E-Governance News: 31/12/09

STATE TO START ONLINE PAYMENT FOR ELECTRICITY BILLS
Kolkata/Bhubaneswar
Business Standard

The Orissa government will introduce online payment system for the payment of electricity bills in the state from 1 January 2010. It will be the first state in the country to introduce such a system across the state, sources said.

Though states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have introduced such a system for electricity consumers in the urban areas, the neighbouring West Bengal has introduced this system for the rural consumers in a restricted way.

The power distribution companies in Orissa namely Wesco, Nesco, Southco and CESU are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC) in this regard soon.

Sources said, the citizen centric gateway ‘Orissa online’ developed by OCAC would be utilised for rendering this service. It would act as the technical platform for online payment of electricity bills.

Under the plan, both the power distribution companies and the Common Service Centres (CSCs) will be connected with ‘OCAC’ gateway after signing of the MoU.

It will be launched in more than 4000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) which have been made operational in various locations of the state.

While the power distribution companies were not able to collect electricity bills from every nook and corner of the state earlier, the proposed system will facilitate payment of electricity bills at the nearest CSCs. “Though the system will facilitate online payment of electricity bills, this will have far reaching impact on the total energy management”, an official associated with the process said.

CENTRE USHERS IN NEW ELECTRONIC SERVICE DELIVERY
Subrahmanyan Viswanath, Bangalore
Deccan Herald

Taking a further step towards e-governance and a paperless mode of service delivery, the Centre, has called upon states to usher in Electronics Service Delivery (ESD) system in the country and set in motion the process through necessary gazette notification.

Official sources said that the Centre has issued necessary guidelines for ESD regime after amending the Information Technology Act 2008, under Section 6A of the said IT Act. The draft rules called Information Technology (Electronic Service Delivery) Rules 2009, the Centre, notes shall extend to the entire country and State governments adopt them or notify the same immediately in their Official Gazette.

The ESD will cover delivery of public services of receipt of forms and applications, issue or grant of any license, permit, certificate, sanction or approval. It also entails receipt or payment of money by electronics means or any such public service. The states can appoint an authorised agent or service provider with an electronically enabled kiosk or front office, to deliver public services to the users. They can use cell phone, personal digital assistant or a combination of both to communicate, send or transmit text, video, audio or image and authenticated through electronic signature/electronic signature certificate.

The state governments, says the Centre, may prescribe the form and the manner in which license, permit, certificate, approval or receipt of payment or any other such public service can be delivered under the ESD system. The license, permit, certificate, sanction, payment receipt or approval, will have a unique identification number given by the appropriate authority which can be used to verify its authenticity and content. These will also have a bar code for the same purpose, sources said.

 

APPLICATIONS SOUGHT FOR KERALA E-GOVERNANCE AWARDS
Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu Business Line

The Kerala Government has invited applications for the second batch of e-Governance Awards 2009, after honouring the previous year's winners at a function held here recently.

Nominations have been invited for two sections: e-governance models in departments/government organisations and e-governance leaders.

Various sub-categories under best models in departments/government are best Web site; maximum utilisation of Akshaya e-centres; m-governance; best Web-enabled payment service; best citizen's services; and e-learning and local lingual content development.

The jury for 2009 nominations comprises V. Ramachandran, Member, Second Administrative Reform Commission and former vice-chairman, State Planning Board; Anand Parthasarathy, IT Consultant and Managing Director, Online India Tech; Dr Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM-Kozhikode; T. P. Srinivasan, former diplomat and Director-General, Kerala International Centre, Thiruvananthapuram; and Dr Ajay Kumar, Principal Secretary (IT), Kerala, and Director, Institute of Management in Governent .

NILEKANI, BANKERS MEET TO DISCUSS FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Mumbai
The Financial Express 

Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has organised a meeting between banks and telecom companies to discuss issues to leverage the unique identity (UID) project for the banks’ financial inclusion programme. Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), would also participate in the meeting.

In a bid to expedite the financial inclusion programme in the country, banks are relying on business correspondent (BC) model. First, they want to arrive at broad standards for micro ATM enabled BC model network and achieve the standardisation of the ATM specification. Banks want to leverage the mobile phone technology to fit into the BC model as mobile phones are fast becoming the ubiquitous phenomenon in the country.

The government has already formed an empowered group of ministers, headed by Prime Minister to move the project on a fast track. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the IBA are closely involved in achieving financial inclusion through UIDAI. Towards this IBA is working on combining the UID project with that of the financial inclusion project of the banks and through this process, both banks and UID will be mutually benefited.

For the UID project, the unique identification numbers can be allotted to the individuals with the help of the banks and in the process banks can open as many accounts as possible for the persons allotted the number. This process will eventually help banks achieve financial inclusion.

 

E-GOVERNANCE TO MERGE RTO, TRAFFIC
Bangalore
The Times of India

Technology has solutions for everything. As a testimony to this, the Institute of Engineers has come up with a vast array of technical support, which will add to effective governance. Extending its services to the state government, the institute has come forward with a number of initiatives and projects, which will incorporate technology for the betterment of the system.

Making a presentation on the e-governance project on Tuesday, M N Vidyashankar IAS, principal secretary, department of e-governance, brought to light a number of effective technical steps that can be employed for the betterment of the existing system.

About the introduction of BlackBerries into traffic policing and its advantages, Vidyashankar said: “The revenue generation has gone up to Rs 30 crore, all thanks to technology. Efforts are being made to integrate the databases of RTO and traffic police for better and convenient access.” He said the project will be completed in the next 8-10 months.

Counting on the effective work being done in the state towards technical advancements, Vidyashankar cited the example of over 5.8 lakh employees of the state government who are using the system currently. He also elaborated on other projects like UID, rural BPOs, e-services on wheels as well as BPOs for physically challenged and widows.

RAIL E-TICKET FOR ARMED FORCES
New Delhi
The Hindu

Armed forces personnel in the country will now have the convenience of booking and printing e-tickets through the IRCTC website, with the launch of a pilot project at 20 unit locations across the country.

Vice-Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. P.C. Bhardwaj launched the pilot project. Being implemented by the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA), the project will enable automatic generation of all accounting, payment and financial reports.

General Bhardwaj said that the new system would cut tedious paperwork and introduce seamless processing in one stroke. He hoped that the ‘PCDA [Principal Controller of Defence Accounts] Travel System’ will slowly make the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) irrelevant and become a precursor to automation and better management.

