such possibilities are endless,” says Lt Gen AKS Chandele, PVSM, AVSM (Retd), Former Director General EME.

“Security of information is non-negotiable. Hardware systems like desktop, laptop, PDA and hand held systems in use have to undergo security checks before it is commissioned for defence related activities. The systems are integrated into secured defence communication network for all types of communication,” says Major General R C Padhi. Defence forces have to pay lot of attention to securing their data. On the issue of using handheld devices in defence forces, General Ajay Chandele says, “ICT services must move to handheld devices from desktops. Security protocols need to be re-worked for the revised environments. There are security protocols for hand held data. If banks can manage confidential data on handhelds/mobiles, there is no reason defence forces can’t. As ICT systems will proliferate, handheld devices are the future. For example, even the F-INSAS (Futuristic Infantry Soldier As a System) will require handheld ICT devices for individual soldiers.” In the conflicts of 21st century, computer specialists may become central. Cyber warfare is a growing threat and militaries around the world are racing to recruit computer specialists. For military strategists, the idea of cyber warfare is particularly dispiriting. This is the kind of warfare where the enemy has all the tactical advantages. He has the advantage of stealth, of anonymity and of unpredictability. In many cases, the defence establishments find it difficult to pinpoint the nation or area from which the attack has originated. When the location from which the attack has originated is not known, it becomes impossible to develop an effective strategy for deterring further damage by the threat of retaliation. Even if the location becomes known, the targeted nation might not have the legal or moral authority to respond, as it can never be conclusively proved if the cyber attack was a case of vandalism, of commercial theft or an effort to cripple a nation before launching a conventional war. “The threat of cyber terrorism is something that has been haunting not only India but the rest of the world too. The Internet of the year 2012 has become so diversified that it now dominates terror circles. These groups will continue to use the internet as a prime medium for recruitment and communication. The security

cover story

DRDO daksh A creation of Defence

robot on wheels is to recover

has a high-calibre shotgun,

Research and Development

improvised explosive devices

with which can it can take

Organisation (DRDO), Daksh

(IEDs).

out targets, or break open

The IEDs get located

locked doors. Its high-calibre

remotely controlled robot

by Daksh’s X-ray vision.

sensors can be used to scan

used for locating, handling

Once the target has been

cars for explosives.

and destroying hazardous

identified, the robot picks it

objects safely. The primary

up using gripper arm before

cases, negotiate steep slopes,

function of this battery

finally diffusing them with a

navigate narrow corridors

powered remotely controlled

jet of water. The robot also

and tow vehicles.

is an electrically powered and

Daksh can climb stair-

agencies have to upgrade their defences to prevent such groups from dominating the web,” Nitin Walia, Director, Xgen Plus Technologies. The advent of the ICT age has given us the new domain of cyberspace and transformed how individuals, businesses and governments interact, but the tools from ICT can also be misused to launch cyber attacks on organisations and even on nations. The Cyberspace essentially comprises of the networks, computers, software, hardware, servers, and other devices including cell phones, tablets, radios, etc. By 2020 there are going to be more than 3 billion net users, maximum growth is expected in India and China. With such a large section of the global population conducting the business of their life in the cyber arena, there is bound to be an increase in vulnerabilities. Few months ago, Google had reported

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

that its services had been targeted in an attack that originated from China. Later on Washington had moved in to classify that attack as an act of war. ‘’The fact of the matter,’’ a senior intelligence official in India says, ‘’is that unless Google had told the world about the attack on it and other companies, we probably never would have seen it. Many such attacks go unreported. Our economy, our government and our civil society is constantly being threatened by those who seek to disrupt the free flow of information. It is really scary.’’ When the Stuxnet worm first made its appearance, the world’s top software-security experts were panicked. This drone-like computer virus was radically different from and far more sophisticated than any that the world had seen. Till today there is not enough clarity about the Stuxnet payload, and the entities that were behind it. But according to some reports the Stuxnet worm appears to have attacked Iran’s nuclear programme. The worm was probably built by an advanced attacker with plentiful resources. The attacker could be a nation-state. The purpose of the Stuxnet was not espionage, it was built for sabotage. There have been many instances in the past, when sensitive installations in India have come under cyber attack. “Today’s threat landscape has changed and point protection solutions may not be sufficient to secure from these complex attacks,” says Samir Sayed, Vice PresidentSales, AGC Networks Ltd. Operational since 2004, CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security related incidents as and when they occur. Dr Gulshan Rai, Director General, Computer Emergency Response Team – India (CERT-In), says, “CERT-In draws its mandate from Section 70 (B) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The mandate includes the collection of information pertaining to cyber incidents, issue vulnerability notes, advisories, White Papers, the analysis of those incidents and then advising to the users all over the country about the security breaches and what threat is persisting, what threats are likely to come there. These are the basic mandates and are carried out through different modes, different ways, by interacting with the public parties, by interacting with the users group be it public, private, govt. or academia. We take their help and they report a lot of incidents. We analyse threats ourselves and also take their help. We also take help from the international agencies who are in touch with us. The prime responsibility of CERT-In is to analyse the incidents and to provide emergency

cover story

Strategies for War and Peace The Takshashila Institution is a non-partisan, non-profit organisation registered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The representatives of the institution spoke to eGov on strategic affairs. How real is the prospect of

Should India invest more in

How are the Indian Armed

cyberwarfare?

enhancing its capabilities in

Forces placed in terms of

Whether we consider the

the unmanned aircraft?

preparedness for cyber war?

distributed denial of service

Unmanned aircrafts are the

We are still only beginning

(DDoS) assault on Georgia’s

way for the future. All the

to come to grips with cyber

cyber infrastructure during

three services - army, air force

warfare and the role of the

the 2008 South Ossetia War,

and the navy - will need them.

armed forces in this domain.

or Russia’s crippling attacks on

Any investment in developing

India drew up plans for a

Estonia’s network infrastruc-

unmanned aircrafts will be

USCYBERCOM-type structure

ture, cyberspace is increasingly

money well spent. Moreover,

around 2009, but both its cur-

becoming a domain where

it has export potential too, as

rent status and mandate are

conflicts are played out.

witnessed at the Singapore Air

unclear. The issue here isn’t

Stuxnet, allegedly built to target

Show where unmanned aerial

so much about the absence of

Iran’s uranium enrichment

vehicle “ Rustom” and pilot-

ideas rather than the lack of

facilities, shows that two states

less target aircraft “ Lakhsya”,

sustained political will to push

can engage in cyberwar while

attracted strong interests from

urgent organizational changes

not being in conventional war.

several countries.

through.

Samir Sayed Vice President- Sales, AGC Networks Ltd.

“If the data is classified as confidential then it must be encrypted in transit or at rest. Multiple technologies can be deployed for encryption during transit and for data at rest” response to the users, organizations in the country and outside.”

ICT in logistical management “Digital signatures are the way for authentication. They should be used more extensively to reduce paperwork, particularly in procurement processes, for RFIs, RFPs, tenders, supply orders, much else,” says Lt Gen AKS Chandele. The revolution that ICT has brought in the field of military logistics is as momentous as the one in the field of armaments and cyber security. With the use ICT tools the military planners have a way of marrying the power of information with modern identification, transportation and elec-

tronic commerce systems. Defence forces have been able to develop seamless logistics systems that tie the entire chain of command into one network of shared situational awareness and unified action. Such digital systems help the defence forces to bring efficiency in their internal management of the manpower, the equipment and the armament related resources. The typical ICT systems being used by defence forces encompass all levels of security and they ensure that the right person has the right authority to access the right information. KPM Das, Vice President, National Security and Defence, Cisco Systems, says, “Over military networks, both in peace and war, digital identities are used online as a way to identify

personnel and to provide access to various services and military applications offered by the defence agencies. While many aspects of the online eco-system have been improved through IT Policy, Information Assurance SOPs(Standard Operating Procedures) and innovations in technology, assurances of digital identity and managing those identities over the network with credence to privacy, security and ease of use remains a complex problem.” The authorised defence staffs are able to manage and aggregate finance, payroll and personnel information in easy and efficient manner. Automation of procurement, personnel and pay administration, vetting, recruitment, estate management and performance reporting becomes easy to implement when with ICT based systems. Even the management of canteen supplies and medical stores being used by the defence forces is being streamlined through ICT. Technology can also help in creating systems more agile procurement and adaptation cycles that are required for preventing obsolescence and to maintaining interoperability. In a world where warning times are often getting reduced, defence needs to take a holistic approach to ICT capability for integrating both war and management related functions. Improvements in automation are exploited to provide better unity of command and reduced logistical footprint. With knowledge provided by ICT systems, leaders have the necessary awareness. Precise, realtime knowledge of the disposition of their assets allows commanders to manoeuvre CSS assets as quickly as they manoeuvre combat elements, thereby shaping the battle. The Indian defence establishment is making extensive use of ICT based systems for things like readiness management, distribution management, asset management, and other logistical interventions. One important part of the entire logistical management exercise of defence forces consists of maintenance of all the equipments in operational worthy condition at all times. To look after this aspect, this there is always a dedicated branch/division. The management solutions the defence forces use are somewhat similar to that used by many worldclass commercial companies for reducing inventories significantly through real-time information, coupled with rapid transportation.

WRITE BACK for feedback contact: editorial@elets.in

March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

in person

V S Mahalingam

Distinguished Scientist (DS) and Director Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) DRDO, Ministry of Defence

New Advances in

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

ell us about the work being done by CAIR.

user-friendly systems. The bottom line is that ICT is instrumental in allowing us to realise the full potential of a robotic system.

The research focus of CAIR is in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Control systems. Over the years CAIR has expanded its charter to include system development in the areas of tactical communication, command control, communication security, Information security and net-centric warfare. CAIR has further enhanced its domain to Geographical Information Systems, Neural-networks, Ad hoc Networks and Network Management to meet the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s requirements.

Tell us about your solutions for homeland security and low intensity conflicts. CAIR has developed lightweight portable robots which are specially suited for low intensity conflicts. These robots can be employed for reconnaissance and improving situational awareness while keeping the security personnel out of harmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way. A wall-climbing prototype robot developed by CAIR, fitted with a manoeuvrable camera, can be made to climb external walls of a building and peek inside through windows. In order to carry out surveillance inside buildings, CAIR has developed a stair climbing robot equipped with multiple day/night cameras. An enhanced version of this robot is under development that will have additional features of explosive detection and non-lethal weapon launching. To sneak into areas with narrow access, a snake robot has been developed mimicking the movements of the bio-

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

What are the ways by which ICT can be effective in fulfilling the needs of military organisations in future? Military organisations depend highly on information for effective operations, logistic support and intelligence gathering. In present day scenario of information overload, ICT solutions enable efficient collection, collation and dissemination of useful data. This extracted information can support effective and efficient process for decision making. logical counterpart for locomotion. For perimeter surveillance, a robot sentry has been developed which can patrol along designated path autonomously while relaying continuous video feed.

