Annual Report 2006 - NISGnisg.org/files/documents/D08030002.pdf · ICTD PROJECT – ANNUAL REPORT...
Transcript of Annual Report 2006 - NISGnisg.org/files/documents/D08030002.pdf · ICTD PROJECT – ANNUAL REPORT...
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ICTD PROJECT – ANNUAL REPORT 2006
UNDP, together with Ministry of Communica-
tions & IT, Government of India has conceptual-
ized the project, ICT for Development (ICTD)
with a mission to ‘make ICTs work for
people’. The National Institute for Smart Gov-
ernment (NISG) is the Implementation Agency
of this project. The project seeks to demonstrate
and further build on successful ICT for Develop-
ment initiatives through sustainable and repli-
cable pilot projects.
The activities undertaken during the period
January 2006 - December 2006 have been
described below:
The e-Procurement project funded under the
ICTD Project is being implemented in the state
of Karnataka by the Centre for e-Governance
(CEG) and e-Governance Secretariat. The e-Pro-
curement platform under implementation will be
common to all government organizations located
within the State. All tenders in the purview of the
Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement
(KTPP) Act will eventually be routed through the
State-wide platform and contractors will submit
their responses to the tenders electronically us-
ing the platform.
During the project development stage, the e-Gov-
ernance Secretariat had consulted and sought
decisions on all aspects of the Request for Pro-
posal (RFP) document from Project Implemen-
tation Committee (PIC) and Steering Committee
(SC).
The e-Procurement project is implemented on a
Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) mode. The pri-
vate partner will be remunerated for the e-Pro-
curement services provided on a transaction fee
basis. The business model devised is based on the
‘pay as we use’ logic and the government does not
make any upfront investments on the e-Procure-
ment application and in customization work. Even
the transaction fees due for the private partner
will not be directly paid by the Government. In-
stead, the contractors will pay transaction fees for
using the e-Procurement services.
During the year 2006, Hewlett Packard India Lim-
ited was selected to implement the project after a
detailed bid process mechanism. The e-Procure-
ment application will be hosted in the Internet
environment. End users can use the e-Procure-
ment application from their own offices through
the Internet medium or access the Internet from
any of the government or private owned kiosks.
The Government is in the process of scheduling
hand-holding and training exercises to end users
in the government and the contractor community
on the e-Procurement system. The training and
hand-holding exercises will be used not only to
I Pilot Initiatives
e-Procurement
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impart knowledge on the e-Procurement system
buy also to obtain inputs from the end-users on
the changes to be made in the e-Procurement sys-
tem. It is through such two-way interactions, an
e-Procurement system that meets the require-
ments of the end users can be developed.
The e-Procurement system implemented by the
Government is end-to-end in nature and it is com-
prised of the following modules:
i. Supplier registration
ii. e-Tendering
iii. e-Auctions
iv. Indent Management
v. Contract Management
vi. Catalogue Management
vii. MIS
With the implementation of the e-Procurement
platform, the manual submission of bids will be
replaced by electronic submission of bids. Fur-
ther, in due course, the payments for the
works/goods/services deliv-
ered by contractors will be
made online. In addition to the
above, several aspects of pro-
curement such as demand ag-
gregation, technical and ad-
ministrative approvals, mea-
surement book submission and
payment workflow will be
handled electronically.
The Government expects live
transaction to happen through
the e-Procurement system on a
pilot basis during the March-
April 2007 period. The Govern-
ment has initiated the integra-
tion of e-Procurement platform with the State’s
Treasury system (i.e. Khajane). Further, if the gov-
ernment agencies implementing e-Procurement
require integration with some of their relevant
legacy systems, such integration would be done.
The transaction fees due to the private partner
for the services provided will be paid by contrac-
tors bidding for government work. However, the
government requires funding for managing the
implementation of the e-Procurement system
across the State. The following types of expendi-
ture will be incurred by the Government for man-
aging the implementation of the State-wide e-Pro-
curement system:
q Awareness, Communication and Pub-
licity
q Payment towards salary and other al-
lowances of personnel of e-Procure-
ment cell (PMU)
q Honorarium for the experts who facili-
e-Procurement Governance Structure
e-Proc. Cell
Secretary, e-
Governance
(Project Director)
CEO, CEG
Project Officer
Manager, Process
Reforms
Private Partner
Project Director
Project
Manager
Steering Committee
Project Implementation Committee (PIC)
Secretary, PWD
Chairman PIC
Procurement Cell (FD)
Manager, Process
reforms
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tate the implementation of e-Procure-
ment project
q IT infrastructure for the e-Procure-
ment cell
q Travel expenses/conveyance of Ex-
perts/Officials/Personnel &
q Contingent expenditure such as pur-
chase of stationery articles, postage
stamps etc.