 

E-Governance: 30/12/09

GOVT WEBSITES TO CONFORM WITH GLOBAL NET STANDARDS
Margao
The Times of India

In a bid to boost e-governance and enhance uniformity, usability and functionality of government websites in the state, the department of information technology has made 56 government websites to conform to the standards incorporated in the guidelines for Indian government websites as mandated by the World Wide Web Consortium (WWWC).

The guidelines incorporated in the central secretariat manual of office procedure (CSMOP) were ratified by the government few months ago.

Confirming the same, director of information technology Pravin Chandelkar told TOI on Tuesday that efforts are on to get all government websites in the state to strictly adhere to the guidelines prescribing procedures for the management of government websites.

"The exercise is taking long as the IT department has been handling the task of approaching various departments and helping them technically with loading of contents. The task becomes a bit difficult as many departments do not have citizens' charters while a lot many have not made their presence felt on cyberspace," he said.

E-Governance Updates: 29/12/09

PANEL PROPOSES FDI HIKE IN DEFENCE SECTOR TO 49%
Josy Joseph, New Delhi
DNA

A high-level committee looking into defence expenditure has recommended a host of sweeping reforms, including a hike in the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the defence sector to 49% and divestment of defence public sector units (PSUs).

The committee has also recommended extensive use of information and communication technologies in the defence procurement process. "All contemporary armed forces and controlling ministries have adopted IT for network-centric operations and e-governance.

However, the Indian MoD and armed forces continue with their laborious, manual and paper-based transaction," the report says.

 

FIRST SMART CARDS BATCH TO BENEFIT 50,000 PEOPLE
Chandigarh
Hindustan Times (Chandigarh edition)

Smart Cards for the Public Distribution System (PDS) in city will now be a reality. HCL Infosystems has been assigned work of smart cards in city, which will benefit 50,000 families in the first batch by March 31.

Under a pilot scheme announced many months back, ration cards in Chandigarh will be replaced by modern smart cards to allow only genuine people to buy subsidised food grains.

 

UIDAI ENSURES UNIQUE ID ISN’T CRACKED BY ENTERPRISING FRAUDS
Subrahmanyan Viswanath, Bangalore
Deccan Herald

Those at the helm of the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) are preparing ways and means to beat your cheating, lying ways.

In the works is a slew of measures that would plug systemic loopholes which cheats, criminals and sundry others had hitherto been taking to grease their way into possessing dual identities, be it multiple passports, ration cards, credit cards and PAC cards. In other words, the UIDAI is attempting what no other authority in Indian governance has tried before: the road to obtaining an ID cannot be paved by cheating or bribing.

Once the Unique Identity (UID) number regime is firmly in place, it will become very difficult to duck the system and sneak in by employing ‘other’ means.

The consequences of attempting to defraud the system could prove disastrous for the adventurous and may even put the person in peril.

The UIDAI objective will be met by the underlying principle –“you are who you say you are.”

In fact, it will be the litmus test of the system’s reliability, for the UIDAI will not be issuing a card, which can be easily tampered with. The UIDAI will only issue an UID, according to a confidential paper accessed by Deccan Herald, and will not contain intelligence as, it observes, loading intelligence into identity numbers makes them suspectible to fraud and theft.

A typical UID will be a random number.

The Central ID Data Repository (CIDR) will perform a search on key demographic fields and biometrics for each new enrolment to ensure no duplicates exist.

The UID system is automatically aligned as a self-cleaning mechanism. The CIDR will only hold minimum information required to identify the resident and ensure no duplicates.

These will include a UID number which will be numeric and unique for all 1.2 billion Indians. It will only contain identity fields like name, date of birth, place of birth, gender, parents’ names and respective UIDs, address (permanent and present), expiry date, photograph and finger prints.

The biometric sub-system will have in-built response mechanisms in place to detect when an individual deliberately impersonates someone else, either real or fictitious. Since CIDR will store biometrics of residents, identity frauds will be easier to control.

Playing out different potential fraud scenarios, the authority says, it will not share resident data as it envisions a balance between “privacy and purpose” when it comes to information on residents.

As a result no one will have access to information in the UID database. The authority will simply answer requests to authenticate a person’s identity only through a Yes/No response.

Stating that it will offer robust and resilient form of online authentication in which agencies can compare demographic and biometric information of residents with the record stored in the central database, the document notes that technology will undergird the UIDAI system to ensure security and safety of information.

Incidentally, the authority, which plans to purchase fingerprint scanners, dual iris and face capture devices, live scan fingerprint equipments with their associated software, as a precursor to this, has invited manufacturers and authorised agents to submit bids for supply of biometric and fingerprint devices.

E-Governance: 24/12/09

STATE PLANS TO MODERNISE EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES
Kolkata, Bhubaneswar
Business Standard

With a view to streamline the functioning of the employment exchanges in the state, the Orissa government has chalked out plans to upgrade and modernise them.

A separate portal will be set up which will have facilities for registration of job seekers both locally and nationally. While the local registration will be useful for employment inside the state, the national registration will help the candidates to seek job outside the state, sources said.

“ We intend to modernise all the 80 employment exchanges in the state with an expenditure of Rs 60 crore. The work is proposed to be completed in next five years”, Jagar Singh, secretary, labour and employment department of Orissa government said. The modernisation and upgradation work will be taken up under public-private-partnership (PPP). While the Centre would provide 75 percent of the proposed cost, the remaining 25 percent would be provided by the state government.

 

 

ONLINE PROVIDENT FUND CLAIM SETTLEMENT BY 2011
Srikumar Bondyopadhyay, Calcutta
The Telegraph

Provident fund subscribers may be able to access their accounts and push for an online settlement of claims by 2011.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is aiming to create an inter-connected online platform for its 117 regional and sub-regional offices that will eventually allow online settlement of claims within a day or two.

The EPFO is one of the last bastions of bureaucratic outfits that is being sucked into the online platform managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

P. Sudhakar Babu, additional central PF commissioner, said a trial run was being carried out at five centres: Karnal, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mangalore and Nasik.

“Another 15 centres will be networked by the end of this month. We are aiming to bring all our centres onto the online platform in 2010,” Babu said here today while addressing a seminar organised by the Social Security Association of India.