How critical is ICT in enabling the creation of an efficient robot? I would like to define the efficiency of a robot in terms of its ease-of-use which can be facilitated by providing autonomy. ICT is an enabling technology for implementation of autonomy. Autonomy requires awareness of self and surroundings achieved through fusion of sensors and decision making capability achieved through onboard intelligence algorithms. Efficient information gathering combined with reasoning and cognitive capabilities help robots to adapt to changing situations and to user preferences resulting in

People view robot intelligence as a frightening thing. How do you see that? In my opinion, Robots taking over the human race and enslaving mankind is far from reality. Robots are machines capable of exhibiting behaviours programmed by the human designer. It will be difficult for machines, which came into existence a few decades ago to beat the products of nature which evolved over millions of years. It is unlikely that robots will possess human-like intelligence in the near future. In any case, the ultimate control will still reside with the human operators. The only frightening situation is the robot going out of control due to malfunction, like any other man-made machine. Hence, it is essential to build security interlocks in the system like any other sophisticated equipment.

IN PERSON

KPM Das

Vice President, National Security and Defence, Cisco India

Converged

Battlespace for Land, Sea and Air

ow can cutting edge technology in defence lead to attainment of battle objectives with minimal loss of life?

KPM Das is an author, speaker and contributor in areas of Information and Net-Centric Warfare and Command and Control Systems. KPM is a keen follower of Wargame theory and models. He is a former member of the MOD Core Group on Information Security and the co-author of the Defence Information Infrastructure proposal. KPM drives national security and defence strategy for India at Cisco. In an email interview with eGov, he sheds light on various ways ICT is being deployed in the defence sector

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Over the past two decades, warfare has undergone a paradigm shift. Attrition warfare has given way to manoeuvre warfare in which commanders have objectives to be secured in limited time-frames. Also called Effect-Based-Operations, modern warfare is conducted with precision and focuses on disabling enemy infrastructure and vital areas/points. Modern warfare invariably requires networks which are failsafe and support both speed and throughput. With near-zero tolerance on casualties, both own and hostile, outcomes have to be measured and delimited. In scenarios such as these, solutions and technologies have to be based on flexibility, security and high degrees of redundancy- Cisco networks and technologies provide the kind of assurance that an operation of this nature demands and we are working hard to push the envelope to the needs of modern warfare. Leading military organizations are moving away from traditional centralized thinking and planning, and towards an edge-centred approach to information sharing and availability. An intelligent network provides the foundational elements, such as collaborative tools, storage, security, messaging, and mediation, creating a common platform that supports the full array of services and applications used by military forces. These services can be used across service or agency boundaries—transparently to the user. An intelligent network is also central to an environment where commanders and staff can pull the information they require, without relying on a top-down, “push” approach to intelligence and decision making. This ability to “reach back” also reduces the forward footprint necessary for military operations, dramatically reducing costs and risks to personnel.

IN PERSON

In a world where boundaries between voice, data and video are becoming increasingly blurred, how can defence ensure that access to “networked services on the move” continues to grow much further forward in the area of actual operations? Convergence is here and now – networks carry voice, video and data with equal assurance. Combat signalers design, and build tactical networks to enable mobility – the network components are on the move, so are the platforms like battle tanks and ICVs and so are the soldiers with tablets and hand-held devices. This threefold challenge is met by engineering architectures based on IP and use of protocols which are hardened for the battlefield conditions of impairment and disruption. Corps of Signals, around the world, has to be a step ahead of the general staff and commanders in ensuring that paradigms stay current and enable tactical-doctrinal shifts.

What are the latest technologies that can be used to manage the digital identities of people in Defence establishments? Over military networks, both in peace and war, digital identities are used online as a way to identify personnel and to provide access to various services and military applications offered by the defence agencies. While many aspects of the online eco-system have been improved through IT Policy, Information Assurance SOPs(Standard Operating Procedures) and innovations in technology, assurances of digital identity and managing those identities over the network with credence to privacy, security and ease of use remains a complex problem. Identity management within a secure cloud of air-gapped networks require a complex set of technologies to manage authentication, authorization and access control (AAA) across distributed systems. These systems can straddle multiple security domains, as when two military formations or fleets collaborate, and enable cross-domain access to commanders and staff from the peer domain. Cisco TrustSec Identity, a part of the Cisco Trust and Identity Management Solution, is the foundation for providing access control to networks. It offers authentication, access control, and user policies to secure network resources and connectivity while enabling military system administrators to grant customized access to the network, based on the identity of a user or device, and the SOP. This solution improves the network’s ability to identify, prevent, and adapt to threats. It also provides automated AAA ser-

vices for switch-based network access and automates security policy enforcement and provides dynamic VLAN provisioning.

What are the ways in which ICT can be effective in fulfilling the needs of military organisations in future? ICT in defence force has two facets- the OIS (Operational Information Systems) for enablement of military operations and MIS (Management Information Systems) for running the administration and logistics of the respective organizations. While models for the former is largely derived from doctrines and battle work flows and therefore are highly customized and embedded, the MIS is not very different from those systems which are used in enterprises in the business and civilian domains. Considering the Size, Weight and Power constraints (SwaP), systems for OIS have to be necessarily match the

ibility compared to more fragmented satellite communication networks.

How are Cisco products being deployed in the defence vertical? Cisco has been a leader in innovating and providing cutting edge solutions for defence forces around the world. A look at two of the most intense military engagements of recent times will reveal that WIN-T and FALCON networks, both of which are based on Cisco technologies, support US and NATO combat, which support echelons in Iraq and Afghanistan. At a time when command and control has moved on from voice to voice-and-video, with commanders requiring enhanced level of collaboration in Command Posts, Cisco TelePresence solutions are extensively used the world over by the defence forces. A number of other technologies and products are also being used by defence forces worldwide.

“Military needs have been the catalyst for technology

disruptions and innovations”

profile of the military formation or HQ and will invariably need adaptation to mobile platforms to work alongside and support battle functions.

How can advances in military technology be put to benefit the society at large? If you look at history of emergent technologies, military needs have been the catalyst for technology disruptions and innovations. However, over years, civilian, enterprise and consumer requirements have driven new products and solutions with dual-use possibilities. There are some areas, though, where military technology continues to provide leadership - the ones that come to mind are aviation and aerospace, satellite platforms, crypto-solutions and innovations in sensors and surveillance. Take the instance of a technology disruptive solution-Cisco’s IRIS (Internet Router In Space) which provides immense advantages to the Service Providers- allows organizations to reach multiple continents from a single connection to network infrastructure. The converged Cisco IRIS solution enables voice, data and video traffic over a single IP network to increase efficiency and flex-

In India, strategic and tactical networks have been deployed by the armed forces. They have moved away from second generation ATM and MSS based networks to IP-based architectures with significant focus on tactical routers and switches. Most of the tactical communication systems and command and control networks around the world are powered by Cisco and we are working with military leadership to share the knowledge and experiences gained from such operational deployments. We are conscious of the fact that the Army, Navy and the Air Force have high expectations from technology providers in their transformational programs – these expectations include capabilities to adapt state-of-the-art technologies for the Indian defence market and meet the mandates of the Defence Procurement Policy in local manufacture and transfer of technology. Following the success of the Cisco ASR 901 Router, the next generation mobile wireless router designed and developed out of India to address the needs of Carrier Ethernet, TDM backhaul and Cell Site Gateway, we intend to work with Indian partners and DRDO to provide secure “Made In India” solutions and products for ships, aircraft and army combat elements. March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

news

india

social media Panchayats

Panchayats to be under e-Governance in Madhya Pradesh In a bid to lay the foundation and provide the impetus for long-term growth of e-Governance in Madhya Pradesh, the process of computerizing about 23,000 village Panchayats has begun with the objective to bring public utility services through three-tier panchayats under National e-Governance Programme. Services like government machinery to citizens, between government departments and government machinery to business representative will be delivered under the e-panchayat programme by connecting the threetier panchayats.

No Censorship on Social Media: Kapil Sibal Union Telecom and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal ruled out any plan to censor social media, but said the companies need to obey the law of the land. The comments came in the backdrop of a Delhi court’s order asking social and networking media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google etc to remove objectionable content.

The court’s order had come after Mr. Sibal had

taken some measures to rein in social media organisations from hurting religious sentiments. “No government in the country will ever censor social media. But we need to make sure that everybody obeys the laws of the country. If the print media and visual media obey the laws, the social media can also obey the laws,” Mr. Sibal told the Nasscom Leadership

Summit that got underway here this morning. “I want to say once and for all, without any obfuscation, no government in India will ever censor social media,” he further said. After the Delhi court order early this month, Internet giants Google and Facebook removed offensive content from their India websites.

Website

SPUWC, Delhi launches website for women

In a bid to make police more approachable, the Special Police Unit Women and Children (SPUWC) of the Delhi Police recently launched its official website. SPUWC is a body dedicated to working for resolution of matrimonial disputes. It works under the overall

supervision and guidance of the Joint Commissioner of Police. It is present in each district of Delhi as the popular CAW Cells that reach out to women in need of help/services of police. The website will help women in getting all the information about redressal and process of complaint filing at SPUWC . The Delhi Police has been looking at various online forums to make themselves more accessible to citizens and this comes in addition to their presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Kerala became the first state to have two Data Centres Kerala is all set to boost up its e-Governance with two Data Centres. The State became the first State in the country to have two Data Centres. The second State Data Centre (SDC) at the Technopark in Trivandrum was inaugurated by the Minister for IT & Industries, Shri P K Kunhalikutty at a function held at the Park Centre. The new tier II Data

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Centre, located in the Thejaswani building in Technopark campus, has been set up at a cost of Rs.22.5 crores. The new data centre will help in faster and more secure roll out of e-Governance

initiatives,especially Governemnt to Government (G2G) and Governemnt to Citizen (G2C) Services. Besides, the new SDC will augment the Government’s

capacity to cater to the ever growing demand for e-Governance services. In 2005, Kerala became the first State in the country to have a state-of-the-art Data Centre exclusively for e-Governance activities. The first Data Centre is located at the Co Bank Towers in Thiruvananthapuram.

state focus

Citizen First:

Bringing Urban Governance on an e-Platform Challenges posed by growing urban population and resulting complexities are making Municipal Bodies increasingly turn to technology. Technology has become an active tool and platform of citizen-municipal corporation engagement, helping ensure good governance and bridging the gap between citizens and municipal bodies Rachita Jha, Elets News Network (ENN)

lobally, the share of urban population is expected to touch 69 percent in 2050 and the number of megacities (cities having population in excess of 10 million) is expected to increase to 29 by 2025 (from 21 at present). Urbanisation in India is also taking place at a fast place and it is therefore needed to be prepared for this challenge and plan ahead for smart and optimised governance of large urban systems. Use of technology in urban governance and municipalities will break the barriers of distance and time and bring citizens closer to city governments. Maharashtra stands as the second largest state in India both in terms of population and geographical area. According to Census 2011, the state has a population of around 11.2 crore which is 9.3 percent of the total population of India. The state is highly urbanised with nearly 42 percent people residing in urban areas (Census 2001). Caught up with the arduous task of delivery of basic

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

state focus

amenities and services such as electricity, water, housing, safety and security etc., municipal administrators are increasingly turning to technology. While some corporations have adopted a piecemeal approach, taking on a single service delivery on the technology platform, others have gone ahead with an end-to-end solution.

