E-Governance: 16/7/09

NILEKANI & EGOV: A 7-YEAR TRYST
Pankaj Mishra, Bangalore
The Economic Times

For Nandan Nilekani, eGovernance has been a labour of love. For seven years he has been quietly pursuing his passion with a not-for-profit trust that he founded before he was plucked out of India’s second largest software exporter by the prime minister to lead the country’s most ambitious eGovernance project.

eGovernments Foundation, into which he has poured Rs 15 crore from his personal wealth, is an example and a pointer to the way Nilekani will manage the Unique Identity Development Authority of India (UIDAI) - the world’s biggest citizen database project.

The foundation, which he set up with former Silicon Valley engineer Srikanth Nadhamuni, has equipped Nilekani with expertise in implementing eGovernance projects and provided him with a ready pool resources should he decide to tap into it. eGovernments Foundation is a window into the thinking of the man who will shepherd the effort to give every Indian citizen a unique identity card.

What started as a not-for-profit venture to help the cause of eGovernance in India is now evolving into a serious, commercial business. eGovernments now plans to become a ‘for profit’ venture to fund its growth and ensure that at least the costs are covered. Today, software from eGovernments helps around 250 municipal bodies in towns and cities across India to manage their inventory, property tax collection and public grievance redressal. The solutions automate these processes and allow users and officials get a bird’s eye view of what’s happening. Customers such as the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) are now allowing online payment of property tax by citizens using software from eGovernments. The corporation is also able to track all projects being executed across each and every street in their municipal limits using a sophisticated Geographical Information System (GIS).

“We are running Oracle at the back end, but eGovernments has provided us software for property tax and finance,” said an NDMC official.

“It’s not pricey to begin with. Moreover, the software is a very comfortable experience, both for our officials and the citizens who can now avoid long queues,” he added.

Officials at municipal corporations such as Bangalore’s BBMP are seeing the benefit of using a software that addresses their specific needs.

“We have been using their property tax solution, and now have a much better visibility on receipts and dues - almost on an hourly basis,” a Karnataka government official said.

In Ramanagaram near Bangalore, citizens are now able to get birth certificates within hours of birth because of a module that is integrated with a government hospital. Hundreds of towns in Karnataka now use the birth registration software developed by eGovernments.

“Our software competes with the best; we have put ourselves on the line, we have to get into the trenches now,” says Nadhamuni.

As India seeks to modernise its complex government systems and processes with the help of technology, there is an opportunity for many emerging ventures to evolve as country’s next Infosys or a Wipro in the eGovernance market.

The decision to become a for-profit venture came about after the foundation realised that giving away things free has its drawbacks. Commitment by users is not guaranteed and in any case eGovernments had to compete with the biggest and the best in the software business just to make its solutions available. Also, having achieved a substantial customer base, there was a compelling need for eGovernments to start operating like a more serious venture and generate enough cash to support salary and other costs.

“If we don’t charge anything, people can just unplug the software any day. Buying commercial software also makes the government more accountable,” says Nadhamuni.

Around the time that eGovernments was looking for somebody with sufficient zeal and business expertise to help it transform into a commercial venture without overlooking the foundation’s original cause of improving governance standards, Arun Ramu, who was heading Infosys’ $500 million product engineering and validation business, was also looking for a change. After leaving Infosys in August last year, he decided to meet the company’s founders S D Shibulal and Nilekani to find out if there are any opportunities to work in the social sector. “Nandan said that eGovernments wanted somebody to scale up the operation and take charge,” recalls Ramu, who joined eGovernments Foundation as its chief executive in November last year.

NILEKANI, PLAN PANEL DISCUSS PROGRESS MADE IN UID PROJECT
New Delhi
The Indian Express

Keen to settle down in his new assignment as the head of the Unique Identification Authority of India, Nandan Nilekani today began formal deliberations with the Planning Commission on the contours of the authority.

Nilekani, the corporate face of the commission, held a comprehensive meeting with the top brass of the plan panel, including its deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, to ascertain the progress made so far and the way forward on the crucial task entrusted to him by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“Today, we gave a formal presentation to him (Nilekani) on the progress so far in the UID project. He had queries to which we gave our replies,” plan panel secretary Subas Pani said. The former Infosys co-chairman “was quite inquisitive” during the course of the meeting, trying to ascertain dry details on ways to collate and utilise the available official database — BPL card, EC identity card — and utilise them under a single platform.

