TCS PASSPORT PROJECT GETS DELAYED
The Economic Times The Times of
Promising a passport within three days, it peddled a dream to Indians crowding understaffed and overburdened regional passport centres.
But the Passport Seva Project -- one of the government's flagship e-governance programmes -- is running behind schedule.
In October 2008, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) signed the agreement with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to implement the project, estimated to be worth Rs.1 billion. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon had then said the pilot project -- with centres in
But it seems increasingly unlikely that the schedule will be adhered to. A major reason for the delay is the inordinate time required to draft the software requirement specification (SRS) document, which was completed only recently.
"We didn't realise how much time it would take to draw up this document," a senior official closely involved in the process said.
The SRS, which details how the software programme will behave in diverse circumstances, had taken a lot of brainstorming sessions between MEA and TCS engineers. The final document comes to about 400 pages.
Also, the state-run National Informatics Centre (NIC), which had so far managed the back-end of the passport system, handed over the data for 80 million records to MEA earlier this month.
The data will be kept in a specially constructed data centre as it awaits 'migration' to the new software programme developed by TCS. But there's more to be done before the pilot project gets off the ground.
The ministry still has to sign a non-disclosure agreement with TCS, as the latter will have access to information of millions of applicants. Incidentally, MEA has insisted that all "sensitive activities" will be carried out only by government agencies.
While the main data centre is ready, the recovery centre is taking a lot of time to be set up. "It was assessed that it will be too risky to start the project without a back-up data centre," he said.
Last week the ministry signed a deal with the state-run Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) to build the recovery data centre in Chennai. The STPI has apparently said while the physical infrastructure would be in place by mid-July, the networking to different stations may take longer.
Confusion also persists on whether the NIC's current PISON (passport information service system on the net) will continue in parallel to the proposed TCS software - and, if so, their mode of compatibility.
The dilemma has arisen as Indian missions abroad -- which also issue passports and are linked through the NIC programme -- are not part of the Passport Seva Project.
This is not the first time the schedule has been changed. Earlier, before the formal signing in October, there had been assurances that the pilot project would start by March. But the formal announcement listed June as the deadline for the pilot project.
The agreement has a strict provision for levying penalty on TCS, but the ministry has decided to not yet invoke that clause. When TCS was contacted about the status of the project, its officials directed all queries to the ministry.
"It is a very complicated process. The project is ongoing and will be started very soon," A. Manickam, joint secretary, consular, passport and visa, MEA, said.
NEMMADI CENTRES TO GET A MAKEOVER
Bengaluru
Deccan Chronicle
Acknowledging that all is not well at the Nemmadi tele-centers set up by the e-Governance department to provide citizens cost-effective services, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Wednesday said the government is taking stock of the centres’ working.
The 800-odd centers that came up in hoblis, taluks and districts over a two-year period have been beset with several problems – from lack of power supply to corrupt operators of these centres.
Yeddyurappa told reporters after conducting a review meeting that he was making efforts to make the concept more effective. “Rs 5 lakh has been given to all deputy commissioners so they can deal with problems such as power immediately. Also, but for Nemmadi centres in the peri-urban areas, Bengaluru city itself lacks these tele-centers. To benefit urban citizens, the state government is contemplating setting up such centers in the city too, where citizens can avail Revenue Digital Services (RDS), including all land record documents, caste and income certificates, etc.,” the chief minister said.
GOVT TO UNVEIL E-SURVEILLANCE OF FUNDS FOR FLAGSHIP SCHEMES
Business Standard
Castigated by CAG for stepping away from protocol in releasing over Rs 50,000 crore meant for welfare schemes, the government is proposing electronic surveillance of flow of funds earmarked for flagship schemes.
While CAG, the top auditor of government accounts, made note of the deviation in funds allocation, the government's chief accountant - Controller General of Accounts (CGA) - has prepared the blueprint for monitoring flow of funds worth Rs 200,000 crore per annum to over 20,000 implementing agencies.
The blueprint is expected to be unveiled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget for 2009-10. He had made a mention of it in the interim budget in February.