e-Inclusive city In any city, there are over 100 citizen services that require engagement with civic authorities for enquires, registration, forms submissions, payments, grievances etc. It is a time-taking process for the citizen. The availability of an e-gateway for citizen service delivery has attracted much attention in municipal governance, and is bringing about a silent revolution in many city corporations, breaking away barriers of distance, class, and gender. Maharashtra began its journey of IT in municipal corporation way back in the late 90s, when the state government issued a mandate to introduce computerization in all local bodies. However, subsequent actions and hand-holding left many urban local bodies directionless on the best ways to move forward in technology adoption. “The use of technology in the day-today delivery of urban services is very important from the point of view of the effectiveness of the delivery of these services to the citizens. A simple technology tool such as the SMS forwarded from citizens with their grievances, such I get on a daily basis, which are then immediately forwarded to field officers and compliance is done quickly. I am using this technology in addition to GIS, camera surveillance and online approvals are important to bring-in transparency and accountability,” says RA Rajeev, Commissioner, Thane Municipal Corporation. With rising challenges and limited manpower, technology is the best tool for execution of effective and efficient municipal governance. “One has to differentiate by a minority vis-à-vis by the majority of population, as e-empowered citizens still remain the minority and they should get the critical services with ease. Their needs are for cleanliness, good roads and water supply, etc. When we consider delivery of services under e-governance, we should include the services that will affect the required by the majority of the population. This is the strategy of inclusiveness, city dwellers that includes the poor people; this is where online services and approval will play a major impact. Online approvals of building plans will have a major

Benefits of e-municipality • Transparent and time-bound service

• Convenience due to single touch point

• Integration with related modules like property,

services

town planning, trade and market license, water

• Accurate forecasting and effective planning

billing etc

• Image overhaul of ULB with better citizen

• Reduction in processing time for service

services

delivery

impact on the lower income groups, when they are going to buy a property,” avers Rajeev.

Municipal Governance Re-engineering For any city administrator, technology alone cannot be an enabler; there is a need for a business re-engineering approach that should be fundamental in planning and implementation process of e-governance in municipal corporations. This strengthens sustainable and effective adoption of technology in city administration. On the importance of a holistic approach Ramnath Sonawane, Commissioner, KDMC says, “At Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), the e-governance planning began in 1999, and this involved

a review and understanding of close to 400 legal abiding procedures which we have to comply to. There were three teams created under steering committee, high-power committee and executive committee and involved all heads of departments for the project. After extensive technical evaluations of TSPs, deliberations on processes and legal frameworks in collaboration with domain experts we were ready with a model for municipal e-governance in 2002, and today the KDMC model is being replicated across 231 urban local bodies across Maharashtra.” There are close to 125 different types of complaints and a minimum of 100 services under a municipality. “We have created a template for the same that is available on our citizen faciliMarch 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

state focus

citizen centric e-Governance for all the urban local bodies covering all the citizen services, revenue department, accounts, portal, MIS and integration with GIS. Therefore, technology has emerged as a powerful citizen engagement tool in any form- Internet, mobile SMS, video conferencing – and is empowering citizens in interactions with the city administration.

Municipal Administrative Information Network

tation centres. Each complaint is tracked on these CFSs and has to be delivered in a timebound manner. In addition, we have a payment gateway in place for citizens to make payments without coming to the corporation office. There is now also a facility of home delivery of birth and death certificates”, Sonawane says. In order to get maximum advantage of disruptive tools technologies in governance process, the need for a plan for governance process reengineering is emerging as a critical one.

Key e-Municipal Services •

Complaints Redressal platform

•

Town planning permissions and licenses

•

administration •

KDMC success It is vital that citizen-centric departments are able to share data among themselves (for example, details pertaining to a citizen’s payment of taxes, renewing licenses, etc), thereby creating an online connectivity for government-to-citizens transactions. Citizens are able to carry out a variety of tasks, especially those that involve multiple departments, without initiating contacts with each department individually. KDMC initiated its journey into e-Governance in 1999, with the objective of creating a system driven Municipal Corporation with highest levels of transparency, accountability and citizen servicing standards,. KDMC took a decision for total computerization of the Corporation with a holistic approach rather than the piecemeal approach. Today, the corporation

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Water and Property Tax Public Works – Estimates and Payments

•

Octroi Management

•

Birth and Death certificates

enjoys seamless citizen interaction due to the robustness, scalability and simplicity of management of MAINetTM in many ways such as more transparency in service applications and issuing licenses and certificates, overall efficiency in dayto-day administration of the corporation. Taking cue from the best practices adopted by the KDMC – a trend-setter in municipal e-governance in the state, the Maharashtra government has undertaken an ambitious project of rolling out e-Governance in 231 municipal bodies across the state. Around 42 percent of the urban population in Maharashtra will get

The government of Maharashtra in their search for roll out of eGovernment platforms in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state, after extensive evaluation chose MAINetTM or Municipal Administrative Information Network for ULBs in the state to optimize transparency and accountability by automating access of more than 100 citizen services in Maharashtra. MAINetTM is patented by the KDMC. The project is one of the largest in this domain of G2B and G2C services in terms of coverage, complexity, and impact of ULBs/citizens and size. The ability of ULBs to adopt best practices by optimising and re-engineering their existing business processes and the availability of accurate, reliable and complete master data in digital remain key challenges. Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) and Complaints and Redressal (CARE) are web portals that allow improvised communications between the ULB and the citizen. The project will help automate access to more than 100 citizen services, to be delivered through citizen facilitation centres (CFC). The services include payment of taxes, property related queries for telephone or internet connections, application for new water connection, application for any other service or application for birth/death certificate, simple registration of any civic complaint among others. Related activities have already been initiated in cities such as Ambarnath, Badlapur, Panvel, Khopoli, Alibag, Pen, Baramati, Panchgani, Satara, Karad, Solapur, Amravati, Chiplun, Mavan, Shirdi, Jaisinghpur, Malegaon, Dhulia, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalna, Shegaon, Dapoli, Daund, Junnar, Yavatmal, Akola, Beed, Madgaon, Aashta and Pusad.

Efficiency and transparency Birth and death certificates can be easily delivered to the citizens without them coming to the office, property tax can be filed sitting at home by all without going through the ordeal of paperwork.

state focus

mapped on GIS, this will enable any citizen to take a photo on the mobile and send an SMS to the administration. The dashboard will capture and address the complaint, and even escalate the matter to the higher authorities if unaddressed. We are probably the first city to have 60 layers of features on this GIS mapping, and are now geo-referencing the same. This is an advance step towards bringing in more transparency and accountability in the administration.”

Lately, in a bid to make housing affordable to all, a notification from the state government makes it mandatory for all projects on more than 2,000 sq m land to reserve 20 percent of the plot or constructed space for smaller sized affordable housing. The rule would be applicable to the 26 municipal corporations and all municipal councils in Maharashtra and is meant to promote the concept of inclusive housing. Technology can help municipal administrators ensure compliance. Consider a software solution that has each building plan and approval process online. This will enable citizens monitor the compliance and avail benefits from the government initiative and also make the entire process transparent. Elaborating on prioritization of online services, Rajeev avers, “In Thane, 40 percent of thepopulation is in slums, therefore I would include birth and death certificates, monitoring of water supply, cleanliness, transparency in the building approvals as a priority list of e-municipality services. We have plans to have the entire city

Future Outlook The major challenge that most administrators face today, remains in the prioritisation and selection of technology platforms that are cost effective, efficient and reliable, as technology is changing with each passing day and administrators have to keep pace with the same. “The choice of technology solution and the readiness of the manpower and citizens to be ready to use the same is a major challenge for administrators. And with many technology available, the choice

must be made on what will benefit the maximum population and ensure inclusiveness,” says Rajeev. For those who have started on the e-municipality, it is a piecemeal approach. “After the CFCs, hope to make our office paperless and further reduce the files, and citizen visits to the corporation. We are trying for a 100 percent e-municipality at KDMC in the coming year, and training and capacity building of our staff on latest technology platforms”, avers Sonawane. In conclusion, it is evident that although the technology providers can offer you the best combinations of features and benefits of a particular technology tool, it is the city administration that needs to include the citizens’ charter into the agenda of the solution provider-to realize the true benefits of e-municipality.

WRITE BACK for feedback contact: editorial@elets.in

P NG Uch r COMI th ma m 14 sochaHI as W DEL NE

Following the success of 2011, eHEALTH once again presents Healthcare Leaders’ Forum Series 2012

coming up mumbai, june hyderabad, august

EVENT OBJECTIVES

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

FOCUS AREAS

• Create a vibrant platform for senior industry leaders to share business experiences • Provide opportunity of mutual learning among industry players • Showcase existing success stories and best practices in healthcare industry • Germinate new business ideas and winning strategies rends and analysis

• Government visionaries, Health secretaries • CXOs of healthcare organisations • Senior administrators, HODs and business managers of hospitals • Investors from private equity and venture capital firms • Vendors and suppliers of hospital materials, technologies, equipments and devices • Healthcare consultants and experts

• Current market opportunities of healthcare industry • Investment trends in healthcare sector • Policy initiatives and economic factors for success • Medical Devices and Technology • Emerging business models in healthcare • Human resource and workforce development • Future trends and analysis

For updates visit healthcareleaders.eletsonline.com

March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

IN PERSON

Gujarat IG of Police Manoj Agarwal heads the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB). He has an important role in the implementation of the Home Department Integrated IT Solution that would bring about far-reaching changes to the functioning of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Home Department, including the police. In a discussion with Anand Agarwal and Sunil Kumar, he talks of the vision behind HDIITS, its current implementation status and how it is broader in scope than the CCTNS of the Union Home Ministry

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

IN PERSON

Manoj Agarwal IGP, SCRB, Government of Gujarat

Ansystem integrated for citizenfriendly policing

ow was the HDIITS conceptualised, and what benefits are sought to be derived from it? The Home Department Integrated IT Solution or HDIITS was conceptualized when it was realized that a lot of initiatives are taken down the line at the district level or block level. It was realized that we should be thinking about the whole process holistically. It should be centrally tackled and each and every function should be covered and this led to HDIITS being planned. HDIITS would build a centralised repository of crime and criminal information database, which will be shared across various law enforcement agencies in the state. This will help in effective crime investigation and quicker turnout times for cases solving. The system also has a citizen website interface, which will help the police to deliver quality services to citizens and hence will promote a strong and cordial relationship between police and citizens in the state. It will also increase transparency and openness.

So the entire paperworkbased system is going to be transformed into an electronic system… Yes, more or less. The concept is that we would move maximum record keeping to electronic mode. It would not be entirely paperless police station, as a number of documents are legally required. For example, the FIR requires signa-

ture of the complainant etc., so some paperwork would still be there, but yes, we will be deploying electronic record keeping to a large extent.