Once all the regional and sub-regional provident fund offices are connected, EPFO members will be able to get their claims settled overnight. They will also be able to access other information such as the account balance.

 

BPSC TO GO ONLINE SOON
Sanjeev Kumar Verma, Patna
The Times of India

Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) would soon have a fully-computerised system in place. The information technology (IT) department has taken up a scheme in this regard, the request for which was made earlier by the commission. BPSC conducts competitive examinations for premier state government services, including Bihar Administrative Service, Bihar Police Service and Bihar Financial Service.

 

 

PROPERTY REGISTRATION TO GO DIGITAL TO CURB FRAUD
D Suresh Kumar, Chennai
The Times of India (Chennai edition)

In a move aimed at curbing fraudulent and benami property transactions, the Tamil Nadu Registration Department is all set to introduce biometric fingerprinting and digital photographing for registering documents at all its 573 sub-registrar offices.

The technology-enabled system, for which the Registration Act has been amended, is expected to be implemented from February next year. This would replace the existing three-year old practice of manually affixing passport-sized photographs and inked left hand thumb impressions of property vendors and buyers on the second page of registered property documents.

“We have placed orders with Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) for acquiring 1,200 biometric finger print devices and an equal number of digital cameras, which would be installed at the subregistrar offices (two devices of each in every office) for which the state government has sanctioned Rs 55 lakh. Once the equipment is in place, every property seller and buyer will be digitally photographed and their left hand thumb impressions will be recorded on the biometric device against their photographs. The procedure will be over in less than 5 minutes, unlike the present system which takes time,” R Sivakumar, inspector-general of registration (Tamil Nadu) told The Times of India on Wednesday.

 

HIGH-POWERED PANEL FORMED FOR UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION PROJECT
Kohima
The Economic Times

To facilitate successful implementation of unique identification numbers in Nagaland, a 17-member state empowered committee has been constituted under chairmanship of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.

According to an official notification issued here yesterday the state home commissioner will act as the secretary to the empowered committee.

In order to assist the empowered panel in implementing the project, a 12-member state-level implementation committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary Lalthara was also constituted, the notification said.

The Centre through the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is embarking on the ambitious project.

 

E-Governance News: 23/12/09

KERALA COMMERCIAL TAXES DEPT TO ADOPT M-GOVERNANCE
Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu Business Line

The State Finance Minister, Dr Thomas Isaac, has said that the Commercial Taxes Department would launch an M-Governance initiative for grievances redressal.

Speaking at a workshop on Goods and Services Tax (GST) that also included pre-Budget confabulations with trade and industry here on Tuesday, the Finance Minister said the initiative would be launched on January 11.

This would basically be an interactive voice response system (IVRS) in which an aggrieved trader or assessee can dial a toll-free number and register a complaint on his cell phone from anywhere/anytime in the State.

The complaint can be made in English, Malayalam, Tamil or Hindi. On giving the caller's address and other coordinates, the system would recite back the recorded complaint in the caller's own voice.

Once this is through, a docket number would be messaged to the complainant, which would need to be messaged back to the toll-free number.

A 24/7 monitoring cell at a department call centre would make a transcript of the complaint, and forward it to the concerned Deputy Commissioner for action.

The complaint and the action taken report would be made available online to officials in the department and even the Finance Minister himself.

The details would be uploaded to the Web site of the department where it can be tracked by the public for reference and guidance.

MobME, a player in mobile media and the entertainment platforms based in Technopark here, is implementing the M-Governance initiative on behalf of IT-Kerala.

According to Lishoy Bhaskar, Director (Operations), MobME, a 24/7 monitoring team will transcript the complaints and assign them to the authorities.

The complainant will receive SMS and voice alerts regarding the status of the complaint. Authorities will receive SMS and Voice Alerts whenever a complaint is assigned to them.

The Commissioner, Commercial Taxes; the Taxes Secretary; and the Finance Minister will have access to real-time statistics. Daily, weekly and monthly reports will be made available to these authorities.

A fully transparent system, it is designed to measure efficiency and increase performance levels, Bhaskar said.

The 10-digit toll-free number is being assigned in consultations with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and is likely to be prefixed as ‘24365.'

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has reiterated that the Commercial Taxes Department would continue with the inspection of the traders' premises for suspected misappropriation of accounts in the context of slippage in tax revenue realisation. Dr Isaac said that ‘local purchases' in the books of accounts had tended to head abnormally north but have not been matched by ‘sales.'

 

KEYCHAIN AVATAR FOR THE SMARTCARD
New Delhi
The Pioneer

For the convenience of commuters who use Metro's smartcard everyday, Delhi Metro has launched a new generation of smartcards in the form of keychains on Tuesday. The sleek, new 'smart keychains' can be used in the same way as normal smartcards to enter and exit Metro stations, that is by swiping at the designated space on the automatic fare collection gates.

The decision to introduce smart key chains was taken as many Metro commuters use cars, two-wheelers or bicycles and normally use key chains which they can now replace with the new devices. While the Metro smartcards are of the size of credit cards so that they can be kept in wallets, the smart keychains are much smaller, 55 mm in length, 27 mm breadth and 3 mm thick, so they can be carried in pockets. The corners are rounded and the sides tapered. They are made with high-quality plastic and are coated with acrylic resin to make them unbreakable.

 

GOVT PLANS MOBILE PHONE ROUTE TO REACH BASIC FINANCIAL SERVICES
Subrahmanyan Viswanath, Bangalore
Deccan Herald

In a major initiative, as part of its e-governance programme, the Centre, plans to extend its e-inclusion envelope to reach basic financial services using mobile phones.

According to Department of Information Technology (DIT) sources with country’s rural population and disadvantageous sections taking to mobile in a big way, a “delivery mechanism that enables provision of basic financial services on individual’s mobile,” be seriously explored.

It was observed that though a large section of rural population has access to mobile telephony, they do not have a similar facility to financial services through banks. With rural mobile subscriber base expected to leapfrog in the near future, reaching out to “unbanked” population of the country through mobiles could be the way forward for financial inclusion. It is planned to leverage the existing infrastructure established and operationalised by telecom service providers across the country for airtime payments for this major national mission purpose.

Besides evolving a framework for delivering financial services over mobiles, the Centre, sources said, is addressing issues such as types of transactions that could be allowed; quantum of financial limits; types of guarantee to be offered by airtime vendors; eligibility of agencies involved; role, responsibility and accountability of telecom service providers; regulatory issues to ensure accountability, auditability and traceability of money transfers; safety of deposits among others.