The mechanism will capture all data related to centrally sponsored and central sector schemes right from funds earmarked, sanctions, sub-sanctions to the names of implementing agencies at each level, details of associated bank accounts and payment to the ultimate beneficiary.
It will also track state-wise, district-wise and lower level allocation of funds under 1258 Plan schemes. Pilot programmes are already on.
"We are implementing the Central Plan Schemes Monitoring System (CPSMS) and have successfully carried out two pilot projects in Punjab and Karnataka for tracking releases and utilisation at ground level for establishment of a comprehensive Decision Support System and Management Information System," a source told PTI.
"There are some glitches in the present system which need to be ironed out as multiple registrations were being recorded as there are agencies involved in several schemes and receiving funds from various ministries resulting in duplicity of agencies. Also many sanctions were not being captured. We are working to streamline the flaws," the source said.
The official said that once the corrections are made they would be in a position to capture all minute details of fund flow including release and utilisation without hassles.
The initiative assumes special significance in the light of major increase in the social sector spending by the Government.
UGC REINVITES TCS FOR E-GOVERNANCE BIDDING
Mumbai
Business Standard
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to invite Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for a second round of bidding for its e-governance project which was earlier awarded to the IT major. UGC is also planning to implement this project in phases.
TCS had received a clearance for the Rs 230-250 crore deal on March 13, 2009, that involved making UGC’s functioning more transparent.
Members of the UGC and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had earlier expressed opposition to the deal being signed with TCS.
“Considering the size of the project, we had suggested that it should be taken on a pilot basis and expanded in phases. But UGC was in a hurry to award the contract to TCS. Now, there will be re-bidding and the proposal will come to the committee meeting for discussion,” said a ministry source.
The source further said that earlier there was opposition to the project as UGC did not follow the due diligence process.
A TCS executive said: “The company does not wish to comment, as it is in a silent period.” Wipro was the other player in the race for the deal.
Indian IT firms have increased their focus in the domestic market. Within this e-governance has constitutes a large pie. With a re-bidding in offing players like Wipro, Infosys and several others will again root for the contracts, say market experts.
Some of the largest deals in the last few months have emerged from the domestic market. For instance, the Rs 1,182-crore e-governance order from the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation bagged by Wipro Technologies or the Rs 2,200-crore, nine-year contract with Unitech Wireless. Similarly, towards the end of 2008, TCS had signed Rs 1,000 crore e-passport deal.
TRANSPORT DEPT TO BE COMPUTERISED
Chikkaballapur (Karnataka)
All the offices of the Transport department in the State would be completely computerised in order to stop corruption, informed Minister for Transport R Ashok.
He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the new building of the Transport department, which is coming up at a cost of Rs 25 crore at Chitravathi, on the outskirts of
The minister said, the internet facility in the State would help people know about the details about driving license, purchase of vehicles, registration and other details about the Transport department, by sitting in their houses. All these details about the Transport department would be downloaded from the internet.
He said, the department was planning to introduce computerised vehicle driving test, as was in foreign countries, for the first time in the State. Apart from taking measures to increase the revenue of the Transport department, measures were also being taken to ensure that that the leakages in the revenue earned by the department would be plugged.
E-GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME
The Financial Express
Wipro said it is working with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for finalising a partner for the implementation of e-Governance programmes for the corporation. “MCD along with Wipro is in the final stages of short listing its implementation partner Going forward, Wipro will program and manage the entire program to ensure MCD meet its goal of being a socially committed, technology driven, transparent and professionally managed organisation,” Wipro said.
CENTRAL TEAM LAUDS E-SUVIDHA INITIATIVE
Pune
The Times of
A three-member team sent by the Union government to check the performance of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) in implementing the reforms under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has appreciated the civic administration's e-suvidha initiative.
The central government team visited the PCMC on Wednesday and made this observation, municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said.
Sharma said, "The e-suvidha initiative was launched by scientist Vijay Bhatkar a few days ago. The PCMC has prepared a number of softwares under this project for e-tendering, paying property tax and water tax through the internet, SMS complaint system and others."
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