And what is the implementation status of the system? We are at a very advanced stage. The software is more or less ready and a lot of user acceptance tests have been conducted. Data digitisation has also been completed for a number of years and we have conducted many training sessions as well. The only thing is that the hardware has not yet been purchased. The tender has been awarded recently. Once the hardware comes in, it will be more or less online for everyone. Already we have very good connectivity in Gujarat, so that would not be a problem. We finalised the hardware contract just a while back, and expect around 90 working days for the entire system to be operational. However, I would be a little more conservative, and think that by the middle of 2012, we should have the system in place.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed a similar system – the CCTNS. What are the points of divergence between your project and the central one? I would not call it divergence. The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project is a successor to the CIPA project – Common Integrated Police Application. At the time CIPA was planned, we had very politely told them that we would not be taking up CIPA and since we already had con-

nected police stations through the Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN), we decided not to go for a standalone type of system that was envisaged under CIPA. We decided to go ahead with HDIITS. The centre has now realised the importance of interconnected police stations and the CCTNS is now talking of connecting police stations. Even the CCTNS is covering only the core applications that are limited to investigation and police complaints. HDIITS is covering a much broader range of applications, including investigations, administration, prisons, home guards etc. So the HDIITS is much broader in scope than CCTNS which is covering uniform aspects of police work across states, and make records available nationwide.

Going forward, do you see a situation where every state would have to develop systems similar to HDIITS for the aspects not covered by the CCTNS? That is already happening. They are now asking the system integrators in the states to take up other parts of police functioning of the state not covered by the CCTNS. So while the CCTNS would provide a common nationwide system for the investigative and crime-related work, other areas would be covered by state-specific systems. We are well on the way to implementing this through the HDIITS which is an integrated system that would cover around 70,000 police personnel, 30,000 honorary staff and 5,000 administrative staff in over 1000 offices across the state. March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

impact on elections

social media

Elections 2.0

Social media - the new battleground for politics Ishvinder Singh, Elets News Network (ENN)

oday, an individual is empowered to quickly gain comprehension of the political zeitgeist that seeks to restructure the pre-existing political, social and spiritual ecosystems. Social networks, video sharing, blogging and other Web 2.0 tools are changing the face of electoral campaigns, providing an easily accessible platform. The fundamental understanding of communication has always been at the centre of a leaderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arsenal, but a firm grasp on the future of communication can be the secret weapon that wins the war. With the advent of Web 2.0, people have a new platform to articulate and connect. Social media has done what traditional media could not do. It is giving people a voice in politics. The social media is changing the face of politics, even

Dr S Y Quraishi Chief Election Commissioner of India

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Social media enjoys a tremendous reach globally, especially amongst the youth of today. We would like to harness this platform to motivate and educate the voters and stay engaged with them for enhancing their participation in the democratic electoral process and strengthening of our democracyâ&#x20AC;? though it is gaining momentum in India in a gradual manner. In USA, Barack Obama took grassroots campaigning into the digital age by embracing Web 2.0 and used it as a central platform of his

2008 presidential campaign. In his campaign, technology played a key role in spreading his message of hope and change to millions of people, started aspiring for being part of that change. The campaign turned into a social March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

social media

impact on elections

Renuka Chowdhury Spokesperson, Indian National Congress

“Social media has come to stay and be an integral part of political dialogue and communication. It has created an unparalled platform for policy makers and voters to interface on social issues where its reach is instantaneous. Social media has a very crucial role to play in bridgeing the gap between rural and urban India” movement and effectively harnessed the power of digitally networked society. Obama initially created advocates by the millions by activating youth and minority voters, while simultaneously tapping into the shared values of Democrats and independent voters who embraced both the message and the momentum. In India, the nationwide anti-graft movement of Anna Hazare would not have packed the same punch in case social media such as Facebook had not been around. Anna Hazare’s movement became significantly powerful on social media, primarily on Facebook and Twitter. Official Facebook page of Anna Hazare managed to engage 5.2 lakh fans and the Twitter page has 2 lakh followers. Social media kept the supporters engaged and informed about the next demonstrations across the country. High profile personalities from diverse spaces of business, politics and the celebs expressed their support to the campaign using social media.

The politicians in India have started turning tech-savvy, making their political rallies socially accessible. Social media is being used to mobilise voters — blogs, mobile phones, text messages, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms are seeing increased presence of politicians and political parties. In order to engage with iPhone lovers, BJP has launched an iPhone App - “BJP for India”. The introduction of social media in political campaigns is challenging the role of conventional media as the monopoly source for disseminating of information. Social media is being used to directly reach the target voters. Almost all political parties have marked their presence on social media, but there exists ample scope for using it more effectively. The shortcomings of the mainstream media such as clipping the message, distortion, sensationalism, wilfully creating confusion rather than promoting real facts have driven many youngsters into the arm of social media. The

Rajendra Chaudhary Spokesperson, Samajwadi party

“Social media is playing a vital role in creating a direct connect between the voters and the party. Social media is supporting us a lot especially in mobilizing youth and creating an impact” 32

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Arvind Gupta National Convener, BJP IT Cell

“Social media breaks all traditional barriers for communicating, listening and engaging with the voters. The BJP believes in the powers of this new age media and uses it very effectively during election and nonelection periods. Political parties need to realise that integrated marketing campaigns are the best tools to reach out to the young voters of India” major factor behind the success of social media in public movements and campaigns is the power of engagement. The social networks have been conducive in opening up the dialogue and making public engagement a twoway street like seldom before. What is your take on political battles being contested in social media?

WRITE BACK for feedback contact: editorial@elets.in

data centre & Security

Data Centres

Architecture & Security If we burn all the data that we now have on compact discs, the resulting stack will go beyond the moon. It has been estimated that on planet earth four babies are born every second, whereas 40 mobile devices get sold every second Anoop Verma, Elets News Network (ENN)

ince the arrival of social networking there has been a phenomenal growth in data traffic. Number of users is on the rise and many different options to transact data have become available. A significant part of any organisation’s IT budget is being spent on storage. To deal with the data explosion, companies like Airtel, Reliance, Tata, Sify and other telecommunication service providers have been rapidly expanding their data centre capacity. Several hundred square feet of data centre space has been added in major metros like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore. Many companies in India are using the data centres created by hosting providers such as Netmagic and CtrlS that are being funded by strategic investors. Large players like Tulip Telecom, BSNL and MTNL are also vying for a significant slice of the data centre market. The government vertical is a key contributor to the data explosion. Under the National e-Governace Plan (NeGP), the Government of India plans to make large number of services available to the common man through online systems. To provide secure IT infrastructure to host state-level e-Government applications and data, many new State Data Centres (SDCs) are being created. As data centres are home to valuable information, security is an important issue. “With huge computational capability present within the data centres, the security tools need to be able to cope up with the network traffic which can range from Mbps to Gbps. The Vendors within the security market offer a lot of products in hardware/software mode which provide perimeter defence, network defence, host and application defence capabilities such as, Context aware Network Firewalls, DDoS mitigation mechanism, and much else,” says Sumeet Parashar, India Lead, Global Security Solutions, CSC. The UIDAI initiative launched by the government of India is absorbing many petabytes of data in every region. To secure and process the data collected from millions of citizens,

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

the UIDAI operates a highly secure state of the art data centre in Bangalore. According to UID officials all the data collected from individuals at the enrolment centres travels in 2048-bit digitally encrypted packets all the way to the data centre. According to R S Sharma, Director General & Mission Director, UIDAI, best-inclass strategies from the technology perspective have been employed to keep resident data secure within UIDAI data centres. R S Sharma says, “Security and privacy of data within Aadhaar system has been foundational and is clearly reflected in UDIAI’s strategy, design and its processes throughout the system.”

The Data Centre Crunch In January 2012, Oracle released a report entitled Next Generation Data Centre Index Cycle II. The report reveals that many businesses have been caught off guard by the boom in ‘Big Data’. The report states that between 2010 and 2011 there

data centre & Security

r s sharma

Efficiency and Security in Data Centres

Director General & Mission Director, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

Rajgopal Srinivas, CEO, Tulip Data Centre Services Pvt Ltd

Should companies go in for in-house data centres, or should they rely on buying capacity from external data centres? Outsourcing data centres offers significant value for any organisation. Companies can go in for their own data centres only when their requirement is very large, of around 10,000 sq ft. The organisation has to make large capital investment for creating a data centre. There is significant rise in the number of companies seeking data centre services as there is increased adoption of IT enabled services and applications. How do we create an energy efficient data centre? What is the optimum temperature for data centres to run? In case of data centres that are 2 years old or older, every 100 racks consuming an average 4Kw per rack could end-up saving 2.2 crores on power alone in energy efficient data centre. The power savings can actually pay-up the capex invested in a DC facility in about 6 years. Data centres can achieve up to 20 percent efficiency during design phase, by choosing to implement cold aisle containment and many other technologies. One

was a rise from 40 percent to 60 percent in the number of businesses using external data centres. The number of businesses looking forward to building new data centres has also risen from 27 percent to 38 percent. The research conducted by Oracle indicates that the volumes have soared from 135 Exabytes in 2005 to 2,720 Exabytes by 2012. By 2015, the volume is expected to reach a staggering 7,910 Exabytes. Due to rapid miniaturisation of technology, it is now possible to have a highly efficient data centre of up to 20 petabytes of storage capacity in a storage space of less than 2000 square feet. So it is possible for a data centre to occupy one room in a building of one or more floors. The most important equipment in a typical data centre consists of servers, which are usually mounted in rack cabinets and filed in single rows forming corridors between them. Microsoft’s massive data centre, located in Chicago, looks like a large indoor parking lot filled with

should choose optimum temperature based on the ambient temperature outside the data centre. What kind of disaster recovery plans should a data centre have? Indian enterprises are becoming more mature in their disaster recovery investments, and also may be because enterprises see this impacting their business continuity and compliance to statutory requirements. The recent natural disasters in Japan and Australia have forced companies to make plans for disaster recovery. We offer infrastructure level services to enable BCP/DR, such as mirrored storage, digital back-up & archival services, computing on-demand and space for temp IT establishment. What kind of data centre capacity will India require in ten years of time? Gartner forecasts India to be among the fastestgrowing IT services markets in the world, with an expected end-user spending CAGR of 17 percent during 2010 through 2015. Data centre outsourcing services are expected to grow at 15 percent CAGR in the same period.

“Security and privacy of data within Aadhaar system has been foundational and is clearly reflected in UDIAI’s strategy, design and its processes throughout the system”

a number of parked trailers, each of which houses anywhere from 1,800 to 2,500 servers. In February 2012, Tulip Telecom launched India’s largest data centre in Bangalore, the Tulip Data City (TDC), which sprawls across more than 900000 square feet. Once it becomes fully operational, it could start earning revenues in the tune of Rs. 1000 crore annually.

Surajit Sen Director, Channels, Marketing & Alliances, NetApp India

“The Indian data centre capacity is poised to touch 6.6 million square feet by 2016, with service providers driving majority of the growth”

March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

data centre & Security

The legal view on Data Centres Give us an overview of the laws that govern the storage and transmission of data in a Data Centre. In India, the relevant law that governs the storage and transmission of data in data centre is the Information Technology Act, 2000 as also the rules and regulations made there under, including the Information Technology Rules, 2011. The Information Technology Act, 2000 is India’s mother legislation dealing with the use of computers, computer systems, computer networks, computer resources and communication devices as also data and information in the electronic form. Under Indian law who has the

that own the data centres. Responsibility also lies with the company that is storing its data in the data centre. There is no role of the Government in ensuring protection of data stored in a data centre.

Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, President

responsibility for protecting the data stored in a data centre? The ultimate responsibility of protecting data stored in the data centres is of the private companies

Virtualisation and energy efficiency Many new technologies for virtualisation are being used to improve the efficiency of data centres. Essentially, virtualisation is taking a physical server and dividing it into multiple simulated or “virtual” servers, which are like Virtual Machines (VMs) capable of running on the interface of a single server. Basically you are trying to save power consumption by converting physical instances into virtual instances, so you host multiple virtual instances on fewer physical machines. This leads to fewer servers being used more efficiently so that there

Do we need new laws to prevent misuse of data, or are existing laws enough? We certainly require new laws to prevent misuse of data. It is pertinent to note that till date, India does not have any dedicated data protection legislation in place. The Information Technology Act, 2000 as amended is not a data protection legislation. It only has provisions which impacts protection of data. The existing laws are clearly not enough.

is lower operational cost and conservation of resources. “The trend towards server virtualisation and consolidation is transforming the way data centres are being designed, built and managed. Data storage and data management are key elements of this transformation, because successful virtualisation deployments depend upon a shared, networked storage infrastructure capable of eliminating the silos of storage associated with various application tiers. This shift towards a shared infrastructure increases the importance of unified storage and enables customers to achieve storage efficiency rates of 85-100 percent

What kind of legal recourse does a user have if his data stored in a data centre gets leaked/stolen/ tampered? If a user’s data stored in a data centre gets leaked/stolen/tampered, he has legal recourse available against the person who is responsible for such data breach, should his identity be known, as well as the company running the data centre. Users can sue the company running the data centre for damages by way of compensation up to Rupees Five Crore per contravention under Section 43 of the amended Information Technology Act, 2000. If the data stored in the data centre consists of sensitive personal information and the same stands breached, the user can sue for unlimited damages.

Sumeet Parashar India Lead, Global Security Solutions, CSC

Rajiv Aggarwal C.E.O - eGov, Spanco Ltd.

“Data centres require utility sources such as water, electricity. You should trace the electricity source back to two separate substations and the water source back to two separate main lines” 36

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

“Data integrity is one among the key security objectives within a data centre environment designed to handle huge data repository running into terabytes and petabytes”

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data centre & Security

while improving flexibility, increasing scalability, controlling power and cooling,” says Surajit Sen – Director, Channels, Marketing & Alliances, NetApp India. In many cases data centres can typically achieve 30 to 50 percent reduction in total cost of server ownership through virtualisation of existing servers. Transitioning to networked storage and eliminating duplicate environments can also improve efficiency. These days many new data centres prefer the x86 systems as these are meant for server virtualisation and consume lower amounts of power. According to a prediction by Gartner, “By 2012, it is expected that more than 50 percent of the x86 workloads could be running on virtual machines.”

Cloud Computing “Private cloud solutions equip enterprises to leverage their existing IT environment and create a cloud computing platform in the private internal network. The private cloud model overcomes several challenges faced in the public cloud such as data security, reliability and performance,” Vijay Mhaskar, vice president, Information Management Group, Symantec. According to a recently released study by NASSCOM and consulting firm Deloitte, the cloud computing market in India will reach $16 billion by 2020. The need to cut costs is making many businesses to explore the potential of cloud computing. In some cases, local regulations and data privacy restrictions delay adoption, but many companies are trying to find a way out as cloud computing represents a massive drop in costs. The cost advantage of cloud computing depends to a large extent on the efficient usage of existing data centre.

Securing the Data Centre “In modern data centres, the security of data on virtual systems is integrated with existing security of physical infrastructures. The security of a modern data centre must take into account physical security, network security, and data and user security. Though these extra precautions can be costly, it is necessary to have them in place,” says Rajiv Agarwal, C.E.O – eGov, Spanco Ltd. As data centres are home to data that is critical to the functioning of many businesses, they are expected to the secure and resilient. All kinds of physical and software based security solutions are used by data centres to meet the ever evolving security demands. The physical environment in which the data centre is

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Hemant Singh Business Manager, Security Solutions, Enkay Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd.

“Currently deployed biometrics includes fingerprint, face, iris scan, voice analysis, signature and hand geometry. In India, fingerprint and iris are commonly used” Vijay Mhaskar Vice President, Information Management Group, Symantec

“As more organisations leverage public and private clouds, new tools will emerge to manage this new complex storage environment” housed has to be completely secure to reduce the risk of deliberate or accidental intrusion. To identify the employees who work at the data centre comprehensive identity management and access management tools are used. Biometrics is often used to confirm identity. “Currently deployed biometrics includes fingerprint, face, iris scan, voice analysis, signa-

ture and hand geometry. In India, fingerprint and iris are commonly used,” says Hemant Singh, Business Manager, Security Solutions, Enkay Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd. As hackers are becoming savvier by the day, it is necessary have some baseline security measures, like securing the virtual servers and desktops by using antivirus tools and using host- or client-based firewalls. The data centres are also required to have a disaster recovery plan, to ensure that users have seamless access to data even if there is a temporary interruption of services at the data centre. The state of the art data centre owned by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) in Bangalore is home to one of world’s largest biometric databases. When asked about the level of security at the UIDAI data centre, R S Sharma, Director General & Mission Director, UIDAI, says, “There is physical security outside and within data centres with access controls including biometric access control, physical caging, and 24x7 monitoring using cameras. There is logical security by partitioning data centre into “zones” separating them using firewall and network intrusion detection and prevention systems. Data is “partitioned” across multiple security “zones”, meaning “no” single database has all the resident data in completeness.” Securing a data centre is not only about technology, it is also about processes. Along with physical security, biometrics, anti-intrusion systems, firewalls, good governance practices also need to be in place.

WRITE BACK for feedback contact: editorial@elets.in

IN PERSON

Renu Budhiraja

Senior Director & Head of Department State Data Centre Division, Department of Information Technology, Government of India

Data Centres will move to service

delivery approach

of downward flow from the perforated tiles in front of the racks. These AC units can cool the racks from the range of 3 KVA to 8 KVA load.

ow many State Data Centres are planned under the NeGP?

How do you ensure that usage is optimised?

The Scheme was approved for all 35 States/UTs. 32 SDCs are going to be constructed. Chandigarh has opted out of the scheme. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu will be getting SDC services from Goa SDC. 16 SDCs have already become operational.

The issue of optimisation of Data is being looked at very carefully. We have a system of storage consolidation to enable multiple departments to make use of single storage array for meeting their requirements. As a part of the SDC enhancement, we are enabling private clouds in SDCs in a limited way to further ensure optimum utilisation of the infrastructure.

What are the main goals behind State Data Centres? The main purpose of State Data Centres is to enable state departments to host their services/ applications on a common infrastructure. The SDCs are supposed to bring about ease of integration, efficient management and better security. They will also ensure adequate and optimal utilisation of computing resources, while supporting connectivity infrastructure.

How secure is the physical location of the data centres? The State Data Centres are manned with Security Guards 24x7. Visitors are properly identified. The section of the building that someone has visited is also recorded. There is also physical screening with hand held metal detector. To ensure the security of the Server Farm Area, all items such as mobile, pen drive, camera and other digital devices are deposited at the gate. Visitors are allowed to enter after biometric identification. Entire building is covered by CCTV systems. Every door has an access system, alarms, etc. We also have a Building

What is your disaster recovery plan?

Management System (BMS) for comprehensive monitoring.

What hardware and software go into building Mission-Critical Data Centres? The State Data Centres have both IT and non IT components to host the data and applications. This includes sacks, servers and storage. Monitoring and help desk services are also vital. We also have networking and security devices like routers, firewalls, IPS, IDS, ISPs, L3 & L2 Switches etc. Then there are the DG Sets, UPS, Electrical panels, BMS, CCTV, Access, Fire Suppression, HVAC etc.

How is the temperature controlled? The SDCs are deployed with Precision Air Conditioning Units (PAC) with the pattern

Under the SDC Scheme, the Disaster Recovery (DR) for the SDCs will be handled by the four National Data Centres (NDC) located in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneswar. These NDCs are being managed and operated by NIC.

Are the State Data Centres scalable to meet future requirements? Currently SDCs are being designed for meeting the requirements for next five years. The scalability requirement for the components such as space, storage, power and cooling are designed to meet the expansion for next 5 years. However, with vast improvements in technology, it is possible that the Data Centres will move from the old infrastructure based delivery model to the service delivery approach (Cloud). This will reduce the requirements in terms of space and also ensure optimal use of infrastructure and services. March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

report

Euro-India SPIRIT

Harnessing EU-India ICT Research Cooperation

How the advancement of Information and Communication Technology has brought about a tremendous bridging of the economic and social gaps between two global giants Euro-India SPIRIT Research Team

nformation Communication Technologies are evolving at an unprecedented rate and are at the heart of economic growth and societal advancement in two of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s key global markets: India and Europe. International cooperation is crucial to addressing many of the grand challenges facing both Europe and India, particularly in

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

terms of ensuring smart, sustainable and inclusive societies. The time is ripe to chart a course for a collaborative R&D programme to take EU-India cooperation to the next level and work towards ensuring that societies in both regions are inclusive, innovative and secure. As we move into 2012 and ever nearer to the European Commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next Common Strategy Framework, Horizon

2020, international collaborative ICT research is key to creating the flourishing digital economy by 2020. Europe and India have complementarities in ICT research which should be leveraged to address challenges common to both regions that can lead to mutual benefit. Through a consultative process with ICT Stakeholders and 18 ICT experts from Europe

report

and India, the EC-funded project Euro-India SPIRIT (EUIS) has published a set of recommendations for collaborative R&D potential in key priority areas ranging from future networks, cloud computing and trustworthy ICT to networked media and future internet, ICT for public services and ICT for Inclusion. Our experts have brought insights into the strategic benefits of EU-India cooperation which are captured in a 32-page booklet titled “The New Paradigm – Harnessing EU-India ICT Research Cooperation”. Neeraj Suri is TUD Chair Professor, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany comments “Both Europe and India are major technology & ICT-rich societies, and it naturally behooves us to pool our resources to leverage the power of ICTs to build a safe and secure digital society where the full potential of ICT can be developed to benefit the global users”

technologies. Euro-India collaboration could therefore both leverage and supplement the reservoir of European knowledge and experience across a number of application domains such as eGovernment, eEducation and eInclusion.