Addressing these gamut of issues, an Inter Ministerial Group, under Chairmanship of DIT Secretary, has agreed that initial basic goals of financial delivery would include ability to deposit money in an account, transfer from one subscriber to another and cash-in and cash-out deposits at convenient locations.

The IMG also debated on Know Your Customer norms, authentication mechanisms, customer protection, money laundering, while noting that mobile operators can provide financial services delivery mechanism along with an intermediary to remote and rural areas. Sources said the IMG also noted that Unique ID infrastructure, once in place, would be key element in basic financial service delivery model.

The IMG is scheduled to meet on December 24, 2009, to delineate the role of each key player as also intermediaries to roll out the programme on priority basis.

The IMG is expected to come up with broad framework in the next two months. The idea is to make use of the technology opportunity, model to arrive at and get clarity to enable people without bank account do necessary financial transaction. IMG comprises of representatives from Department of Financial Services, Posts, Rural Development, Planning Commission, Unique Identification Authority of India, TRAI, RBI, DoT and Home Ministry.

 

E-Governance News: 22/12/09

GOVT RESUMES TALKS WITH WORLD BANK ON E-BHARAT
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line

Signalling the end of a deadlock, the Department of IT (DIT) has restarted discussions with the World Bank to work on a revised framework and modalities for the operationalisation of e-governance support project ‘e-Bharat'.

Sources said that initial discussions on e-Bharat could not reach a firm conclusion as the World Bank had put certain conditions with regard to the management of the project.

E-Bharat objectives are the same as those of National eGovernance Plan, albeit at a smaller scale. The project is expected to contribute to improving government effectiveness, empowering marginalised communities, increasing fiscal revenue, reducing public procurement costs and promoting private sector led growth through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Sources said that although discussion had been held even earlier for a possible assistance of $300 million, the two sides could not agree on the framework for implementation as the World Bank purportedly was insisting on certain conditions to manage the project. For instance, against a hands-on project management approach being favoured by the World Bank, the DIT was pushing for a programme mode where assistance could be linked to targets or milestones.

“The differences are now resolved. There have also been some rounds of discussions on the new framework,” sources pointed out.

E-Bharat was aimed at supporting DIT in programme management and also specific support to certain projects (commercial taxes and PDS) by States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

In fact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, in its latest report last week noted, that e-Bharat project was “in trouble”. It recommended that the issue should be “pursued with World Bank” so that the project is implemented with the financial support given by World Bank, keeping in view the significant efforts including sizeable resource put in by DIT and other Ministries and participating States for the timely completion of the project preparation activities.

MID-MKT IT FIRMS GET A PLATFORM TO TAP BIZ
Chennai/Bangalore
Business Standard

The Indian and German government have agreed to promote a new bilateral technical cooperation initiative to support the introduction of high quality eGovernance and eBusiness services in the IT-SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) sector.

The project “Economic Development though eGovernance” is jointly promoted by the Directorate for Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) and GTZ.

The objective of this project is to improve the competitiveness of IT-SMEs through the use of eGovernance, eBusiness and ICT services. This, in turn, shall lead to increased quality and business opportunities and, as a desired impact, to the creation of income and employment opportunities in the sector.

According to a statement, IT SMEs can get connected to IT majors for outsourcing opportunities, increase the competitiveness of their company through knowledge and skill upgrade and educate themselves about legal framework beneficial to IT SMEs.

“This initiative will also enable the firm to educate themselves on the business orientation and management skills, share the new technologies used globally |and gain credibility through certifications and revenue through business connection with eGov projects,” the statement added.

 

E-FILING OF RETURNS FROM JANUARY
Kolkata/Bhubaneswar
Business Standard

The Orissa government will introduce the e-filing of returns and e-challan for the dealers in the state starting from 1 January, 2010. The finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai has approved a proposal in this regard. Initially, this will be launched as a pilot project using the portal of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the system is proposed to be expanded to all the areas of the state later, Ghadai told the media.

Sources said, the Commercial Tax department and the directorate of treasuries and inspection are in the process of developing separate portals to facilitate e-payment of taxes and e-challan. Once the process is completed, it will be possible for traders and other people to pay different taxes and government fees routed through the treasuries through these portals. It may be noted, the directorate of treasuries and inspection is working on a plan to issue ‘electronic receipt’ for government taxes and fees.

The Computer Maintenance Corporation Ltd (CMC), the software developer for Orissa Treasury Management System (OTMS), has already been roped in to execute the project. Under the proposed system, there will not be any restriction on access and effort will be made to make the system as simple as possible. The new system will enable the dealers to file the return and pay the tax from their own offices.

Stating that out of 1,24,906 dealers in the state, only 47 percent of the dealers are filing return, he said, 53 percent dealers are defaulters. Keeping that in view, the month of ‘November’ was observed as the month of registration for dealers.

MP WINS E-GOVERNANCE MANTHAN AWARD-2009
Bhopal
The Pioneer

Madhya Pradesh has won South Asia’s prestigious E-Governance Manthan Award — 2009 for effective public service deliveries through innovative IT applications. The award has been instituted by the Digital Empowerment Foundation, New Delhi. Union Minister of State for IT, Sachin Pilot presented the awards at New Delhi.

 

E-Governance News: 21/12/09

CONTRACTORS TO BE MONITORED ONLINE
Chennai/Bangalore, December 21, 2009
Business Standard

Contractors slipping on deadlines in completing construction work accorded by the Greater Bangalore City Corporation (GBCC), the city corporation, can now easily be detected, thanks to the civic service provider’s initiative in rolling out a web-based project monitoring system.

As part of its IT initiatives in ramping up quantity and quality of services, GBCC has deployed WBPMS to ensure real time monitoring of progress of work at remote construction sites, GBCC commissioner Bharat Lal Meena said. This would help provide proactive alerts by detecting any slippages early and thereby help applying mid-course correction.

The progress of work at these sites can be independently uploaded to the website by the contractor and the inspection agency stationed there, he said. The central monitoring cell can instantly access this data from the website and take appropriate action to minimise time and cost overruns. 