The funds provided under the ICTD project are
used by the government to address the expendi-
ture requirements listed above. The structure of
the e-Procurement cell is as illustrated below:
While live transactions through the e-Procure-
ment application are expected to happen during
the March – April 2007 period, the Government
has successfully completed the following activi-
ties:
q Constitution of e-Procurement cell
(Project Management Unit) under the
Centre for e-Governance, e-Gover-
nance Secretariat. Various positions in
the e-Procurement cell have been
filled by employing personnel on
deputation from the government and
also from the market
q Project Management Unit (PMU) of
the private partner is also in place
q The Private Partner has completed the
AS IS and TO BE process studies
q Amended the KTPP Act through Or-
dinance dated 25th November 2006,
which legally approves the implemen-
tation of “a single unified e-Procure-
ment platform for all procurement
entity”
q The MSA between the Government
and the Implementation agency was
signed on the 1st of December 2006
q Preparation of training plan
q Preparation of communication and
publicity strategy
q Empanelment of Certification Au-
thorities for issuance of digital certifi-
cates is under way
q RFP for selection of 3rd agency for test-
ing, certifying and security audit of the
e-Procurement system has been final-
ized
q Specifications and requirements for
up-gradation of IT and network infra-
structure have been developed. The
procurement process is under-way
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Bangalore One
Under the ICTD project the Government of
Karnataka (GoK) conceived the Bangalore One
project to provide integrated services to citizens
so as to enhance speed, certainty, transparency
and efficiency in providing various government
services to the citizens through the concept of
‘One-Stop-Shop’. It was envisaged that Bangalore
city would eventually need about 50 citizen ser-
vice centers to provide about 100 G2B, G2C and
B2C services in Bangalore City. It was decided to
initially establish 15 service centers in different
parts of the city and provide the services of 7 de-
partments/agencies participating initially in the
Bangalore One Project.
Currently as per the first phase of the project 16
centers are operational and there are 11 govern-
ment departments and 5 private players who are
offering services through Bangalore One. Two
centers in Srirampuram and Infosys campus in
Electronics city were opened in 2006.
Bangalore One Citizen Service Centers
1. Airport Road
2. Banashankhari
3. HBR Layout
4. JP Nagar
5. Jayanagar
6. Kalasipalyam
7. Malleshwaram
8. Nagarbhavi
9. RT Nagar
10. Rajajinagar
11. Shantinagar
12. Tannery Road
13. Vijaynagar
14. Yeshwanthapura
15. Sriramapuram
16. Infosys
A wide range of services from paying electricity
and telephone bills and property tax to submit-
ting passport application and renewing registra-
tion licence for shops is being offered. Currently
23 services are being offered and many more are
in the offing.
Some Interesting Statistics
The total number of transactions per month over
all 15 centres is approx. 40 lakh while the total
monthly collection is approx. Rs. 32 crores. In
contrast with the number of transactions at the
5
Sl.No. Participating departments Services offered
BESCOM
BWSSB
BMP
RTO
BSNL
Cellone
BPS
SRO
Dept of labour
Regional Passport Office
BMTC
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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a) Viewing and Payment of Bills
b) Statement of Accounts
c)Viewing and Payment of Bills
d)Statement of Accounts
e) Payment of property tax
f) Issue of Birth certificate
g) Issue of Death certificate
h)Renewal of Learners License
i)Collection of road tax for transport vehicles
j) Viewing and Payment of Bills
k)Viewing and Payment of Post Paid Bills
l)Collection of fine
m) Market Value Assistance
n) Renewal of registration certificates of Shops and
commercial establishments
o) Sale of Passport Applications
p) Acceptance of Applications for Fresh Passport for Major and
Minors
q) Renewal of Passport for Majors and Minors
r)Renewal of Monthly Passes
Tata Teleservices s)Viewing and Payment of Bills
Spice Telecom t)Viewing and Payment of Bills
Western Union Money
Transfer
RIC v)Viewing and Payment of Bills
Airtel w)Viewing and Payment of Post Paid Bills
u)Money Transfer Services
Business to Citizens
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14
15
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service centre only around 2,000 transactions
took place over the internet. In the share of ser-
vices by department Bangalore Electricity Sup-
ply Company (BESCOM) leads with a share of
over 65 per cent followed by Bangalore Water
Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB) with 13.5 per
cent and BSNL with 10.7 per cent. The preferred
mode of payment is cash with over 85 per cent
cash transactions followed by 14 per cent transac-
tions through cheque. Interestingly only 0.09 per
6
eGovWorld is an important initiative of Depart-
ment of Information Technology, Government of
India aimed at building the capacities both within
Government and outside by providing access to
quality knowledge and learning in the field of e-
Governance. The creation of such a portal was ex-
pected to provide a significant boost to the imple-
mentation of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)
of Government of India. The portal was concep-
tualized in Public Private Partnership mode so as
to leverage the capacities of the private sector in
developing and managing portals of such signifi-
cance in a sustainable manner. NISG is the project
manager for the project.