Empowering our citizens ICT plays a crucial role in ensuring that Public Services are delivered more efficiently, faster and at reduced costs to citizens and organisations. The Digital Agenda for Europe places emphasis

access from less developed parts of the Indian sub-continent”. It is important that EU-Indian Collaborative research focuses on intelligent and automatic management of cloud resources, scalable data management strategies, infrastructure virtualisation support for mobile and context-aware applications as well as energy efficiency and sustainability of software and services. Addressing current impediments to mainstream adoption, such as interoperability, legal, data and security

ICT plays a crucial role in ensuring that Public Services are delivered more efficiently, faster and at reduced costs to citizens and organisations

A connected world The importance of being connected is becoming more and more central to the everyday lives of a growing percent of the world’s population and in particular ICT superpowers such as Europe and India. “Networks of the future need to address issues of very high capacity flexibility, heterogeneity, resilience and energy efficiency, while at the same time providing seamless end to end infrastructure security and dependability.” Says Pierre Yves Danet, CTO, ASF Lab, Orange-France Telecom. EU-Indian collaborative research on key areas such as Networked Media and Future Internet requires significant investments. Shared investment through collaborative research programmes would reduce the cost burden on both regions. Europe’s significant achievements in future network research could be leveraged to boost innovation in areas such as system architectures and technologies, ultrahigh capacity satellite communications systems, ubiquitous fast broadband access, novel radio network typologies and resilient and flexible networks. Governance, education and inclusion are driven by a broad group of Indian stakeholders; from village farmers and senior citizens with rudimentary computer skills to researchers and social-network-savvy teens. The need for rich and immersive multimedia is expected to build a critical mass underpinned by the advent of cloud computing and the rapid proliferation of 3G. Europe is conducting ground-breaking research in this area in parallel with the rapid evolution of network

on a new generation of open, flexible and collaborative eGovernment services by 2020 as key enablers for citizens and businesses. Achieving eGovernment in India remains a daunting task given the diversity of its population spread and the need to address specific issues at an institutional level. Much could be gained from assessing global strategies and implementation in order to further articulate India’s eGovernment strategy. In particular, joint initiatives with Europe could identify social trends, undertake policy modelling and validate next-generation infrastructures, services and tools to optimise public service delivery and language portability. “There is a huge opportunity for Europe and India to jointly develop easily accessible, eGovernance services anytime, anywhere, and to anyone” Vinay Deshpande, Chairman & CEO Encore Technologies, India.

Into the Cloud The emergence of cloud computing promises to enhance current public services in both Europe and India and transform the way business and research are conducted. Fabrizio Gagliardi, EMEA Director, Microsoft Research Connections comments “Cloud computing fits well with the highly distributed nature of India enabling increased access to computer resources and empowering a broad set of users in science and enterprise. Improvements in network infrastructure, solutions for wireless and satellite technologies will enable access to cloud computing resources in India allowing remote

issues is high on the European Agenda and Europe is gaining a stronger collective voice around standards implementation, which presents important opportunities for effective cooperation in this area. Developing a collaborative test bed to pilot the adoption of standards-based, interoperable cloud services would pave the ground for a level playing field of mutual benefit. Neeraj Suri adds “ICT technologies, and especially cloud computing, have already connected countries to form a global e-village for varied functionalities spanning e-commerce, news, social networking etc. This privilege of ICT interconnectivity unfortunately also exposes all the constituents to the full range of location-agnostic security & privacy issues that detracts the value of ICT usage for all”.

An eye to the future As the Euro-India SPIRIT project draws to a close, its success bringing European and Indian ICT stakeholders together is evident with a growing online community of users who are able to access a variety of multi-media features including interviews, reports and training on Euro-India ICT collaboration. Furthermore, by bringing together ICT experts from India and Europe the project has built bridges between the two communities. Usha Reddy, Independent Consultant, India, concludes, “The Euro-India Spirit was effectively captured as the project began with a clash of cultures and priorities, but in the end, the project team arrived as one at common concerns affecting the relationship between ICTs and societies.” March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

IN PERSON

Dr Atiur Rahman

Governor, Bangladesh Bank

Financial Inclusion in

Bangladesh through ICT be a strategic move and drove the idea that banks need to be much more inclusive and much more humane if one needs to flourish in this difficult time. Financial inclusion not only helps pull people out of poverty, it also creates internal demand which is helping us cope with the financial crisis. The drive toward financial inclusion has been facilitated by the use of technology. Facilities such as electronic fund transfer, mobile banking, enterprise resource planning etc., have taken off in a short period of time.

Do you think PPP initiatives will be a good idea for financial inclusion programmes? egovâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shally Makin talks to Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor, Bangladesh Bank, and discusses how technology has been deployed for financial inclusion projects in Bangladesh

ow is Bangladesh making use of ICT for financial inclusion?

The Government of Bangladesh started this dream of Digital Bangladesh and financial inclusion came as a compliment to that actually. And when I became Governor, I thought this would

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

We are already using PPP in a number of initiatives. For example, tenant farmers are getting money only because of the Public Private Partnership. The central bank in itself has gone for a partnership with the Largest NGO of the world and providing credit to the tenant farmers who normally do not get credit. About 500,000 of them are getting credit out of this initiative which we have taken. We are providing refinance facilities directly to NGOs and they are disbursing credit to farmers.

What are the major challenges you face in financial inclusion? The global financial crisis is itself a big challenge as unless we have macroeconomic stability, financial innovations may be disturbed. We are not depended only on the foreign demand, as domestic demand is strong. Maintaining demand from outside will be a challenge. Additionally, the technology needs to be secure. We will move to mobile banking and online fund transfer only

when we can assure the recipients that it is very secure. How to instil that confidence of security is a challenge. Ours is a bank led model, and thus the security part of it is taken care of, the KYCs are also taken care and the bank can have partnership with anybody. I encourage partnership but only the banks are made accountable and that gives a lot of confidence.

What are the plans for the coming five years? We have already given license to 12 banks so we expect them to materialise. My dream is that when an ordinary garment seller needs to send money to her mother, she can do so anytime she wants, and her mother can just go a local agent and get the money. That will be the best outcome. I think nothing succeeds like success. Once her mother gets the money, then I will think that my financial inclusion is working.

Tell us something about the virtual credit cards Virtual credit cards have been implemented for rural students as they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always have a means to have a international credit cards but they need to send money for exams, etc. so we asked the banks to give them virtual credit cards, infact the bank will have the credit card of their own and the students will come in there, they will get the code nos. put in their money and that code no. he/she can use through the internet anywhere and them send the money. This is a simple. It has already started in Bangladesh for about 6 months. 100 of students are getting benefits out of this. The banks are only marketing it themselves and I am encouraging them. I am giving all the regulatory support actually.

Tech Story

Securing Networks:

Going beyond

the Perimeter

Network security is an important segment of the entire security system that the government has to manage. With the evolution of technology, new platforms of interface between citizens and technology/service providers have emerged, and these have created new scope for collaboration and partnerships between the government sector and the private sector Pragya Gupta, Elets News Network (ENN)

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Tech Story

anaging network security is a complex problem for every enterprise. The inside and outside network boundaries are blurred by the adoption of multipoint devices especially mobile devices. User name and password is not enough for securing the network, when access is not restricted to devices, perimeter and service. On one side technology is benefiting in terms of collaboration, sharing, access and convenience to users and on the other side its security gives lot of challenges to IT managers and network managers who need to control and monitor any unwanted or dubious activities happening in the Network. In the government sector the scope of damage due to infiltration of networks can be much larger. The reach of business enterprisesis restricted to their customers and stake holders, but the government services touch everyone. Government is trying to reach the remote areas to offer services by providing handheld devices. Such initiatives are necessary but they have also increased the scope of the network, which now faces more risks than ever before. “A large majority of the central and state governments are satisfied with traditional perimeter security comprising of Firewalls and Network IPS solutions. Monitoring vulnerabilities in the network & systems is rarely considered important. However, we have started to see some traction towards data protection solutions, server protection and log and incident correlation solutions,” RakeshKharwal, Head – Government Business - India, McAfee Inc.

Change in Needs The information age confronts with a new and troubling definition of war and warfare. The profile of a hacker has also transformed owing to the evolving sophistication and pervasiveness of cybercrimes that are designed to go under the radar and steal sensitive data from individuals, businesses and governments. These days, government organizations witness Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). By design, APTs are custom engineered to fly underneath the radar of most traditional security defences or even leverage insiders. As a natural corollary, the traditional network

security isn’t sufficient enough to block these attacks as these attacks are mostly encrypted. One needs to look at the problem and available tools in a slightly different way. “Traditional network security solutions do not protect against today’s web2.0 threats, which require granular access functionality providing access to employees to internet however at the same time protecting against the targeted encrypted web 2.0 threats. Since most of the targeted attacks today happen at the application layer, it’s important that network security tools are application aware and can detect threats emanating at the application layer,”RakeshKharwal, Mcafee. With government making its operations computerised and centralised, challenges of securing data has become complex. Surge in

They have to work under these constraints to protect data across the cloud, email, servers, and endpoints. There is no doubt that currently the various government departmentsrealised the critical necessity of protecting their physical, virtual, and cloud environments. “Government is keen to make e-Governance more prevalent so that necessary services can be brought to the public in an easy and seamless manner. Network security is a cause of concern. There exists the very critical and important needfor Security OEM vendor like us to work closely with government department for helping them design their network security architecture. It is important to have security systems for safeguarding online systems that are widely accessible to public,” addedNilesh Jain, Trend Micro.

The trend is to have a multi-level data security network, build multiple gates so that data is not compromised network security requirements with ‘e’ associating with G2G and G2C projects has been registered. Various reports have forecasted that there is going to be a good growth of network security market in India which indicates the concerns are there to increase. “There is a significant rise in the threat scenario for the Internet. Since all applications used in e-governance are web based and are open to public, they are prone to attack. Data Centre Security solutions have to be deployed at every stage of the network. When it comes to the government sector, cyber security is a matter of national security. A significant hacking attack on the government’s network can be a blot on the nation’s reputation,” Nilesh Jain, Head - Government Business, Trend Micro India.

Surge in Adoption Government agencies face increasingly complex data challenges. While protecting their constituent’s confidential information and maintaining a secure IT environment, government agencies has must also comply with regulatory standards and all the industry and legislative mandates.

Trends In today’s workplace, it is increasingly common that primary business resources, including data centres, applications, and endpoints as well as users, are all outside the traditional business perimeter. Extending business borders around all these resources and users poses as a significant challenge to the IT departments. It is quite difficult to scale up the security levels in a situation where every project is an exception to traditional IT design and management practices. IT needs a better way to scale and manage users and customers in any location, given those users may be using virtually any device or connectivity solution, located anywhere in the world, to access almost any application. Earlier spam was the less powered tool to be treated as a nuisance and has been addressed with some simple algorithms, but in the current scenario spam has been used as a tool to attack cyber systems. So it has evolved into a new kind of threat that we cannot afford to ignore and required revised and upgraded tools to fight against it. The objectives are the same, but solutions have to be revisited. The March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

Tech Story

same the solution cannot address the changed needs of security. The trend is to have a multi-level data security network, build multiple gates so that data is not compromised. The current approach of the government is very systematic and they are taking serious and measured steps towards ensuring their data protection strategy. The government is spending significant money in securing their infrastructure. “A new generation of multimedia-savvy and socially networked employees is entering the workforce. This generation is conditioned for always-on, instant, anytime, anywhere connectivity, through an array of personalised devices. Cisco Borderless Networks enables IT to architect and deploy its systems and policies efficiently to provide secure, reliable, and seamless access to resources from multiple locations, from multiple devices, and to applications that can be located anywhere, “Bipin Kumar Amin, Principle Consultant, Borderless Networks – Security, Cisco.