UIDS LIKELY FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN
Subrahmanyan Viswanath, Bangalore, December 21, 2009
Deccan Herald

School admission across the country may not be the same again from 2011. It may be impossible without the Unique ID (UID) if the Centre accepts a proposal of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

The UIDAI, chaired by Nandan M Nilekani and his second-in-command Director General Ram Sewak Sharma, has stressed the need for making it mandatory for children to have the UID at the time of admission to school once the process of issuing the UID gets under way.

The rationale behind the proposal is that children can be tracked for academic progress besides being targeted for direct benefits. 

FROM JULY ’10, PASSPORTS MAY’VE E-CHIP
Prafulla Marpakwar, Mumbai, December 21, 2009
The Times of India (Kolkata edition)

After a prolonged delay of more than a year, the Central Passport Organisation (CPO) has drafted an ambitious plan to issue electronic passports from next year, preferably from July 1, 2010.

“In June 2008, we delivered the first electronic passport to President Pratibha Patil and the second to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. At that time, we had promised to issue electronic passports to the public within a year, by July 2009. But due to technical problems, the project was delayed. Now, we are in a position to issue e-passports by July 1, 2010,’’ a senior passport official said. 

STATE CONSUMER FORUMS GET TECH TOUCH
Shalabh, December 21, 2009
The Times of India (Mumbai edition)

Consumer rights in the state are set to get more teeth, thanks to technology. Consumer forum centres across Maharashtra will soon be connected to the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, located at Hazarimal Somani Marg, via internet. The upgraded infrastructure will help bring down the number of cases pending before consumer forums in the state.

The additional circuit benches of the state commission at Aurangabad and Nagpur and 40 district forums in Maharashtra will be equipped with sophisticated interactive telecommunication technology in the coming few weeks, allowing two-way communication between two centres. The pan-Maharashtra reach of state commission members at the click of a mouse is being achieved for as less as Rs 50,000.

“Confonet (Computerisation and Consumer Networking of Consumer Forums) is my top priority. We will also introduce video conferencing facility on a trial basis at some centres,” said Justice S B Mhase, president of the state forum. A set comprising a webcam and high-end headphone is being bought for each centre in the state. “I will regularly hold review meetings with the presidents and judicial members of the consumer forums to keep number of pending cases under control,” added Mhase.

E-Governance News: 18/12/09

UNIQUE ID BODY INVITES PROPOSALS FROM CONSULTANTS
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has invited proposals from consulting firms for services pertaining to the setting up of Central ID Data Repository (CIDR) and selection of managed service provider.

In effect, the move is the first step towards the creation of back-end IT infrastructure for the massive UID project.

The UIDAI has set January 11, 2010 as the last date for submission of the RFP (request for proposal) responses.

The consultancy services would be for designing programme management strategy and implementation roadmap for the UID project; formulating the strategy, business models, and implementation roadmap for the Central ID Data Repository (CIDR); formulating the requirements and specifications for the CIDR; preparing the required RFPs; managing the bid processes; selecting a Managed Service Provider (MSP); and providing project management services for the implementation of the CIDR.

UIDAI will be the regulatory authority controlling the Central ID Data Repository (CIDR). The CIDR will be the central data repository and will function as a managed service provider.

It will implement the core services around the UID – it will store resident records, issue unique identification numbers and verify, authenticate and amend resident data.

UIDAI has said that it will partner with agencies such as Central and State Departments and private sector agencies who will be ‘registrars' to UIDAI. Registrars will process UID applications and connect to the CIDR to de-duplicate resident information and receive UID numbers. These registrars can either be enrollers, or will appoint agencies as enrollers who will interface with people seeking UID numbers.

 

 

HOODA GOVT TO LAUNCH UNIQUE ID INITIATIVE
Chandigarh
The Pioneer  The Financial Express  

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said his Government would soon set up a body to issue unique identification numbers to the people of Haryana.

While assuring all help of Haryana Government to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI), Hooda said: “A State level unit would function under Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Tourism, Keshni Anand Arora to allot unique identification numbers to the residents of the State.”

Chief Minister Hooda was discussing the issue of allotment of unique identification number with the chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India, Nandan Nilekani here on Thursday.

Nilekani, who has been visiting various States to discuss the issue of unique identification number, expected Haryana to lead in this venture. He said that the UIAI would not allot any card, but unique identification numbers of 16 digits would be allotted to each resident of India.

 

 

ONLINE US VISA PROCESS FROM FEBRUARY 1
Mumbai
Deccan Herald

The US Consulate here today announced that online US visa application process would be launched from February 1 next year.

The measure is aimed at ensuring paperless process while applying for visas, Consular Section chief David Tyler told reporters at the American Center here.

"The applicant would have to fill up visa papers electronically, answer a few questions online and approach the consulate with a print-out of a one-page confirmation with barcode," he said.

The new consulate building at Bandra-Kurla Complex here would be operational in summer next year, Tyler said. The consulate now operates from a leased premises in Breach Candy area.

The number of students from India to the US increased by nine per cent, from 94,563 to 103,260 during 2008-09, Tyler said. China and Korea have the second and third largest students studying in the US, he added.

India is leading for the last eight years in a row, he said, adding that the growth in number of Indian students per year is between five to ten per cent.

There was a slight drop in overall number of visa applicants last year in the backdrop of recession, but the number is picking up, he said.

The number of US visa applications was down by around 10 to 12 per cent worldwide last year, Tyler said. In western India, there was a drop of around 20 per cent, he added.

Security has always been a concern while processing visa applications, the senior diplomat said

 

 

PANEL SETS 1-YR DEADLINE FOR EPFOS TECH PROJECT
New Delhi
The Economic Times (Delhi edition)

Taking note of Employees Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) plan to introduce information technology (IT) in handling the grievances mechanism, the standing committee on labour has asked for completion of the project within a year. In its fifth report, the Parliamentary panel further recommended that the system be reviewed by EPFO at regular intervals. The committee suggested that in order to have proper check on functioning of the EPFO fund managers, a yearly appraisal report should be sought from them containing details of the contribution made by the employer, the employee and worker and the interest accumulated on the principal amount.

 

E-Governance : 17/12/09

NEW WEB SYSTEM TO DETECT ERRING BUILDING CONTRACTORS
Bangalore
The Hindu Business Line

Contractors slipping on deadlines in completing the construction work accorded by the city corporation can now easily be detected, thanks to the service provider’s move to roll out a web-based project monitoring system.