With these objectives in mind and an elaborate
Request for Proposal (RFP) and bid process, M/s
NIIT led Reliance Communication Ltd. consor-
tium was selected as an implementation partner
with a responsibility of development and manage-
ment of the portal application and infrastructure
along with the responsibility of providing rich and
useful content for the portal.
The eGovWorld portal was to be tested by a third
party agency before the launch. MindTree con-
sulting Ltd. was selected from NISG’s panel of
consultants for carrying out the Testing and Cer-
tification of eGovWorld Portal. The following was
the scope of the assignment:
1. Functional Testing
2. Performance Testing
3. IT Infrastructure assessment
4. Quality assessment including Security
Policy Review
Mindtree Consulting had declared compliance on
performance related SLAs on Sep 25, 2006. How-
ever, NISG and the Dept. of IT felt that the NIIT
led consortium had failed to develop content
which was rich in quality and useful to the users
of the portal. There were many instances of in-
cluding sub-standard and irrelevant content in the
portal just to reach the quantities specified in the
Service Level Agreements, with utter disregard for
quality and relevance. Regular and frequent re-
views and communications to NIIT pointing out
the deficiencies did not yield any positive results.
With the approval of the Chairman, Task Force
of the eGovWorld project, the agreement with
NIIT has been terminated. The exit management
process is in progress with the recovery of advance
from NIIT, PBG and penalties have been invoked.
Currently, alternative agencies will be identified
to implement the eGovWorld portal.
cent of the payments is made through credit card
or through the internet.
Though it was envisaged that 50 such centres
would be set up there have been difficulties with
finding space. The GoK also envisages that the
benefits of this kind of project will also be made
available in Tier II cities like Hubli Dharwad etc.
and a roll-out plan is being prepared.
eGovWorld
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EDSS
Development Alternatives (DA), a not for profit
organization in collaboration with Tarahaat is
implementing the pilot project “Enterprise Devel-
opment & Support Services (EDSS)” in two dis-
tricts of Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh/
Madhya Pradesh. The project focuses on provid-
ing entrepreneurship opportunities to youth,
women, self-help groups, landless and small land
holders, in entrepreneurial skills and in areas of
non-traditional agriculture and locally relevant
manufacturing businesses, through
TARAkendras, TARAhaat’s ICT enabled rural
community -cum- business centers. A key element
of the project is to provide ongoing support ser-
vices to assist entrepreneurs through heir busi-
ness life cycle.
The unique and comprehensive ICT based Enter-
prise Development Service (EDS), currently in its
final pilot stage, supports aspiring and established
entrepreneurs through every element of the busi-
ness life cycle. The primary components of the
service are (i) an Enterprise Packages to provide
both technical training in a specific type of busi-
ness, imparting the fundamentals of how to man-
age the enterprise and also imparts customised
concepts on how to establish market and finan-
cial linkages, (ii) an Entrepreneurship Develop-
ment Programme customized for the background
and life experience of rural citizens, to enhance
their understanding of how to set-up a business,
planning and management and (iii) an Ask the
Expert & an online FAQ service to provide on-
going business support, all in the local language
and where practicable in the local idiom. Addi-
tionally, an outreach programme to identify po-
tential entrepreneurs is currently being rigorously
field tested to ensure that the EDS products ben-
efit the maximum number of
individuals.
There has been strong acceptance of the products
within the EDS programme by both potential and
existing entrepreneurs as well as by institutions
supporting enterprise development. It is evident
that the EDS programme meets the needs of both
segments in a relevant and practical way, filling a
vacuum in existing programmes. It is also evident
that there is a demand for a variety of discrete
Enterprise Packages (EPs) to address the needs
of specific unserved demographic segments of the
rural community.
The programme is delivered through the
TARAhaat network of TARAkendras. Training is
imparted in a classroom environment. The EDP
and EP courses are delivered through LCD pro-
jectors and laptops and an intensively trained
trainer/ instructor facilitates the training
programme. Experts, including successful entre-
preneurs and bank officials, are invited to the
TARAkendra during training to share their expe-
riences with the aspiring entrepreneurs. The fol-
8
low up and post training support is also chan-
nelled through these TARAkendras.