“This is the first of the series of meetings to be held in coming days. He said the project has made progress and the process would be taken forward in due course,” Pani added.

The top officials of the commission are understood to favour establishing linkages between the UID project and the National Population Registry (NPR) databases, gathering photographs and fingerprints biometrics with NPR schedule and thereafter incorporating them to make an integrated UID database for various user organisations.

A source in the plan panel said Nilekani was confident of practically implementing the project within the timeframe. Under media glare ever since the announcement of his new assignment, the UID chief refused to comment on what transpired in the meeting. “I will not talk to media at least for a month,” was all he said. But the source said that he would likely take formal charge next week and would have his office in the commission.

HIMACHAL TO SET UP 3,366 LOK MITRA KENDRAS
PC Lohumi, Shimla
The Pioneer

Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to set up 3,366 Lok Mitra Kendras in the State to provide Information Technology (IT) services to the people at their “door-step” to take e-governance to Panchayati level.

The Government had launched the “paperless” governance programme on World Environment Day on June 5 and the process of computerisation was in full swing in most of the departments.

The computerisation of revenue records had almost been completed and the process of computerisation of records of courts and Public distribution system was almost complete. The ambitious HIMSWAN programme was being extended to sub-tehsil level and computer education was being imparted in all senior secondary schools in a phased manner.

STUDENTS GOING ABROAD TO BE REGISTERED, GOVT TO ENACT NEW LAW
Anirban Bhaumik, New Delhi
Deccan Herald

The Union government has embarked on a project to register the details of students going abroad for higher education.

The recent attacks on Indian students in Australia also prompted the government to ponder over deputing a counsellor exclusively for students in certain diplomatic missions abroad. The Centre is also contemplating a legislation to register and govern all agents and counsellors involved in the business of sending Indian students to study in foreign institutions.

Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha that the Ministry of External Affairs was expected to depute one officer in some diplomatic missions specifically for the purpose of looking after the welfare of students. He said the government had embarked upon the E-Governance in Emigration project to make the process of mobility of both students and workers from India to foreign countries simple, orderly and transparent with the help of information technology.

“As part of the project, the details of Indian students going overseas for education will also be registered. This will help establish a database of Indian students going abroad,” said the minister. He said the project was targeted for completion by the end of 2011.

 

E-Governance : 15/7/09

NILEKANI FINDS OIL FIRMS' DATA HANDY IN CREATING ID CARDS
New Delhi
Financial Chronicle  Deccan Herald  The Indian Express  

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification Authority will utilise the existing data available with government departments such as Income Tax and state fuel retailers for rolling out the unique identification cards for the country's citizens.

Nilekani, who is yet to officially take over, met Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today and saw synergy in the huge data base available with the public sector oil companies that service 110 million LPG customers and have vast information on BPL families buying PDS kerosene.

"We will cooperative very closely with the Petroleum Ministry," he said. Deora said the huge database of petroleum products such as LPG customers with oil marketing companies will be useful in covering a large part of the population.

Nilekani said the oil sector data of LPG consumers is a huge attraction and resource towards accomplishing the task in his hand.

The authority may also use the data of PAN card applicants available with the Income Tax Department for the initial build-up of a resource base.

Nilekani said the unique identification number to each individual resident will take sometime. He refused to fix a timeframe for the roll out. "I have yet to takeover please give me some time."

Asked if the unique IDs could also be in future used to sell subsidised domestic LPG and kerosene, he said the concept would have to be deliberated at length. "This is just a preliminary meeting."

Synchronisation of data, standardization of biometric information and the technology would go a long way to service the purpose of the authority and oil sector.

The identification of the customers will help in better targeting the subsidised products.

Deora said the Petroleum Ministry has decided to soon launch a pilot project in Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad and a few village for issuing smart cards to consumers of PDS kerosene and domestic LPG. The experience of the pilot project would be shared with the authority.

The ministry would also utilize the expertise of the personnel with the authority in further expansion of the programme.

NILEKANI’S CEO: IITIAN IAS OFFICER WHO BROUGHT E-GOV TO JHARKHAND
Manoj Prasad, Ranchi
The Indian Express

Last year when he completed 30 years in the Indian Administrative Service, Ram Sevak Sharma received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration. And now, Jharkhand’s Principal Secretary (Public Health and Engineering) is all set to move to New Delhi as CEO of the National Unique Identification Authority of India(NUIAI) chaired by Nandan Nilekani.