Security Challenges The challenges faced by government enterprises include the aspect of reduction of security burden on the virtual desktop servers, while bolstering protection against newly emerging threats. There is also the need to offload the network and the desktops to maximize productivity and take advantage of virtualised desktops, without compromising on security. Government systems host tax information and other very sensitive information that they cannot let anyone tunnel in through any back door. Government enterprises have taken steps forward and have shown swiftness in adapting to more dynamic and latest security solutions with in-the-moment detection for catching zero-day threats and giving better control of the environments. In most of the completed and ongoing projects we can clearly see that advanced network security solutions has been incorporated which not only cover perimeter security but also covers servers and endpoints security with latest security solutions like HIPS and Encryption. “We are committed to security and we deliver advanced protection from the cloud. Threats are blocked in real-time, before they reach the infrastructure and desktops. Our solutions strengthen the cloud-powered endpoint protection, with features like local web reputation and further facilitate the plug-in architecture to add more layers of protection,” added Nilesh Jain, Trend Micro.

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Bipin Kumar Amin Principal Consultant, Borderless Networks – Security, Cisco

“A new generation of multimedia-savvy and socially networked employees is entering the workforce. This generation is conditioned for always-on, instant, anytime, anywhere connectivity, through an array of personalised devices” Solutions Organisations need to ensure that their networks remain secure, reliable and compliant. The physical, virtual, and cloud resources have to be secured. To provide sufficient defence to their networks, enterprises have to deploystandalone point solutions (VPN, Firewall, NIPS,etc), which are especially conducive in securing IT infrastructure from outside in attacks. Unified Thread Management solution may help secure small/medium networks. The nature of threats is wide and different in nature. The server faces critical risk of hacking of SQL injections, but endpoints carry risk of BOTs. Thus unified threat management solutions may not be effective in dealing with these threats. Only standalone solutions targeted to protect specific segment of network and specific nature of threat can be a good solution. Further for Government enterprise customer depending on the size of network and criticality of Information hosted, choices can be made between standalone solutions and theunified one. But one must remember unified threat

management comes with lots of limitation in handling particular threat issue. The way users’ access information is also shifting. In the past, data and applications were housed on premises, and users were also generally on premises. Today many organisations tap into talent pools. Workers might be full-time remote employees or contractors. Applications might be hosted off site or even in the cloud. But traditional IT still treats these crucial resources as internal entities. With Cisco Borderless Networks, IT can unify its approach to securely delivering applications to users in a highly distributed environment. The crucial element to scaling secure access is a policy-based architecture that allows IT to implement centralised access controls with enforcement throughout the network, from server to infrastructure, to client. Security with Cisco TrustSec technology: Provides pervasive, consistent, policy based access and link-layer encryption to protect corporate assets and reduce risk. “There is no one set of best technology solutions, it varies based on the government projects, platforms of interface and citizens’ engagement practices. Fir each application there is a customized set of network security options that they can adopt. There are data centres, telecommunication hubs, SWAN, etc, all these government businesses demand a unique set of network security gate to protect their data,”Ravishankar, CEO, Nevales Network. Risk calculation is very important in network security. Security solutions can only be derived and deployed when risk calculation in done in smarter way.The control system engineers and IT specialists work together to maintain the network. The team should docket risk analyses on a regular basis, implement change control and monitor the network regularly. The network security industry is always announcing new ways to secure and protect networks, configurations and information which can we well taken and analysed for the network environment to keep it protected. Staying informed is one of the ways for improving network security. More than anything else, it is regular security audits, education, and monitoring that are mandatory for improving network security.

WRITE BACK for feedback contact: editorial@elets.in

analysis

Inclusive Growth through Mobiles â&#x20AC;&#x201C; II The first part of this two-part paper examined the stupendous growth of mobiles and the opportunity for leveraging their penetration for achieving inclusive growth. The concluding part examines the policy environment around the mobile ecosystem and also takes note of key challenges in the path of achieving this objective Ashis Sanyal

he four major stakeholders in the mobile eco-system, namely, Government, Regulator, Private Sector Industry and the Civil Society, do understand the potential of the mobile media. However, an all-out buy-in has been rather slow in coming from them. The need for an effective policy and regulatory framework, aided by innovative business models created for the bottom of the pyramid and improvements in network capacity and utilisation are all necessary in order for mobiles to achieve the potential for becoming tools for inclusive growth.

Financial Inclusion through Mobile Platform One of the important cornerstones of inclusive growth is financial inclusion for which the primary attribute is greater access to capital. Mobile platform can be a very potential tool for the same. We recall that out of 1100 million of Indian population, nearly 70 percent lives in rural locations and over 90 million rural households are on farming. Out of the farm households, approximately 27 percent are indebted to formal sources and 13 percent are availing loans from the banks in the annual income bracket of INR 50,000 or less. Millions of people in rural and remote areas in India March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

analysis

have little or no access to credit, even from non-institutional sources. National Sample Survey recently estimated that approximately 50 million farmer households in India have not taken any bank credit so far. Rural banking does not appear to be a financially viable activity for banks either. Today, the number of mobile phone users is much higher than the number of bank accounts held by the rural citizens in India. Consequently, a large section of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rural population now has access to mobile telephony but not to basic financial services. This network can be effectively utilised for creating a branchless banking system for the communities not having any access to basic financial services. Technology also makes it possible to build commercially viable and scalable banking model to handle many small accounts having micro transactions, dispersed over large geographic areas. Low tariffs and low cost of handset provide a clear value proposition for driving financial inclusion through mobile platforms. Keeping all these in view, Government of India has taken commendable pro-active actions to usher in financial inclusion, by way of providing the framework for delivery of basic financial services through mobile phones. The basic transactions permissible through â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;mobile-based no-frillsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; accounts would include cash deposit, cash withdrawal, balance enquiry, transfer of money from one mobile- linked account to another and transfer of money to a mobile-linked account from a regular bank account. The framework would also facilitate the transfer of funds under various government schemes, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, to a mobile account. The inter-ministerial group set up by the government in November 2009, after extensive discussions among members of the group and with other stakeholders, finalised recommendations in March 2010, ( www.mit.gov.in/ sites/upload_files/dit/files/ReportoftheInterMinisterialGroup.pdf ). These relate to relevant norms and modalities that would make mobile banking an integral part of banking services and were approved by government as the basis for delivering financial services using mobile technology. The service, based on mobile phones and biometric authentication, would form the core micro-payment platform for the transfer of benefits under various government schemes, micro-payment services and financial inclusion for the target groups of social sector programmes.

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

Mobile for governance With over 890 million mobile phone subscribers (even with approximately 650 million active users around) , India offers a unique proposition to the authority to reach the citizens and deliver public services. This gains ground for the fact that at least 1 out of 3 villagers in India now would have a mobile connection. The Department of IT issued in April 2011 a Draft Consultation Paper on Mobile Governance Policy Framework which was finalised in January 2012 after due consultations with the stakeholders. The Policy Framework is available online at www.mit.gov.in/content/frameworkmobile-governance. The Framework addresses many essential issues such as making government websites mobile-compliant, developing mobile applications in open standards to become interoperable across various operating systems and devices, use of uniform/single pre-designed numbers in the form long/short codes for mobile services, creation of Mobile Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG) as the core

Government of India has taken commendable proactive actions to usher in financial inclusion, by way of providing the framework for delivery of basic financial services through mobile phones

integrating infrastructure for multi-channel delivery and with metered access for all service providing entities and many others. The Framework is also expected to ensure transformation of delivery of public services through promotion of innovation and fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships. This Framework would be a major step forward to effectively use the mobile platform with all-encompassing technological, organisational, financial, infrastructural and human capacity aspects which are important to bring in inclusive growth.

enhancement of the network capacity is required. Total cost of ownership for state-ofthe-art mobile handsets has to come down further. Tariffs and access charges for use of mobile applications and content also need to be rationalised. Innovative business models and appropriate policy are key requirements for this to take root. In the current highly competitive space for the mobile service providers, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for voice services is steadily shrinking. A recent White Paper released by PWC India painted a bleak picture for the mobile ecosystem in the coming 2-3 years. One feels that in the forthcoming years, mobile value-added services (m-VAS) should lead the growth from the front. Further, the m-VAS content developers should explore innovation opportunity from the service providers, especially for the content for rural India, as the citizens there would need information on health, education, weather, market and various policies and schemes of the government that would benefit them. It would definitely take few years to saturate this eco-system as the content space is very large and diverse, due to language, culture, knowledge-base and other specificities. However, there are bumpy roads ahead for developers in the mobile VAS as the applications are required to be developed for various handsets in various platforms, tools formatted in various standards, interoperability among many Operational Systems. The content management system would have to be complex as the developer would have to understand needs of rural citizens and select appropriate content keeping the constraints such as low literacy, local language in mind. The other alternative may be to create IVRS-based delivery systems. There is an essential requirement for complete integration of mobile delivery infrastructure with the core e-Government backbone infrastructure. Also mobile-based financial inclusion applications should be interoperable with the banking IT infrastructure. The mobile-payment gateway needs to be established. And there should be robust e-authentication application also which can ride on mobile system.

Closing Remarks Issues to be Resolved There are many challenges to realise acceleration in the diffusion of mobile services. To improve the current low usage of mobile internet with mobile-3G services, substantial

Mobile platform is already exhibiting its potential for paradigm shift in the quality of life, leading to inclusive growth in developing countries, especially in South Asia and good governance through mobile platform is becoming a reality.

national conference on ict in urban governance

Your

analysis

Innovative Award-wining

Mobile Applications m-Governance

M-Search INDIA Colombo Ride 2.0

SRI LANKA

Number of Ongoing Works

INDIA

Mobile Music Game or Mobile Antakshar

INDIA

GPS/GSM Based Train Tracking System

SRI LANKA

m-Travel & Tourism

Paperless Admission System, Shahjalal University

BANGLADESH

SMS 139 Railway Enquiry

“Many to One SMS” to monitor Labour engaged and

M-Distribution (Collector Office, Kolhapur (Food and Civil) Supply Dept.

INDIA

m-Inclusion DIALOG TRADENET

INDIA

Any Where Any Time Advance Reservation (AWATAR) Mobile booking

INDIA

Suruk INDIA SRI LANKA

Dakia INDIA

Pocket Travel Assistant

INDIA

m-Business & Commerce

Voice of Youth

NEPAL

EKO INDIA

Panini Keypad.