Development of EDS products has been based on
the following software tools:
• Enterprise Package
o Micro Concrete Roof Tiles (MCR)
– Adobe Premier & Media Player
o Broiler Based Poultry farming –
Adobe Premier & Media Player
• Enterprise Development Programme –
Macromedia Flash
• Web Based Support Service –
ASP.net,SQL (server end),Ms Access (cli-
ent
end)
EDP - The objective of the Entrepreneurship De-
velopment Programme is to train motivated in-
dividuals towards entrepreneurship, develop their
business understanding & skills and empower
them to independently establish and manage suc-
cessful enterprises. It covers the basics of identi-
fication, setting up and management of businesses
to meet the needs of budding as well as existing
entrepreneurs.
EP - Each EP teaches the aspiring entrepreneur
the fundamentals of business, and covers the tech-
nical elements of the business. It also covers the
areas of starting their business, finance, market-
ing, sales customer service and other essential
areas needed to ensure their success. Each EP is
delivered in local language and is designed to the
educational and cultural level of the potential au-
dience. Community input has been invaluable in
product design and content delivery architecture.
Web-based business support system - The web-
based business support system provides entrepre-
neurs with ongoing support, even after the train-
ing period is complete. It is a computer-based
system, which recognizes the inadequate level of
infrastructure available to the vast majority of
India’s rural citizens and does not rely on live
Internet connectivity. It has a userfriendly, multi-
lingual interface. The system integrates two ap-
plications; the first, a database of questions cat-
egorized by enterprise, domain and region, called
the FAQ Database. It is designed on a search en-
gine model allowing for free text, keyword based
and category-based searches.
The second application, Ask the Expert service,
allows entrepreneurs to submit queries to which
they has not found answers in the FAQ database.
The queries are submitted through a user-friendly
web site, which has been designed to support
multilingual voice or text format along with pic-
tures. The queries are stored in the computer un-
til it connects to the Internet and is transmitted
to experts identified by TARAhaat. Once these
services are fully operational, and the broadband
infrastructure supports online support, entrepre-
neurs can expect answers from the experts within
48 hours.
9
Financial Linkages - Community input consis-
tently highlighted that a major impediment to
entrepreneur development in rural communities
was the lack of transparency, faced by the aver-
age rural entrepreneur, in financing a start up or
in acquiring funds to finance expansion. Many of
the potential candidates for training expressed the
futility in even attending any of the EDS semi-
nars since they had heard numerous anecdotes
on this issue.
Given the severity of this concern amongst estab-
lished and potential entrepreneurs, DA/
TARAhaat were forced to actively develop rela-
tionships with local financing institutions. Exten-
sive presentations were made to senior local bank-
ing mangers. Based on an in depth due diligence
carried out by these individuals, of the products
and services offered by the EDS programme, and
the roll of DA / TARAhaat in developing and de-
livering the service, many of managers were not
only willing to attend training sessions to discuss
how financial institutions approach the granting
of loans and evaluate credit worthiness, but they
have also offered to assist qualified individuals in
obtaining financing for eligible businesses. The
active development of alliances and linkages with
financial institutions has become a cornerstone
of the programme. TARAhaat has therefore in-
corporated the participation of financial services
institutions as a key element of its training
programme.
To meet the objective of the EDS programme
identifying and negotiating partnerships and al-
liances with government, corporate and civil so-
ciety organizations is mandatory. Several avenues
for building such alliances have been explored,
and selected alliances have been consummated or
are in final stages of negotiation. Some of the prin-
cipal ones are listed below: -
• Regional Rural Bank, (Jhansi & Lalitpur)
• Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangthan (NYK’s-
Agra Region)
• Regional Employment Exchange Bureau
• Uttar Pradesh Udyog Mandal
• Central Bank, Lalitpur
• District Industries Centre
• Khadi & Village Industries Commission
• Central Bank
• NABARD, Lalitpur
• Local NGO’s
Revenue model
Based on the work done to date the following
sources of revenue enable the EDS programme
to be sustainable over the long run.
• Training Fees and support charges
• Advertisement & Sponsorships
• Fees to suppliers / vendors of enterprises
set up
• Consultancy fees to TARAguru (entrepre-
neur mentor)
• User Charges for web based support ser-
vices
10
• Revenue share from entrepreneur’s prod-
uct/service marketed through the
network of TARAhaat’s kiosks
The i-CoSC project is being implemented by the
Dept. of IT, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh in Shimla
district. The objective of the project was to imple-
ment 17 i-CoSC centers covering all tehsils, sub-
tehsils, sub-divisions and district HQ in Shimla
district offering a wide range of government ser-
vices. It was also envisaged that a work flow sys-
tem would be implemented to facilitate citizens
to scan and send documents to higher levels in
the administrative hierarchy, thereby reducing
time to travel to government offices. In a difficult
terrain like Himachal Pradesh, the i-CoSC project
when implemented will offer many benefits and
will enable the citizens to access information and
government services cutting across different tiers
of administration closer to their homes and un-
der a single roof.