From the 1978 batch of the IAS, Sharma, who has a Masters in Mathematics from IIT, Kanpur and Computer Science from the University of California, has served as Deputy Development Commissioner in Saharsa, District Collector in Begusarai, Purnea and Dhanbad, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance and Nodal Officer for the IMF, MIGA and GEF.

Handpicked by Nilekani for the NUIAI, Sharma said: “I am very happy to have got an opportunity to work for the NUIAI. I will leave no stone unturned to make it a success.”

On his return from California in 2003, Sharma was transferred nine times in a span of six years in Jharkhand. But he kept frustration out and as Secretary (IT) — a post he held for over three years in two stints — he created the infrastructure for e-governance in the state, complete with programmes for public grievances, treasury and transport. Today, JharNet is a success story, attaining a national e-governance ranking in 2007-08.

After the state was placed under President’s rule, the state government turned to Sharma, seeking advice for an action plan. In a report titled Governance reforms in next 100 days — he submitted it to the government on June 13 — Sharma suggested a slew of measures.

HOW NILEKANI'S UID SCHEME WILL HELP POOR
Mumbai
The Times of India

A small square of plastic, no bigger than a credit card, is all that stands between Pralhad Dandekar and his ability to bring home food for his wife and two daughters.

It is a special identity card, issued by the state government, which all fishermen on the open seas are required to carry.

Dandekar, a wiry 58-year-old, says he applied for the card two years ago. “I wait, wait, wait,” he said.

India has a huge identity problem: too many people like Dandekar struggle to definitively establish who they are. The rich can flash passports, driver's licenses, and credit cards, but the poor rely on a jumble of electricity bills, ration cards, voting cards, and letters from local officials -- none of which is foolproof.

That has made it harder for them to get jobs, open bank accounts and establish property rights, stymieing their ability to participate in, and in turn fuel, India's growth. It has also increased the potential for graft in India's massive social subsidy programs.

Enter outsourcing guru Nandan Nilekani, the man India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has tasked with identifying India's masses.

On July 15, Nilekani will take over as director of the Unique Identification Authority of India, a new government office that plans to issue national identity cards to all 1.2 billion Indian citizens.

NILEKANI REPORT ON POWER REFORMS GATHERING DUST
Sanjay Dutta, New Delhi
The Times of India

Nandan Nilekani may be a symbol of PM Manmohan Singh's idea to energise the government by inducting new ideas from the private sector through lateral entry. But a report, prepared some years ago and refreshed last year at the government's behest, by the Infosys co-founder on using IT to increase efficiency in managing flow and consumption of electricity in the country has been gathering dust in the power ministry.

India has one of the highest power wheeling losses in the world, with only 65 out of every 100 units of electricity being transmitted reaching destination. This is the result of inefficiencies in the system, poor metering and theft. This has a sapping effect on efforts to ramp up availability and give consumers flexibility to chose suppliers according to rates on offer at any given time of the day through open access.

During NDA rule, then power minister Suresh Prabhu had asked Nilekani to prescribe a heavy dose of IT to revitalise the transmission system as part of the power reforms programme. The report got buried with Prabhu's exit. Till last year when then minister of state for power Jairam Ramesh dusted it and asked Nilekani to refresh it in tune with the elapsed time, first reported in TOI on April 24 last year.

NANDAN NILEKANI TO TAKE CHARGE NEXT WEEK
New Delhi
The Times of India

Nandan M Nilekani, who was appointed head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) said he would be taking over his new assignment from next week.

"I would be joining next week," the former Infosys co-chairman told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Nilekani was appointed as head of Unique Identification Authority of India on Monday. Soon after his appointment, Nilekani had said, "UIAI would create a centralised, national database of Indian residents."

Talking about the need of such identity cards, he had said "the big problem today with identity is that many systems have lot of duplicates which lead to fraud."

He said UIAI would create a national network of verification so that a person could prove his/her identity.

The UIAI has been created to launch a national ID card project to check the duplication of identification, which leads to serious frauds while implementing various government programmes.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PLANS TO LAUNCH SME HELPLINE
New Delhi
The Economic Times

The government of India plans to launch a toll-free helpline for small and medium businesses, which would offer assistance on issues like taxation, finance, laws, marketing and other relevant topics.

