E-Governance : 12/1/10

SPANCO EMERGES LOWEST BIDDER FOR RAJASTHAN PROJECT
Adith Charlie, Mumbai
The Hindu Business Line

Technology services company Spanco has emerged as the lowest bidder for setting up a state data center (SDC) in Rajasthan and managing it for a period of five years, according to a top company official.

In doing so, the BSE-listed company that has quoted Rs 30 crore for the overall project has pipped its larger rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Infosystems, and Reliance Data Centre.

Spanco will be the official implementation agency for the project as it will be responsible for design, site preparation, supply, installation, integration, testing, commissioning and managing the setup for a period of five years, Vidur Sehgal, Senior Vice-President of the Mumbai based company, told Business Line.

“We will be having at least 25 dedicated resources for the project round-the-clock,” he said, adding that the SDC will be established in Jaipur.

Creation of SDC`s have been envisaged as a key component under the National e-governance plan in order to enable individual States to consolidate services, applications and infrastructure to ensure prompt electronic delivery of government to government, government-to-consumer and government-to-business services through intranet and citizen service centres.

As is the norm with most e-governance deals, Spanco's financial bid for the Rajasthan SDC will now be evaluated. The entire procedure will be completed in the next three weeks, within which the contract will be awarded.

If Spanco clinches the deal, it will be the second SDC engagement for the company. In October last year, it bagged the first SDC deal from the Orissa government.

 

WORK ON UID, LPG PLANS TO BEGIN SOON
Pune
The Times of India (Pune edition)

The pilot projects of the Union government’s unique identification (UID) and kerosene-free city initiatives will begin in the city soon.

“As part of the pilot projects, all ration card holders in the city would be issued smart cards,” food distribution officer Pradip Patil said.

To achieve this, the district administration will hold an extensive drive to verify the validity and details of every ration card. Information pertaining to the supply of kerosene and LPG to every ration card holder will also be collected. The drive will start around January 20 and will run for 30 days.

E-Governance Update: 11/1/10

CYBER RELIEF FOR DISABLED
New Delhi, January 11, 2010
The Telegraph

The central government has decided to make each of its 6,000 websites disabled-friendly.

Under new government guidelines, the visually challenged will be able to use a “screen reader software” that will read out the text that appears on a computer monitor. People who have difficulty handling a mouse can use the “voice recognition software” to work the computer with verbal commands.

The websites will provide features like “iconic learning” for those with autism and learning disabilities; keyboard support for those with visual or upper limb impairment; and navigation facilitation for those with visual and learning disabilities. They will offer transcripts of the audio-video content for the hearing impaired as well as changes in colour schemes.

The Centre will institute three awards for the best disabled-friendly websites in the government, public and private sectors.

 

 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY PLANS COMPUTERISATION OF CIVIC RECORDS
New Delhi, January 10, 2010
  Deccan Herald  

Aimed at empowering citizens and making urban administration more effective, the Ministry of Urban Development has a prepared a project for computerisation of all records of civic bodies and for an efficient e-governance in municipalities.

“Local government is the first interface between citizens and government. Our initiative will solve a number of problems that the people in towns and cities are facing due to rapid urbanisation,” a senior ministry official said.

The project on e-governance aims to provide a public interface for improved service delivery of all records pertaining to municipalities, decentralisation, better information management and transparency. It will also ensure involvement of citizens, impro ved interaction between local governments and people as well as other stake-holders like NGOs and Resident Welfare Associations.

Officials said initially the scheme would be a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for 35 cities with a population of over 10 lakh and a new Centrally-sponsored scheme for other cities and towns would be taken up after st udying its implementation under JNNURM.

 

INTERNET FACILITY NOW IN 1.08 LAKH GOVT SCHOOLS
New Delhi, January 11, 2010
The Tribune

The Government of India has decided to provide computer literacy and internet facility to children going to 1.08 lakh government and government-aided schools involving an expenditure of Rs 6926.13 crore in the XI Five Year Plan.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs that met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here yesterday took a decision to this effect. Under the plan, the schools would be provided the required computer hardware, software and e-content for the purpose. Dependable power supply and internet connectivity, preferably broadband, would also be provided to these schools. It also envisages employing more than 10 lakh-qualified teachers to teach and impart refresher trainings to school students and their teachers, who are not fully computer literate.

Under the plan, e-content in regional languages would also be developed to facilitate computer and internet learning for children of different regions and make available to them various subjects on the internet in their respective languages. The plan also visualises rewarding teachers, who fare well in this field with cash and other incentives. The whole scheme is estimated to cost an amount of Rs 6926.13 crore during the XI plan.

The Central Government share in the proposed scheme is expected to be Rs 6,000 crore because the State Governments are expected to share the burden of the scheme on a 75:25 basis. In northeast, including Sikkim, the sharing pattern would be 90:10. The Central Government also plans to prioritise the expenditure under this head for the educationally backward blocks and areas with special attention on the SC, ST, minority and weaker sections and disabled.