A team from NISG, UNDP and DIT visited Shimla
on Sep 28-29, 2006 to review the i-CoSC project
in Shimla district. While services are being offered
at the centers, the project is still a cause of con-
cern as backend integration of the applications
has not been implemented correctly, the workflow
has not been implemented and the centers are not
standardized.
Along with providing government services, an i-
CoSC was to facilitate faster communication and
easier access to information by giving people ac-
cess to the Internet enabling rural people to have
access to email and to surf the World Wide Web
including various departmental websites of the
Himachal Pradesh Government (like health, edu-
cation, agriculture, social justice and women wel-
fare, rural development etc.). This facility has not
yet been provided at the centers for the benefit of
citizens.
Project activities will be intensified during 2007
once the Himachal Pradesh State Wide Area Net-
work is implemented.
i-CoSC
As the programme is rolled out, it is anticipated
that additional revenue streams will be identified
and brought on stream.
The 2006 project year comprised two phases, the
first to develop, test and refine each of the com-
ponents of the basic service and the second to test
all elements of the delivery components for scale
up. Phase two, which will continue into 2007, is
currently underway with results exceeding the
programme commitments as summarized below.
Full-scale rollout of the programme will be
achieved within the committed time frame.
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e-Justice
The e-Justice project aims to create ‘a citizen cen-
tric approach for providing access to justice
through Information Communication Technol-
ogy’. The mission of the project is to create aware-
ness among the citizens residing in the rural and
semi-urban areas about the legal provisions and
the roles and responsibilities of the governmen-
tal functionaries, involved in the administration
of statutes. The mission is also to generate aware-
ness about the existence of various support agen-
cies and groups namely, Legal Aid Cells, the Le-
gal Services Authority, social workers (counse-
lors) and other activists. The project is being
implemented by the Center for Good Governance
in the districts of Krishna and Mahbubnagar in
Andhra Pradesh.
Four kiosks in Mahabubnagar are currently func-
tional and are providing services to the citizens.
In addition to the kiosks the e-Justice software
is being installed at all the LSA offices and of-
fices of NGO working on issues relating to women
& children. As per the architecture, business logic
and information database are installed in the
same machine to provide information on offline
basis. The kiosk is also provided with internet
connectivity using dial-up connection to synchro-
nize with Central Block at regular intervals using
Web Services. The system can connect to the e-
Justice Portal server at regular intervals the fol-
lowing services.
• Software patches.
• Legal Database updates
• Subscription Information and
• Uploading queries from citizens to the
server to be processed by the feedback
processing cell
The current services available at present are.
• Obtain the required legal information.
• Take a print out of the information if nec-
essary.
• Send queries to legal experts at CGG, the
Legal Services Authority or any other au-
thority.
• Send online application of your legal prob-
lem to the concerned authority.
• Check the status of your case if your ap-
plication has been accepted by the con-
cerned authority.
The e-Justice project has a formal linkage with
Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh and The Andhra
Pradesh Legal Service Authority. The department
of Panchayat and Rural Development is support-
ing the initiative in publicizing the concept to the
Self Help Groups, Civil Society Organizations etc.
The project envisages the collection of user/ ser-
vice charges from citizens making use of the e-
justice kiosk services. However, it is felt that the
12
stabilisation of e-Justice kiosk services and ad-
equate traffic flow to the kiosks will take 18-24
months and only after this we may try for the rev-
enue model.
The District Coordinators of the e-Justice project
regularly conduct legal awareness camps, work-
shops and various awareness campaigns regard-
ing the benefits of the project. In addition, online
modules have been developed for greater under-
standing of the laws, along with courses for legal
awareness in specific areas wherein mere rudi-
mentary understanding would not be adequate.
Latest updates are made available to the target
audience and to those who subscribe to the mail-
ing list.
Some of the major outputs achieved during the
year include:
• A Handbook on essential citizen related
laws has been published for training pur-
pose. About 200 Para Legal Volunteers
were trained in Krishna District and 100
Para Legal Volunteers were
trained in Mahabubnagar
during the November and
December 2006. Such
training programmes will
be continued in the remain-
ing months.
• Four kiosks are
functioning which are pro-
viding services. Queries are
being forwarded to the
LSA.
• A special Lok
Adalat was conducted by
the LSA for solving cases
forwarded through the e-
Justice kiosks.
• About 300 Para Legal Volunteers have
been trained in the past 3 months.