This was disclosed by Dinesh Rai, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Government of India, at a conference on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Reiterating the government's commitment to SMEs, Rai said, "The toll-free helpline is part of our resolve to assist SMEs in day-to-day operations, finance, marketing, legal, banking and taxation domains." Rai also underlined a plan to run a National Skill and Development Centre (NSDC) to create a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem in India.

Highlighting the plight of SMEs, Founder and CEO of IndiaMART.com, Dinesh Agarwal appealed to the government to minimize red-tapism, encourage single-window clearance mechanisms, rationalize tax regimes and adopt a proactive strategy aimed at education and evangelism for SMEs. He also lamented the issue of technology providers trying to push highly priced products and solutions to SMEs, which are beyond their budgets. "If SMEs are not provided with timely help, we will run the risk of a fall in exports and a resultant fall in GDP," said Agarwal.

Painting a bullish picture about India's future, Gurmukh Singh, Head, Business Marketing, Intel, South Asia, exhorted the SME sector to be ready when exponential growth in India's online universe throws up big possibilities.

"By 2012, India will get 511 million Internet users and small businesses should be ready for it. Intel is already offering solutions and assistance which SMEs can make use of even today," Singh said. Ramraj Pai, Director, SME Ratings, CRISIL, seconded Singh and favoured SMEs embracing a credibility-driven approach, which can differentiate their businesses.

Rajiv Sodhi, Director, Emerging Geographies, Microsoft India, educated the audience on the power of ICT for innovation and acceleration of business in time of recession. Speaking on the much-publicised 'Project Vikas', Sodhi reiterated Microsoft's commitment to help SMEs, by offering tailor-made software solutions to aid in operations, maximising revenues and creating relationships with customers and partners.

MEMBERS IRKED WITH NASSCOM OVER
Vivek Seal, New Delhi
DNA

Indian IT and BPO trade body Nasscom's suggestion that multiple standards should be chosen over a single standard for e-governance projects has irked a few members who say they weren't consulted over the issue.

Source said IBM, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems weren't consulted before Nasscom recommended multiple standards to the IT ministry.

The decision on an open standard for citizens' data and land records, etc, has already been delayed by several months. With this new rift emerging between Nasscom and its members, it could be delayed further.



A Nasscom spokesperson said, "Nasscom is in the middle of consultative process with different stakeholders and won't be commenting on this issue."

Single standard is supported by the open document format (ODF) brigade that includes IBM, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems in India while multiple standards are supported by Microsoft, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and industry bodies like Manufacturers' Association of Information Technologyand Nasscom. Vendors for all e-governance projects will have to support all the data only in the standard chosen finally as all the projects are through public-private-partnership. IBM declined comment on the issue.

The IT department, over the last few months, has swung from supporting single standard to multiple standards, but hasn't made a final decision, eventually delaying the whole process. Jaijit Bhattacharya, the country director of government strategy for Sun Microsystems India, said, "Nasscom didn't consult us before giving its opinion on the issue. If it is talking on the behalf of the industry, we should have been consulted. Now the decision will be delayed again."

Last week, Venkatesh Hariharan, director (corporate affairs), Red Hat India, shot off a letter to Nasscom president Som Mittal. "We have been informed that Nasscom has submitted its opinion on the Draft Open Standards Policy for e-governance to the government of India. We have been told the submission supports the inclusion of standards under Reasonable and Non Discriminatory terms and also the usage of multiple standards in the same domain. Red Hat has been involved in the standards issue and we would like to place on record that we haven't been consulted by Nasscom before this submission was made," said the letter. Nasscom is yet to reply to Hariharan's letter.

E-GOVERNANCE: STATE SLIPS FROM FIRST TO 15TH POSITION
Bangalore
Deccan Herald

Karnataka, which had carved a niche for itself in promoting e-governance, has slipped from number one position to number 15 in the country, said Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

Citing a survey report, Dinesh said that the State had occupied the 8th slot in e-governance implementation chart last year. “But now, Karnataka is not doing well in promoting e-governance. Other states including Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh have overtaken Karnataka,” he said.

His comments came even as Chief Minister Yeddyurappa was making claims that Karnataka has become a model for other states in e-governance.

