India E-Governance Update: 28/05/09

 

EDUCATION DEPT TO LAUNCH TELE-TEACHING PROJECT IN GOVERNMENT PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Gandhinagar
The Indian Express

With a view to improve the quality of education in higher classes in over 22,000 government-run primary schools across Gujarat, the state Education Department will launch tele-teaching project.

It will be launched with the help of the Science and Technology Department this year.

The government has earmarked Rs 600 crore for the Satellite-based teaching project, which will be spent over a period of five years.

The Centre will provide Rs 12.50 crore every year to assist the project under its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme.

Giving details of the project, Secretary (Primary Education) R P Gupta said on Wednesday that the amount would be utilised to equip the primary schools with computers, LCD/ Plasma TV sets, ku-band antennas and set-top boxes.

Nearly 25 to 30 lakh students studying in Class V, VI and VII will be benefited by this unique teaching programme, he added.

 

TAILORMADE SOFTWARE TO HELP DO THE JOB FORGOTTEN
Alka Pande, Lucknow
The Indian Express

Chief Minister Mayawati has stated that intelligence would keep a watch on government tendering to keep out Mafia elements and check irregularities. But her government has not shown much enthusiasm in pushing an e-tendering project conceived exactly for this purpose.

Under the National e-Governance Plan, e-tendering is an integral part of e-procurement.

The purpose of e-tendering was to end mafia influence from the tendering process, ensure transparency, check corruption by government officials and enable people to take part in the tender process fearlessly.

While e-tendering has taken off in states like Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat, there are only a handful of departments in the state which offer the facility.

Almost a year ago, the project was inaugurated by Chief Minister Mayawati and PWD Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui with all fanfare. As per the Government of India guidelines, all departments should have been equipped with necessary elements for e-tendering by April 1, said a senior official of the IT and Electronics Department. “Maybe due to elections, the process has slowed down.”

 

UP TO REMOVE CHECK-POSTS ON HIGHWAYS, GO ONLINE FOR REVENUE
Virendra Nath Bhatt, Lucknow
The Indian Express

To eliminate corruption, delays and harassment of traders and truckers, Uttar Pradesh will soon remove check-posts and barriers on highways and inter-state borders.

The posts were set up by the Commercial Tax Department in 1974 to prevent the evasion of what was then called sales tax, now value-added tax.

The department has now evolved an IT-enabled system, in which the traders can download the required forms and documents directly from the department website.

The UP Value Added Tax Act, 2007, is proposed to be amended for implementing the reforms, which are likely to be enforced by the end of July. The state government is likely to bring an Ordinance in June to implement the reforms.

“With the implementation of VAT in all states, the tax rates on almost all category of goods is now uniform, so there is no need for the check-posts and barriers on the borders of the state,” said Desh Deepak Verma, Principal Secretary, Commercial Tax Department. “There were strong apprehensions in the department that the removal of check-posts will lead to tax evasion, but a close scrutiny of revenue collection data since 1974 revealed no significant hike in revenue. So we decided to go ahead.” Verma said the department is pushing the reforms with three objectives — preventing tax evasion, fetching more revenue and checking delays in transportation due to long queues at check-posts.

 

STATE TO BE E-CONNECTED RIGHT UP TO PANCHAYAT LEVEL
Patna
The Times of India

Considered to be a laggard on the information technology front, Bihar is likely to join the list of elite Indian states which brag of having e-connected offices right up to panchayat level.

Having successfully set up the State Wide Area Network (SWAN) under the National e-Governance Programme (NEGP), the state is likely to take up an ambitious project which envisages horizontal expansion of SWAN right up to the panchayat level.

According to plan details, all the 8,463 panchayats would be connected with SWAN which in turn would ensure their direct connectivity with the state headquarters.

There are also plans to connect around 200 government offices at state headquarters, 30 to 40 offices in each of the 38 districts and five to 10 offices in each of the 534 blocks under the horizontal expansion of SWAN.

To expedite the said project which envisages putting the horizontal SWAN in place in about 24 months, Wi-Max technology would be used which would allow glitch-free wireless connectivity over a very wide area.

The plan would be implemented using build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model and those taking up the project would have to set the infrastructure for the horizontal expansion of SWAN. The state government would make quarterly payment of the cost to the agency after assessing the performance of the system every quarter.

"Planning is in advance stage and after approval from the state government, bids would be invited to start the work on the project," said principal secretary, information technology department, C K Mishra.