As part of its IT initiatives in improving quantity and quality of services, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has deployed the system to ensure real-time monitoring of progress of work at remote construction sites, the BBMP Commissioner, Bharat Lal Meena, said.

This would help provide proactive alerts by detecting any slippages early and thereby help in applying mid-course correction. The progress of work at these sites can be independently uploaded to the website by the contractor and the inspection agency sta tioned there, he said.

The central monitoring cell can instantly access this data from the website and take appropriate action to minimise time and cost overruns.

Real-time monitoring on a continuous basis is expected to bring in more quality consciousness among contractors, apart from simplifying logistics and significant savings in travel time and manpower deployed to monitor the work, according to T. Sheshad ri, IT advisor, IT department.

He said the system’s greatest advantage is enabling people participate in the monitoring process in civic projects. 

SMART CARD PLAYERS SEEK PARTICIPATION IN MNIC PROJECT
New Delhi
The Economic Times (Bangalore edition)

Private smart card manufacturers on Wednesday sought participation in the prestigious Multi-purpose National Identity Card Project (MNIC) aimed at providing unique identity cards to all citizens of India over the age of 18.

The smart card forum of India, an association of about 140 smart card makers, said 95% of the Indian personalisation industry is out of the project because of an interpretation, totally different from an earlier interpretation of the technical committees’ recommendations, was applied to the MNIC pilot project.

The MNIC project is being implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs through the registrar general & census commissioner. The pilot project has been given to consortium of public sector units (CPSU) comprising of Bharat Electronics Limited, ITI and Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) by the RGI.

Scafi honorary secretary Jagdish Rajpurohit demanded a review of the pilot and said opening the project to open market mechanism can not only ensure that it is done correctly but also will plug all “wasteful expenditures”.

The pilot project, Rajpurohit said: “Extended beyond even reasonable levels because it was handed over to total new comers BEL, ITI and ECIL who had no prior experience to run a project of this magnitude and expertise”.

N VITTAL TO HEAD UID DEMOGRAPHIC DATA STANDARDS PANEL
Subrahmanyan Viswanath, Bangalore
Deccan Herald

The trail-blazing initiative to provide unique identification number to all citizens of the country has picked up feverish momentum lately.

On his part, Unique identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chairman Nandan M Nilekani has been travelling across length and breadth, meeting stakeholders to prepare them for the massive exercise sensitising them on the onerous mission.

The UIDAI, likewise, has also been equally busy under Director General & Mission Director R S Sharma putting in place various panels to meet its mammoth task.

In pursuit of this ambitious goal, the UIDAI has now formed two committees to ensure the authority meets its mandate within the timeline it has set for itself.

The authority has set up a nine member Biometric Strandards Committee headed by National Informatics Centre Chairman B K Gairola. Likewise, it has also constituted a 16-member Demographic Data Standards & Verification Procedure Committee with former Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal as Chairman. The Gairola panel will also have ICICI’s Pravir Vora, Registrar General of India’s C Chandramauli, RBI’s A M Padagaonkar, among others including IIT Bombay and Kharagpur faculty.

Vittal will spearhead the team comprising ICICI Securities’ Madhavi Puri Buch, Department of Information Technology’s S R Rao, Hyerabad Rural Development Principal Secretary K Raju, and other officials drawn from New Delhi, Assam, Jharkhand, including IIM Lucknow faculty.

According to Sharma the charter of biometric standards committee is to ensure interoperability of devices, systems and process used by various agencies that use the UID system. The key requirement of UID is to minimise/eliminate duplicate UIDs and improve the efficacy of service delivery.

The committee before framing the standards will review existing standards and modify/enhance them to achieve the goals for de-duplications and authentication.

Similarly, the demographic data standards panel will review existing ones and refine it to meet the purpose of UIDAI. The two panels, in turn, can set up technical committee and working groups for conducting/developing proof of concept studies. Both the panels have been given 90 days time to submit their final report, Sharma said.

 

MCD TO MAKE PAYMENTS ONLINE
New Delhi
The Tribune

To curb corruption in payments and avoid frauds similar to the recent ghost employee scandal, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to make all payments online.

Under the new system, Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), the amount due to the contractors will be credited in their accounts within 30 minutes of work being completed. Based on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, the RTGS system will be extended mainly to all suppliers and contractors working on various MCD projects to do away with the tender mafia.

According to the contractors, this new system will eliminate the complex process wherein the middlemen used to delay the process of payment. The civic body has witnessed constant agitation by contractors and suppliers over its failure to clear their outstanding dues.

E-Governance News: 15/12/09

UNIQUE IDENTITY NUMBER TO HELP BANKS SKIP KYC RULES
Mumbai
Business Standard

Banks in the medium future, may not need to engage in the “know-your-customer” (KYC) process, a check on customer antecedents, to open no-frills accounts. This could happen once a sizeable chunk of population gets a Unique Identification (UID) Number.

Once the UID number of a person was activated, banks could do away with KYC norms for small-value, or no-frills, accounts, said a top public sector bank official after attending a meeting organised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday on using UID for financial inclusion.

The Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman and former Infosys co-chairman Nandan Nilekani made a presentation on how UID could help expedite the financial inclusion process.

While this will bring relief to banks, development of the UID database is going to be a long-drawn process in a country with one billion-plus population. Banks might not give up KYC norms any time soon, said another senior public sector bank executive.

“The UID authority made a presentation to RBI in which it said it will play a facilitative role in financial inclusion,” K Ramakrishnan, chief executive of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), told Business Standard.

“RBI also told banks to draw a roadmap for inclusion. This is something the UID authority is working on and will include preparation of standards for micro ATMs, etc,” he added.

The authority, set up under the Planning Commission, will provide an identity to every citizen to establish citizenship and address security concerns in this regard. The project is expected to be operational in the next 12-18 months.

 

 

MOBILE, ONLINE WATER BILL PAYMENT A REALITY SOON
Bangalore
Deccan Herald

With the BWSSB planning to accept mobile and online payments, water bills payment is set to become easier in the future. Chief Engineer (Cauvery), BWSSB, Vasudevan announced this on Monday, while presenting a paper on e-governance in BWSSB during the three-day `National Conference on Urban Water Management: Challenges and Options (NCUWM-09),’ which commenced here on Sunday.