• A workshop was held in November 06 on
the sustainability of the e-Justice Project
with participants drawn from the Bar As-
sociation of Hyderabad, state legal ser-
vices authority, Media, NGOs, MARG –
New Delhi, Professors of NALSAR and
Principals of Law Colleges from
Hyderabad
• A handbook on the simplified laws was
published and copies widely distributed
in both the districts.
• Linkage established with DRDA for using
their legal volunteers for promoting e-Jus-
tice.
• Linkage strengthened with LSA for install-
ing e-Justice software at all district LSA
offices.
• Linkages established with e-Seva for es-
tablishing kiosks at their premises.
13
Mahiti Manthana
The Mahti Manthana project is situated in the
context of Mahila Samakhya – an established
grassroots initiative of the Government of India
for empowering socially and economically
disempowered women in rural areas though self-
help group activity. The self-help groups at the
village level are called
sanghas. The sanghas are
federated at the Taluk level.
Mahiti Manthana works
closely with Mahila
Samakhya Karnataka
(MSK). The Mahiti
Manthana project being
implemented by IT for
Change, an NGO based in
Karnataka, employs a
multi-pronged ICT strategy using video, radio,
and telecentres in 3 talukas of Mysore district.
The project is using inexpensive, locally made vid-
eos which carry relevant, local and contextual
knowledge for sangha women. Many of these vid-
eos feature sangha women themselves; some will
be simple recordings of taluk or district level train-
ing sessions that only a few women could attend
but many can view on video; some will capture
processes in one taluk or sangha which can be
replicated in others, some other videos will sim-
ply show women discussing key issues in the vil-
lage, or interacting with government officials.
Making and distributing these videos can be
cheaper today than developing and distributing
text based material. The impact of the audio-vi-
sual media is immense; it is completely accessible
to the largely illiterate women, and is easily ame-
nable to the context and needs of women’s
sanghas.
Mahiti Manthana also uses community radio in
Mysore to relay a weekly half hour program, which
is completely oriented to sangha women. The ra-
dio program plugs into
general MS activity in the
region, giving information
about or discussing vari-
ous activities conducted or
going on during the week
and future activity sched-
ules. Increasingly, more
and more programs are
made by women them-
selves. Apart from infor-
mational aspects and discussion of various gen-
der related issues, the weekly radio program will
enable the sangha women in the region articu-
late their collective identities as belonging to a
larger women’s group or movement.
Adolescent girls (kishoris) are an important con-
stituency for MSK, and Mahiti Manthana will spe-
cifically address their needs. Through the project,
young kishoris will run telecentres under the own-
ership and control of sanghas. While the
telecentres are designed to provide basic com-
puter education, and some fee-based computer
services to the community, which enables them
to earn some revenue, the real empowerment
possibilities of telecentres lies in linkages with
public institutions to obtain due entitlements. The
telecentres will be used for providing basic infor-
mation about government services and schemes,
14
and also used as Right to Information (RTI) fa-
cilitation centres. RTI, if used appropriately by
communities, is poised to become a major tool
for obtaining rights and entitlements, and it is
useful for MS sanghas and federations to engage
early with this empowering possibility. The
project involves collection of community data,
helping public service providers to use this data
for targeting interventions (like health interven-
tions for pregnant women, and infants), and to
extract accountability for services not provided,
by matching data of actual health interventions
with those listed in public records obtained
through use of RTI.
At present the following services are being pro-
vided:
a) Radio
• Developmental information
• Discussion forum
• MSK announcements
b)Videos (Different formats of video are classi-
fied as per their predominant use)
• Informational videos
• Videos as training aids
• Process documentation videos
• Identity building and discourse legitimiz-
ing videos
c) Telecentres (6 telecentres established)
• Computer education
• Community health database
• Right to Information services
• Literacy – learning and retention
• Government services related information
• Entitlement – information and taking
applications
• Computer-based services like print outs
and DTP
The Mahiti Manthana project has a very broad
canvas of application and objectives, and it is pos-
sible to chart its results in many different ways.
One important thing to note here is that because
of its breadth, the outputs are rather spread out,
but together contribute to a deep and sustained
impact towards many developmental objectives,
especially of women’s empowerment.
The outputs of the project are reported over the
following components: (i) the three ICT compo-
nents of MM, (ii) impact on MSK, (iii) direct im-
pact on women’s empowerment, and (iv) impact
beyond the project area.
As per three ICT components of MM
• Radio – The weekly radio program is becom-
ing very popular. It has become a key anchor
for identity articulation among sangha women
as belonging to a wider women’s movement,
thereby legitimizing sangha women’s world
view as an important discourse in the com-
munity. It is also an important source of im-
portant information.