T B Jayachandra (Cong) said the Government has been outsourcing e-governance related work. But the Government must realise that the quality of outsourced work was very poor. "The work of Nemmadi Kendras outsourced to Comats has earned the State a bad reputation because of its poor performance,” he said.

E-AUCTION OF TEA OPENS IN ALL CENTRES IN SOUTH INDIA
Shantha Thiagarajan, Udhagamandalam
The Times of India (Chennai edition)

With the introduction of tea e-auction in Kochi on Tuesday, the centre joined Coonoor and Coimbatore to sell all teas online. The Tea Board of India scored a major victory in the Kerala High Court last week when it vacated its interim stay on e-auction at Kochi and authorised the Tea Board to go ahead with 100% e-auction from Tuesday.

The court observed that the implementation of the new system of auction should be left to the Tea Board, which being a statutory body, has the exclusive right to decide the mode of auction.

R D Nazeem, executive director, Tea Board (South) said that in the Coonoor and Coimbatore centres, the 100% e-auction had been successfully going on for the past two months without any complaints and it had shown clearly that the sellers, small tea growers and estate factories were getting better prices for their produce.

 

E-Governance Update: 14/7/09

GOVT TO SET UP THINK-TANK TO ADVISE IT ON IT MATTERS
Chennai
The Times of India (Chennai edition)

A think-tank comprising experts in information technology in the academic and research fields and senior corporate leaders will be formed to assist the state government on policy matters and help the administration keep itself abreast of advancements in the industry.

Moving the demand for grants for information technology in the Assembly, IT minister Dr Poongothai said the proposed think tank would meet at periodical intervals to advise the IT department on addressing policy related matters and furthering the cause of e-governance in the state.

A think-tank was essential in the field of IT which was constantly advancing with new improvements to technology, to make it possible to provide more services to the public in an economic and viable manner. It would assist the department keep pace with changes in the international IT scenario, she said.

With more firms interested in investing in Tier II cities in the state, a help desk would be established for IT firms seeking to set up base here, Poongothai announced. Pointing out that the state was leading the nation with 29 percent growth in software exports against the national average of 12 percent this year despite the global recession. The exports have gone up to Rs 36,650 crore in 2008-09 from Rs 28,426 crore in 2007-08. The work force increased from 2.40 lakh to 2.85 lakh in the same period, she added. From the time the DMK government assumed office in 2006, the state’s annual software exports has exceeded the national average, she contended.

PAY UTILITY BILLS THROUGH CELL PHONES
Shyamala Seetharamanan
Financial Chronicle  The Hindu Business Line  The Times of India (Chennai edition)  

People of Tamil Nadu will be able to pay their utility bills though mobile phones soon.

Hinduja-group company Defiance Tech is developing the platform and if the government’s plans work out on time, the pilot service will be rolled out in the next 30 days.

The mobile governance initiatives were announced by the state IT minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna during the legislative assembly session on Monday. “The platform is ready and the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot) is now aligning the service with Reserve Bank of India guidelines,” said Santosh Babu, Elcot managing director, the nodal agency for IT in the state.

The mobile platform is part of the state’s e-governance initiatives, for which a policy will be framed this year. The state is also coming up with a common portal for online access of services such as land, birth and death registrations. The Centre and the state are together committing Rs 16.13 crore for the project.

“Basic IT infrastructure in the form of State Data Centre, Tamil Nadu state wide area network and the 708 points of presence has helped to drive e-governance applications in ten departments. There is now a need for an e-governance policy to ensure that in the maze of the activity there is consistency in approach,” Aruna said.

“Interoperability, upgradeability and security standards will be defined so as to prevent repetitive work in application development,” she added.

The government has also proposed to institutionalise the existing structure by creating a special purpose vehicle called the Tamil Nadu e-Governance agency , she added.

The agency would act as the support body to draw up standards for projects and capacity building, she said.

The state’s e-governance initiatives are supported by the data centre at Perungudi near Chennai.

TN has proposed to set up a second data centre in the same premises at an estimated cost of Rs 55.8 crore with aid from the Centre. A disaster recovery centre is also being set up at Madurai.

As part of the e-governance initiative, Tamil Nadu is creating paperless offices. across several state departments. The initiative is also being extended to offer citizen services.

The common service portal will help to download forms and submit applications electronically.

The submitted e-form will then be routed through State Service Delivery Gateway to the respective field office of the concerned department.