Elaborating the proposed system to the media, BWSSB Chairperson P B Ramamurthy said that Indiranagar would become the first area to accept mobile payment. A pilot project will be launched here within a month and would later be extended to all areas under BWSSB.

On the cess the consumer will have to pay for the facility, the chairperson said that it would be a minimal amount, and not more than five rupees. Payments can also be made through Internet but this facility would be operational only after six months.

The chairperson declined to comment on the possibility of a hike in water tarrif owing to hike in power tarrif. Extra cost that the Board would incur would work out to be 10.2% more than what was being paid to the electricity board now. Out of an annual revenue of Rs 480 crore, we are paying nearly Rs 240 crore towards power charges, the highest paid by any water supply body in the country.

 

 

REDUCING EPF PENDING CASES
New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line

The Government today assured the Lok Sabha that pending cases for settlement of EPF claims will come down “substantially” once the computerisation programme being undertaken by Employees Provident Fund Organisation is completed. Till September this financial year, as many as 11.63 lakh cases were pending, but “the time taken in settlement of claims will come down substantially,” with the implementation of the computerised project, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Harish Rawat, said. According to the provisions of EPF scheme, claims received complete in all respect are settled within 30 days. In a written reply, the Minister said submission of incomplete forms by claimants and increased inflow of claims for final settlement was delaying settlement of claims. He also said that increasing trend in pending claims was due to large number of cases being processed on account of frequent changes of job, increasing membership and growing number of pending cases.

 

E-Governance News: 14/12/09

NIC RAISES CONCERN OVER PRIVACY OF UIDAI DATABASE
New Delhi, December 14, 2009
Business Standard

The National Informatics Centre has raised concerns over privacy and security of proposed database of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), headed by Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani.

The newly established UIDAI would be hosting information of all residents of the country on a private data centre, which NIC believes raises concern about privacy and security, official sources said.

In a letter dated November 6, accessed by PTI, NIC writes, “It has been proposed to hire the data centre services for PoC (proof-of-concept) and prototype on rental basis. It is presumed that the data related to UID will be hosted in a government Data Centre. If not, the issues related to privacy and security with respect to UID data may require to be taken into consideration.”

UIDAI replied that hosting the data on a private network “does not necessarily lead to violation of privacy and security”.

“There will be appropriate SLAs (Service Legal Agreements — both legal and technological) to ensure that the data is protected. It is to be mentioned that a number of sensitive database (Income Tax and PFRDA, to name two of them,) which ensure security and privacy, though they are not necessarily housed in the ‘government’ Data Centre,” the Authority replied.

It said UIDAI approach envisaged 24 Technical posts (Director Technical, Principal Systems Analyst and Senior Systems Analyst). “This will ensure adequate technical capacity to ensure both security and privacy concerns,” it said.

GOVT READIES FOR KNOWLEDGE NETWORK ROLL-OUT
Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee, New Delhi, December 13, 2009
The Hindu Business Line

The Ministry of Communications and IT has circulated a Cabinet note for the final phase of the National Knowledge Network, which seeks to connect research and academic institutions in the country over a high-speed multi gigabit network.

The outlay proposed for the final phase of the mega-project – expected to encourage collaborative research among institutions – is estimated at Rs 6,000 crore over 10 years.

The pilot phase of the National Knowledge Network was inaugurated by the President, Pratibha Patil, in April. In the initial phase, it will connect around 45 institutions.

 

UID NUMBER TO BE ISSUED ON VOLUNTARY BASIS
Ajith Athrady, New Delhi, December 14, 2009
Deccan Herald

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will allot the much-awaited unique identity number to citizens on a voluntary basis.

The citizen who seeks the number should register with the local registrars. Subsequently, it will be allotted to others to ensure every citizen of the country gets the number.

The UIDAI, headed by IT czar Nandan Nilekani, is taking all efforts to avoid duplication in allotting the numbers, sources in the authority said.

To avoid duplication of numbers, registrars will send the applicants’ data to the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) for de-duplication. The CIDR will perform a search on biometrics for each new enrolment.

The UIDAI has set up two committees named “data standards and verification committee” and “biometric committee”. The first will look into issues such as demographic details, which will be collected at the time of enrolment, and the process of verification in order to ensure the correctness of data. The other committee will look into the type and specifications of the biometric details of the resident, which will be collected at the time of enrolment so as to ensure uniqueness.

Meanwhile, the UIDAI is planning to rope in volunteers, including NGOs, to ensure that the poor and deprived people get priority under the project. The NGOs will be helping the authority in areas such as technology development, awareness creation and enrolment. As the unique number can be accessed and verified online from anywhere in the country, the authority will also frame a code of conduct that the volunteers need to follow, which include no conflict of interest, sources said.

 

RAJASTHAN TO SPEND RS 2000-CR UNDER R-APDRP
Jaipur, December 14, 2009
The Economic Times

Rajasthan government is set to roll out centre-funded Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (R-APDRP) in 87 cities across the state under the 11th Five-Year Plan.

Under this scheme, Rs 2000 crore would be spent over three years for facilitating reduction of AT&C losses to a never-before level of 15 per cent through strengthening and up-gradation of Sub-Transmission and Distribution network.

The government-run power companies - Jaipur Discom, Ajmer Discom and Jodhpur Discom – has already appointed Infosys as their consultant for speedy implementation of the programme. The chairman of national committee on R-APDRP and Jaipur Discom CMD R G Gupta told ET that the IT consultant would have to handhold and guide the power utilities from concept-to-commissioning for facilitating this programme.

“IT work will involve setting up data centres, disaster recovery back-ups, GIS mapping, and entail applications for reading meters, billing and collection, energy accounting and auditing and consumer grievance redressal,” he said.

 

E-Governance News: 11/12/09

RCOM LANDS MGOVENANCE CONTRACTS
Chennai
The Hindu Business Line  The Pioneer  The Financial Express   

Reliance Communications is said to have bagged the mGovernance infrastructure development contracts in Mumbai, Maharashtra circle and Kerala.

According to sources in the company, the mobile operator will set up the telecom infrastructure to launch mGovernance services in these circles. RCom will team up with the Government's local VAS service partners to implement these projects by connecting various government departments in these three Circles on the mobile data platform through its pan-India telecom backbone, said a highly placed official.

In Mumbai and Maharashtra, the Dilip Wagh-promoted IIST Infotech is the Official VAS partner of the Government, while MobeMe Wireless is the VAS partner of the Kerala Government, the official said.