• Video – A good amount of work has been done
to demystify developmental video, and many
videos have been produced by the project.
15
These videos have been classified in different
types as per their use, and different produc-
tion processes have been devised for each,
keeping the overall cost very low. Videos are
used as stand alone information sources, as
training tools, for peer-to-peer learning and
also for identity articulation and discourse le-
gitimization. Videos are being used in a sys-
tematic manner as constituting a new insti-
tutional form of learning, called Sangha Shale
or SHG classroom.
• Telecentres – Community telecentres, run and
owned by sangha women are providing vari-
ous services mentioned earlier. Services are
being developed both for positioning the SHG
as a key provider of services in the commu-
nity, and thus enhancing their social stand-
ing, and also to develop new linkages for SHG
women with local government machinery, and
institutions like banks etc.
At the level of MSK, Mysore, the main objective
of MM is to ICT enable MSK’s women empower-
ment strategy. All components of the project try
and follow MSK’s priorities closely rather than
devise direct interventions. For example, the ra-
dio is used as a forum to broaden and deepen
MSK’s reach, and videos are primarily made to
go with MSK’s current training needs. The project
has been able to obtain MSK’s complete partici-
pation in designing interventions and implement-
ing them, and increasingly also in building radio
and video skills, which they are starting to use in-
dependently. MSK staff has also been learning to
use computers in their own work. The MM project
measures impact over a progressive scale of ‘ac-
16
ceptance’, ‘ownership’ and ‘integration’ at the level
of MSK as well as of the community, for which
specific indices have been evolved.
At the level of women’s empowerment – Women’s
empowerment, by definition, is about changes in
gender power relationship and MM has triggered
processes of such power change at many levels.
Primarily,
• SHG women are exhibiting a new information
seeking behaviour – they demonstrate not
only a feeling that information is empower-
ing, but that there are means, within their
reach, to access most information.
• There is also a new communication behaviour
– which comes from a realization that what
they express is not only a legitimate
worldview, but that it can be greatly strength-
ened and validated through ICTs.
• Further, the women realize that not only can
they seek information and communicate on
their own behalf, but also on the behalf of the
wider community. This gives these women a
new social status in the community.
• And as women take on a new public role, in-
cluding as intermediaries to outside institu-
tions, like government bodies, their power is
enhanced vis-a-vis these institutions, and also
in the community through the use of these
linkages. A good example of this is the use of
a community health database, to assist pub-
lic health service providers, and if necessary
to extract accountability from them.
• Apart from the above, the use of specific in-
formation, in areas of health, livelihood, em-
ployment etc, and use of government linkages
for obtaining entitlements etc have an obvi-
ous empowerment impact.
MSK units in other districts, as well as some other
NGOs and public agencies, have been visiting MM
project sites and are interested in using the learn-
ing for setting up similar processes in their own
areas. A recent request by the Tamil Nadu State
Open University for learning from the experience
of our radio initiative is a case in point. The inter-
est to learn about the project applies to all the ICT
components – radio, video and telecentres.
17
E-Krishi
The e-Krishi project, being implemented by
Kerala State IT Mission, envisages setting up of a
network of farming communities throughout
Kerala who have access to information on mar-
ket demand, prices, good agricultural practices,
quality agricultural inputs, expert advice, etc. This
network is supported by a technology-enabled
robust platform that facilitates all on-line and off-
line activities.
E-Krishi addresses the existing gap in agriculture
information flow and transaction management.
The project will facilitate and enable farmers and
other stakeholders to interact with agricultural
service providers in the private, government and
non government sectors through agri-business
centres.
The project will provide a web based solution en-
abling the small and medium farmers as well as
owners of large landholdings. Piloting shall be
done in Malappuram district with the participa-
tion of the existing Akshaya e-Kendra Entrepre-
neurs. The facilities and resources of Akshaya e-
Kendras in terms of computers, printers, scan-
ners, cameras etc. and intranet/internet connec-
tivity, already established throughout
Malappuram District (About 550 e-Kendras), can
be leveraged to reach the masses of farming com-
munity and other stakeholders in Agriculture sec-
tor.
The key output of this initiative will be the facili-
tation and integration of all economic activities
of all stakeholders involved in agriculture. By
empowering the under-performing and non-per-
forming farms into one producing exemplary
products at a competitive price the project envi-
sions making farming a sustainable economic ac-
tivity.
E-Krishi initiative is aimed at providing basic in-
puts and value added information to the farming
community as well as to all stakeholders in the
agriculture sector of the State. The primary tar-
get groups include:
• Farmers, self-help groups, agri buyers, agri
exporters, agri product manufacturers
• Agri input providers for planting materials,
fertilizers, pesticides, test laboratories, equip-
ment suppliers, quality graders, logistics pro-
viders, warehouse corporations.