TN FRAMES E-SECURITY POLICY
Chennai
Business Standard  The Hindu Business Line  

The state government is framing an e-security policy to give broad guidance and specific measures for information security across all the government departments. The policy will be released in 2009-2010, according to an IT department release on Monday.

The government is also planning to bring out a policy in 2009-10 on e-waste and its management. The policy will work towards minimising e-waste generation, utilise generated e-waste for beneficial purposes through reuse and recycling and ensure environmentally-sound disposal of residual waste.

The release further said that the IT department will work with mobile service providers, government departments, financial institutions and others concerned to deliver citizen services. “Mobile governance will become an important mode of service delivery, offering online services to citizens and to businesses,” it said.

The state portal will soon become a common interface for availing government services by citizens and business community. The total cost of this project is Rs 16.13 crore and will be carried out with financial assistance from the Union government, the release added.

A Tamil Nadu e-governance agency is also proposed whereby all the basic information and documentation on IT applications in the state will be stored and can be retrieved easily whenever required. This will also ensure that adequate records on all IT applications are permanently available.

MITTAL, POSCO, SAIL, TATA, ALL HAVE TO QUEUE UP FOR COAL BLOCKS
New Delhi, July 13, 2009
The Economic Times

They may commit investments of thousands of crores but Mittal, Tata or SAIL will have to bid like anyone else if they want coal blocks for their power or steel projects, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has said.

"We are coming out with a new policy for captive coal blocks ... Everyone will have to bid if they want coal blocks," Jaiswal said, when asked about a report that L N Mittal has complained about the delays in getting coal and iron ore mines for his Rs 50,000 crore steel project each in Jharkhand and Orissa.

The government would introduce a policy facilitating e-auctioning of coal blocks for captive use, possibly in next three months. The move will speed up the process of such allotments, he said.

With the competitive bidding, the Coal Ministry seeks to generate additional revenues, which will be used in exploring new coal properties. The e-auctioning, he said, would also check the prevalent undervaluation of the dry fuel.

POSTAL DEPT’S PROJECT ARROW ALLOCATED RS 170 CRORE TO ENHANCE BRAND IMAGE
Kirtika Suneja
Business Standard

Project arrow, the flagship project of the Department of Posts (DoP), which intends to make the post office ‘a window to the world of the aam aadmi’, will be extended to 500 post offices by September 30.

The average spending on a head office under project arrow is 20-30 lakh, taking the total on the project to around Rs 170 crore.

Project arrow was launched in April 2008 in 50 identified post offices in 10 circles in the first phase, with a funding of Rs 12.5 crore. Phase-II was launched on January 1 and the government has already spent Rs 74 crore since then, on 450-450 post offices.

The plan is to equip the 500 identified post offices with required hardware and software and internal kiosks.

Planning for infrastructure on payment to wage earners under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), is under way.” This is to happen by August this year in all rural post offices through web-based technologies,” said a highly placed source.

SATYAM TAKING BACK SHAKY STAFF
Ruchi Hajela & Mahua Venkatesh, New Delhi
Hindustan Times (Delhi edition)

Niharika Jaiswal ,who had been part of a 8,500-strong pool of surplus work-force kept in suspended animation after the fraud that mauled Satyam Computer Services, has been asked to join back Mahindra Satyam, the born-again version of the Hyderabad company.

The entire pool may soon find itself back on the company’s rolls.

Jaiswal, a 24-year-old software engineer, is one of the 1,100 employees who have been taken back by the company after it created the half-way house as a prelude to possible layoffs aimed at cutting costs.

Last month, the company had decided to put 8,500 employees who were considered ‘excess’ on a ‘virtual’ bench for four to six months. However, with the growth of the business, many more employees are expected to be called back to work.

"Around 1,100 associates have been placed already and depending on the business prospects we hope to call back or re-deploy all those who were put on the virtual pool. Those with required skill sets and technology background will be preferred," Sridhar Maturi, head, media relations at Mahindra Satyam told Hindustan Times.

 

E-Governance Updates: 13/7/09

SPEED POST POSTMEN TO FLAUNT DIGITAL HANDSETS SOON
D Govardan, Chennai, July 13, 2009
Financial Chronicle

The next time your friendly neighbourhood postman from the Speed Post knocks at the door, do not be surprised if he flaunts a PDA (personal digital assistant) handheld device to record the delivery. As per the Indian Postal department’s plans, he may soon be multi-tasking, rather than merely delivering you the ubiquitous letter.