According to the sources, these projects can potentially generate over 20 crore daily transactions, estimated on the current usage pattern. All the services offered will be on chargeable basis. Different price points will be defined for each service.

 

 

UIDAI TO DRAFT RULES FOR VOLUNTEERS
New Delhi
Business Standard  Deccan Chronicle  

Buoyed by the response of several eminent individuals to lend their services to 'The Unique Identification Authority of India', the body has made rules for such volunteers willing to help in the project.

The government project headed by Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani will take assistance of such people and NGOs to ensure that poor and marginalised people are included in the system.

"In order to ensure that the poor and marginalised are included into the system, it hopes to take the assistance of volunteers and NGOs.

"The UIDAI hopes that it will be able to areas of technology, awareness creation and enrolment. The Authority plans to have volunteers both on full time and part-time basis," a spokesperson of UIDAI said in a statement.

He said application for volunteers would be put up on the website 'www.uidai.gov.in' and shall assess if their services are required in their area of expertise.

"If the authority is satisfied that the applicant has the requisite specialised skills, experience and qualifications and there is no conflict of interest then the Authority will issue an offer letter along with the specific role for the volunteer," he said.

UIDAI has also come out with a Code of Conduct the volunteers need to follow.

 

 

ACES SYSTEM LAUNCHED
Visakhapatnam
The Hindu

A new web-based software application - Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES) was launched by Additional Director General (Systems) of the Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, New Delhi, D.P. Dash at the New Custom House here on Thursday

The new system enables automation of the working of Central Excise and Service Tax Department of Visakhapatnam Zone (comprising coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of AP).

General Manager of HPCL M. Naveen Kumar, Telecom District General Manager P. Nagaraju, Central Excise Commissioner R. Shakuntala were among those who attended.

ACES, a workflow-based software application under Central Board of Excise and Customs, is designed to provide the trade an electronic interface with the Department and aims at reducing paper work, visits to the Departmental offices and improving transparency, accountability and efficiency in indirect tax administration in India.

The new system enables the trade and industry to take registration online, electronically file various statutory returns, intimations and permissions, refund claims and requests for provisional assessments. The users can view and track the status of their documents / applications online and also get business related alerts and messages.

 

THE $10 BN OPPORTUNITY
Ganesh Natarajan
Deccan Chronicle (Bengaluru edition)  The Asian Age  

The Indian domestic opportunity for knowledge services has been for many years in a state very similar to the Indian economy itself through the nineties -threatening to take off but never quite gathering the momentum.

But the defining moment may now have arrived and there is no better example of that than the presentation made by the recently appointed secretary of eGovernance to the apex body of the Indian IT and BPO industry, the NASSCOM Executive Council. Sensing the mood of his audience which had moved from serious engagement in a discussion of global economic prospects to a casual approach to what was expected to be just one more statement of intent from the Indian Government, Rao, the charismatic secretary started by saying: "Please listen to me as you would to any other $10 billion customer."

That guaranteed full attention for a presentation on e-Government initiatives and budgets, which demonstrated the new government's intent to accelerate the process of domestic consumption of IT.

The e-Government opportunity in the domestic sector has already thrown up many mega projects like the national passport issuance plan and the unique identity scheme, which will both provide significant downstream opportunities for large as well as small companies to get a share of the pie.

With the National Institute of Smart Governance, a joint venture of NASSCOM and the Ministry of Information Technology developing the framework for engagement of the government with private sector consultants and systems integrators, the stage is set for multiple new projects in various neglected areas including land records, government procurement, citizen to government interfaces and efficiency and citizen services transformation across the board.

The significant areas of domestic transformation in the country, which will call for significant innovation in thinking, planning and implementation will be education and healthcare.

While the role of IT in Healthcare will have to transcend hospital computerisation and patient records to enabling telemedicine and other distributed healthcare services, the real value of IT will be seen in enabling scale in the higher education delivery processes across the country.

 

HOODA: CIVIC BODIES TO GO ONLINE
Rohtak
The Tribune

The government has decided to computerise all civic bodies to streamline their working and check alleged irregularities. This was announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while redressing public grievances at a rest house here this morning.

The Chief Minister said his government was committed to weeding out corruption. He said details of all works and projects would be made available online and it would be easier for people to access information and track the progress regarding particular cases.

He said computerisation work would begin from civic bodies, including municipal committees, councils and corporations, so that development works got more attention and the common issues of residents were attended to immediately.

He said any person who felt disappointed with the progress regarding any project or scheme could take up the matter with the higher authorities. He said the civic bodies had been directed to take up the computerisation work of the house tax record in all cities and all the officials have been asked to put the record.

He said computers would be provided in all offices and would be linked with the Internet facility soon. The Chief Minister said the government had also taken up the work of making jails online.

 

SMALL BUSINESSES PLAYING AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN GOVT PROJECTS
Ashish Agashe
The Economic Times

Mumbai-based e-governance provider ABM Knowledgeware gets 100 per cent of its business from the government. But it’s eyeing a fifth of its revenues this year from a single clause in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Under the scheme, which helps cities get funding for improving infrastructure, every applicant city has to start an e-governance system to get the funds. “We worked hard to prepare a good package which was selected by the Union ministry of urban development among the packages which the cities can pick up,” says the firm’s managing director Prakash Rane.

It is now being implemented in Mumbai, Nanded, Kalyan-Dombivili and Ulhasnagar, he says.

ABM Knowledgeware is among a clutch of companies working with the government on its flagship programmes and playing a pivotal role in making them happen through enterprise, zeal and hard work. Be it JNNURM, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), or the newly formed Unique Identification Database Authority (UIDA) headed by Nandan Nilekani, there are now greater synergies between the public and the private sector, especially emerging businesses.

Working with the government, of course, has it own challenges. Rane cites their inability to distinguish between tangible and knowledge-based solutions provided by his company. Moreover, being the trustees and not the owners of the money, officials are often criticised to be slow in decision-making.

“You must know the procedural complexities, and once you know that, I can tell you there’s no customer like the government,” says Rane.

Glodyne Technoserve, a Mumbai-headquartered company, has been working with the Bihar government for creating the software architecture for NREGS implementation. Under the scheme, it intends to start 25 million user accounts, each having minute details like biometric information, for security.