INDIA

WorldGSM™: Solar Powered GSM for Rural Networks

INDIA

Nepal Wireless

NEPAL

Mobiquity mMoney

INDIA

Business Express

BANGLADESH

m-News & Journalism Reuters Market Light

INDIA

Voice-ERP INDIA

Gaon Ki Awaaz

INDIA

m-Health

SEE’N’REPORT PAKISTAN CGnet Swara

INDIA

m-Education & Learning

Eliminating queues in Out-patient-departments (OPD’s) in hospitals- An m-health initiative by JPN A

INDIA

Jaroka Tele-healthcare

PAKISTAN

English Seekho

INDIA

Students Health Information Tracking System (SWHITS)

Drona – The Mobile Learning Management System

INDIA

for Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential

INDIA

Ability INDIA

Aarogyam INDIA

m-Entertainment

m-Environment

WaveNET 3G Play

SRI LANKA

m-Governance for Forest & Wildlife Management

INDIA

Courtesy: m-Billionth Award Secretariat

Governments’ pro-active initiatives in creating the enabling eco-system, entry level handsets with affordable price, many text-based VASs, highly competitive market environments, are all in favour of mobile platform as a formidable channel for delivery of government services to realise Inclusive Growth. In rural remote locations, with no OFC-based telecom connectivity presently, mobile can be established as a primary channel, till wired Internet connectivity is implemented in such places. To usher in effective inclusive growth through mobiles, it is very much necessary to fast establish robust mobile infrastructure for remote locations. It is heartening to observe that Government of India has appreciated the fact that telecommunication connectivity is not to be seen in isolation from other elements of developmental process and currently limited physical infrastructure is going to constrain harnessing of potential benefits of high growth in mobile eco-system. Therefore

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

government has taken a concrete view on how the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) can be better used for proliferation of rural broadband connectivity. Since the inception of this USO Fund and binding on the telecom service providers to connect the rural India, the private operators, in absence of a viable revenue model for them, have eventually chosen to pay the penalty for not going to the rural areas. This situation, over the last few years, added significantly to the USO Fund. Time has come to utilize this fund for quick proliferation of rural broadband connectivity. Obviously, once the towers are established, it would be easier to meet the target for mobile broadband also, should the cost of the relevant handsets be affordable. Government may consider taking a coherent policy for both the connectivity and the handset, even for a short term, to facilitate this option. In another context, notification for an appropriate content policy is also overdue. Interestingly there

is no specific mention about the content policy in the new draft telecom policy announced by the government. This needs to be addressed. To facilitate mobile governance, essentially there should be a thought for incentivized, revenue sharing business model, especially, for the content and applications in the social sectors like education, health, social welfare etc. As of now, immediate need is for a systematic and integrated set of development policies, to sustain the benefits currently visible from the mobile platform and the possibilities offered by it towards inclusive growth.

the author last served as Senior Director in DIT, GoI. He now works as an Independent Consultant

Viewpoint

e-Voting: the First Step Towards e-Governance

As we talk of citizens in the digital era, lets explore technologies such as an e-voting system become the next platform for citizen-government engagement Mangesh Desai

ith Government IT spend being approximately at Rs.10000 Cr for the last fiscal year and now that it is ready to clear a budget for close to Rs.20000 Cr, delights us as credible IT players in e-Governance space. However, as citizens when we explore and find that India ranks 141 / 169 as per the country vote to registration ratio, [Parliamentary Elections (1945-2001)], we wonder did we take a wrong start? If we are to believe that IT companies deliver as per schedule and the IT Vision of the Government to get realized, how far are we from declaring India as an e-democracy redefined.

e-Voting system as a right or duty It is time that we the citizens of India start

potholes’. Lastly training the eligible citizen to cast his ballot would have entailed the e-Voting system to conform to usability or accessibility standards, cultural constraints and literacy independencies. The e-Voting system responsibility from the ‘duty’ perspective would have meant making it incumbent upon every registered user to use the system when called for. This would have entailed accessibility to the e-Voting system from anywhere through different communication devices, viz. Personal Computer, Kiosk, Mobile or Telephone using the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. However, this would have also pushed us to have a relook at our existing policies and Government Resolutions (GRs). Whether to make voting compulsory as in Australia which can today boast of an incredible 95% voter turnout, or continue to believe that we can make this happen voluntarily in India. Educating the eligible citizens about the Government structure, departments and their responsibilities, official procedures and rules and regulations would have been an inevitable phase to enable them to cast their e-Vote. The e-Voting system would have to also make it possible for the user to express his apathy if any for not selecting any eligible candidates as an option.

Step towards e-democracy

viewing our voting right as a ’log in’ to e-Governance or still better e-Democracy. In the said light, let us deliberate whether e-Voting could have been the first step towards e-Governance and its role in democracy. Voting is a ‘right’ that every eligible citizen must possess; exercising this right when called for is the ‘duty’ of every eligible citizen. The e-Voting system responsibility from the ‘right’ perspective would have meant bringing in every eligible citizen into the net of voter registration. This would have entailed auto enrolments, checked enrolments and facilitated enrolments. After enrolment, the next important step would have been giving away a complete seamless infrastructure constituting of power, connectivity, hardware and support. This would have entailed not only understanding the ‘digital divide’ but also the ‘information

If we were to encapsulate the aforesaid system requirements for the e-Voting system we will realize that they make it imperative for us to address various facets of e-Governance that are generic for successful roll outs. With growing awareness and opinion of citizens on the democratic processes, e-voting can be a powerful technology tool to take the path-breaking initiative of electronic voting machines EVMs to the next level of citizen engagement. An ambitious step towards e-Voting could act as a pre-cursor to e-Governance so as to instil the sense of right in those who are receiving and the sense of duty in those who are giving these services and make sure we log-in to e-Democracy in the times ahead!

the author is Head-Government Solutions and Presales, Mastek Limited

March 2012 / www.egovonline.net / egov

news

industry

server

telecom

After much hullabaloo, and continuous pressure from Government, Canada Based Research in Motion (RIM)makers of BlackBerry smart phones, has finally set up its server in Mumbai to provide a mechanism for lawful interception of its messenger services. A presentation held in the office of the Home Secretary confirms that the servers have been inspected by a team of officers and permission for direct linkage for lawful interception was expected to be issued shortly. RIM representatives had explained that BlackBerry mobile device

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL) that offers mobile and data services under MTS Brand would expand its wireless data network in Indian States like Gujarat, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. MTS India sells highspeed mobile broadband through MBlaze dongles, available in 43 branded retail outlets, 4000 mass retail outlets and 150 organized retail outlets across the country. The dongles also offer live television and video on demand services. With the expansion, the telco extended its reach to 59 towns in Kerala, 22 towns in Gujarat and 21 towns in Andhra Pradesh.

Finally BlackBerry Servers in Mumbai

sends the encrypted email which is sent to BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES) located with the service provider. The government had said the onus of giving access to security agencies to monitor the information on these smart phones lies with

the service providers. According to the licensing conditions, the service providers are liable to put in a mechanism to allow security agencies to intercept any conversation or message of any subscriber whenever required. As telecom service

providers like Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, the Tatas and the government-run BSNL and MTNL are offering BlackBerry services, it would be the responsibility of these operators to ensure that the security agencies get access to the services they offer.

MTS expands data network in Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh

Service

Gmail, Yahoo may route emails through servers in India

Email service providers such as Yahoo, Gmail, Microsoft and others could soon be asked to route all emails accessed in India, through servers based here, even if the mail account was registered or made in a foreign land. The move comes in the wake of instances where security agencies could not have a real-time access to some emails as they were registered outside the country but were opened in India. According to sources, the Department of IT has been asked to inform email service providers on this subject. During a high-level meeting held in the

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

office of Union Home Secretary RK Singh, on December 29, 2011, the Department of Information Technology was asked to take up the matter with providers of services such as Gmail, Windows Mobile Active Email, Nokia Intellisync Email, Yahoo mail and others.Government also has plans to establish an India-centric Skype service. The ‘Indian Skype’ may be used by government officials to communicate with each other. In the meeting attended by members of intelligence, and telecom department Gulshan Rai, the Director General of CERT-in, said that Yahoo automatically locates all email accounts registered in India to the server in India. However, Yahoo accounts registered outside India and subsequently accessed from India are routed through servers outside India.

Mobile

Cisco says Mobile Data Traffic to soar 18-fold Over the next five years, the worldwide mobile data traffic will increase 18-fold, reaching 10.8 exabytes per month by 2016, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2011 to 2016. This means that the amount of data sent to or from mobile gadgets around the world annually will rocket to hit the equivalent of 33 billion full-length DVD films by the year 2016. The surge in wireless data traffic will be due, in part, to an explosion in the number of “connected devices,” according to Cisco. The California-based firm also predicts that the number of gadgets linked wirelessly to the Internet would exceed the number of people on Earth in the year 2016.

news

world

egov esignature

Latvian Smart card holders go smart The holders of the smart card version of the secure Latvian eSignature, can now apply for a virtual eSignature certificate and receive it from the comfort of their home. The virtual eSignature certificate allows one to sign a document electronically on the Latvian eSignature portal www. eparaksts.lv without having to use a smart card. Applying for the virtual eSignature requires few minutes for smart card-based eSignature users; they will simply need to fill out the application form at www.eparaksts.lv, save it and sign it with their smart card signature, and email their application to eparaksts@eparaksts.lv. The Latvian eSignature (eParaksts) enables a user to access many eGovernment services provided by Latvian authorities. A list of the mainly used services and entities requiring the use of the eSignature is available in English at https://www.eparaksts.lv/en/partners/ eparaksts-for-frequent-use. The eParaksts portal was developed by the Latvia State Radio and Television Centre (LSRTC), the only certificate authority that is fully responsible for public key infrastructure.

Switzerland develops E-Gov application

The eGovernment Switzerland Programme Office, an administrative unit of the eGovernment Switzerland Steering Committee, has developed the ‘E-Gov-App’ for a popular smartphone and tablet computer. A three-minute video on the eGovernment programme and its objectives as well as an overview on the concept of eGovernment, is accessible

ment portal, a simplified version of ‘Utilitas’ is now also available via the ‘E-Gov App’. This utility assessment model helps IT project and programme managers in the public and private sector to measure the qualitative benefits of a project when financial data on cost effectiveness is lacking. Furthermore, it enables to set strategic priorities.

banking

taxation

In a bid to provide the public and business community with an efficient and secure mechanism for instant payment of government fees without having to waste time and effort, Dubai eGovernment and Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) have launched “Cash Online”, a virtual account for both CBD and non CBD account holders to pay their government payments online. The service is a new CBD product designed and developed for individual and corporate non-CBD account holders to open a free virtual account within minutes without the need to have a minimum balance following the submission of the required official documents.

The mobile phone signature, which is the mobile version of the Citizen Card, was first introduced in Austria in December 2009. Two years later and in order to make the assessment of income tax easier, all tax offices in Austria provide the activation of the mobile phone signature, free of charge. The only thing that citizens need to bring to the tax office to have their mobile phone signature activated is an official photo ID, such as a passport photo, and their mobile phone. Mobile phone signature is one of the most secure methods available for identification over the internet. It is a userfriendly, fully-fledged citizen card with qualified signatures. It requires no card readers or installations; just the Short Message Service (SMS) on the mobile phone. Upon activation, users may use a plethora of electronic services, which meet the highest safety standards. These services include application for certificates, information about pension and health insurance, disability assistance, digital libraries etc. Users can even legally sign documents such as contracts, receipts, cancellation notices or forms electronically.

Dubai eGovernment and CBD launch “Cash Online” to support Direct Debit

via a popular video-sharing site and the eGovernment Switzerland portal. This new app, the benefits of eGovernment projects can be measured anytime and anywhere. It is based on the ‘Utilitas’ model for benefit calculation. In addition to the compact ‘Utilitas’ kit (spreadsheets) which is available for download at the eGovern-

egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2012

This service supports the use of Dubai eGovernment’s ePay portal to settle the fees of government transactions, either through credit cards or through direct debit from the customer’s account with the aim of providing more convenient options for customers in line with the Dubai eGovernment’s “Customer First” strategy.

Austrian Tax office goes mobile

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