The process of providing the postmen in-charge of handling Speed Post documents with PDA handsets has started in right earnest. The Maharashtra circle kick-started the process by calling in tenders in March this year and the commercial bids were opened on May 22, 2009.

A Chennai-based company, eLogistics has emerged the L1 in the bid to deploy 3,000 PDA handsets. While 12 bidders were said to have participated, six of them were short-listed for the technical bid and four qualified for the commercial bid level.

The postal department is keen to increase the role of the postman, till now the pointsman for delivery of posts and money-orders. Besides plans for selling postal stamps and other services of the department, he may soon be using the PDA handset to register the receiver’s signature of registered posts.

In minutes, this will be uploaded to the central server, which will enable a sender as far away in the US to check the deliver status online.

The Maharashtra circle of the postal department will be the first one to implement this and it will cover both Maharashtra and Goa.

Following the initiative by the Maharashtra circle, the Delhi and Chennai circles have followed suit and have initiated the tender process to implement this PDA initiative.

“The plan is to cover around 45,000 postmen all over the country handling the Speed Post documents initially. The tasks to be undertaken by the postmen will increase going forward to bring in complete transparency in terms of delivery,” an official with the department of posts in Chennai said.

 

GOVT TO CONNECT MAJOR EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES
New Delhi, July 13, 2009
The Pioneer

The Centre has decided to list all information on job opportunities in Government departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) on Internet by inter-linking major employment exchanges across the country.

"The computerisation process of major employment exchanges of the country is on and will be completed in the next three months.

"Once this is done, all information about job opportunities and those listed in the exchange will be available on a website," Union Minister of Labour and Employment, Mallikarjun Kharge said.

This could be a boon for job seekers as the proposed 'national portal' will make all employment-related services available on a single window.

"The web portal would be a storehouse of information on availability and requirement of skilled persons and would also network with industrial training institutes and other centres," a senior official of the Ministry said.

Modernisation of employment exchanges across the country will help students register online and reach out to any exchange in the country.

The National e-Governance Plan had identified employment exchanges as one of the Mission Mode Projects.

The modernisation move will also enable real-time usage of online data submitted by employers for providing opportunities to job seekers, the official said.

 

NEW PG DIPLOMA IN E-GOV LAUNCHED
Chennai/Kochi, July 13, 2009
Business Standard

The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala, and the Institute of Management in Government (IMG) have jointly launched a postgraduate (PG) diploma course in e-governance, a first-of-its-kind initiative by any state government in the country to promote a career in this space.

The two institutes have developed the course for capacity building at the individual level to create a good number of trained professional to manage e-governance projects of the government. The focus of the course is on e-governance through developing foundations in IT, management, government process, re-engineering and change management and has been designed in line with the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission for promoting e-governance.

In order to help the participants align with the outcome of the course with their areas of interest, the classroom sessions have been divided into core courses and elective courses.

 

DELHI AIRPORT INTRODUCES INTERACTIVE MAP SERVICES ONLINE
New Delhi, July 13, 2009
The Hindu Business Line

Flying down to Delhi and worried about reaching your destination from the airport? Don't fret as help is just a click away.

The website of the Indira Gandhi International Airport has now added an interactive and highly detailed 'Google Maps' service that provides precise road directions guiding a visitor to his destination along with the distance and time taken to and from the airport.

"The interactive map, provided by the internet major Google, not only provides visitors the information about road directions to and from the airport to their destinations but also the distance," a senior official of airport operator, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), said.

As one visits the website 'www.newdelhiairport.in' and clicks the 'IGI Airport Interactive Map' tab in the 'Passenger Info section', the page leads to a window which shows the location of the airport in relevance to the city.

If a visitor wants to go to 'NOIDA sector 29' and types the same in the dialog box, he would get the directions leading from the Airport to Dhaula Kuan, Ring Road and then across the Toll bridge into Noida.

The system also provides turn-by-turn directions along with the distances and the approximate time to reach the destination. The mapping system not only works within the National Capital Region (NCR) but also from any other city of the country to the airport here.

"This is highly useful for those from other cities who may not be familiar with the way to the airport while driving in from their places," the official said.