• Other stakeholders are banks, insurers, ag-
ricultural institutions, etc.
A Preliminary Impact Study of the e-Krishi project
was conducted by Prof. V. Mukunda Das of IIITM-
K. The data for the study was obtained through
unstructured interviews with various stakehold-
ers. The web portal of the project (www.e-
krishi.org) was also analysed in detail and evalu-
18
ated. The Impact study provided the opportunity
to review the e-Krishi project pragmatically.
Based on the lessons learnt from the field during
the first phase of project implementation, a more
holistic approach was considered to get the de-
sired results.
Appropriate linkages have been forged with the
e-extensions and education initiatives like the
KISSAN, Virtual University for Agricultural Trade
and Krishideepam TV serial so that the project’s
objectives and goals are achieved efficiently and
effectively. IIITM-K shall assist KSITM in e-Krishi
implementation in areas like technology develop-
ment, on demand information services, provid-
ing expert advisories, setting up on demand edu-
cational /training programs etc.
A revised proposal was submitted to NISG by
KSITM. NISG visited the project sites and also
had detailed discussions with Kerala State IT
Mission. The revised proposal was approved and
KSITM is working in close collaboration with
IIITM-K and VUAT in implementing the project.
Currently 114 e-Krishi centres are in operation
covering all the blocks of Malappuram district.
The selection of Akshaya centres for the e-Krishi
project is based on their performance on the fol-
lowing criteria:
1. e-pay service
2. e-vidhya course
3. Internet to the Masses Programme
4. Intel learn Programme
5. Students Net Programme
6. Meeting attendance of Akshaya
entrepreneurs
In line with the revised proposal and
based on the learning from the prelimi-
nary assessment, the e-Krishi web por-
tal has been redesigned cater to new
requirements and additional
functionalities which are in alignment
with the trading and marketing func-
tions
The first version of the Web portal
(www.e-krishi.org) had the following sections:
a) Agri Trade Centre (http://www.e-krishi.org/
trade). The platform allows
i) Registration of Buyers/Sellers stating their
location and their produce.
ii)Posting of Trade interest stating quantity,
quality etc.
b) Agri Resource Library (http://www.e-
krishi.org/produce/Main.aspx). This
platform allows upload of information
documents with Abstract, Produce/item
related to, location etc.
c) http://www.e-krishi.org/SH/: The platform
also allows information dissemination on
19
agriculture news, notes and related
information.
d) http://www.e-krishi.org/Price/: Price
information of commodities. Produce,
Location District / Block / Panchayat /
Municipality, Item/type, description and
price in Rs. per unit
Multi Commodity Exchange(MCX)/NSEAP
An MOU signed with Multi Commodity exchange
to disseminate price information on produces.
MCX is also keen to participate in Procurement
of agri crops at Minimum Support Price.
Further portal enhancement undertaken
1. Buyers’ corner.
a) Buyer will be able to see postings by sellers,
category wise, panchayat wise, block wise and
district wise.
b)Buyer will be able to post his requirements.
c) Buyer will be able to see corresponding seller
ads .
d)Buyer will be able to search based on his
requirements.
e) See status of his postings and set alerts.
2. Sellers’ corner.
a) Seller will be able to post his ads and set alerts.
b) Seller will be able to see status of the postings.
c) View buyer request.
d) Seller will be able to see corresponding buyer
request that he is postings.
Toll free call centers:
Under the e-krishi project, a toll free call center
has been established which is being managed by
the Indian Institute of Information Technology
and Management - Kerala. Three postgraduate
students in Agriculture have been recruited and
trained for the management of call center. The
call center is monitored and supported by the
experienced research and extension officers of
KISSAN Kerala available in the kissan data center
at IIITM-K. The farmers and traders can reach
the call center on the following toll free number
1800-425-1661. All the calls from BSNL and
MTNL will be free of cost from anywhere in the
country. The call centre is equipped with a latest
digital call center equipment and software. The
call center is also equipped with call recording
facility during off time so as to retrieve it later.
Official launching of the portal has been fixed
during the second week of Jan 2007
All e-krishi centers are provided with Internet
connectivity by the Project. Farmers, agricultural
officer of the panchayat, field coordinators of e-
krishi are given free access to Internet by the
Project. This has increased the use of Internet for
posting agricultural products in the site. Apart
from providing connectivity, the Project has also
supplied educational materials (books, booklets/
CDS), which are of use to farmers-covering topics
on agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries etc.
Around 30 such books and videos on 27 topics
were supplied to all the centers to establish the
library. These materials were collected from
Kerala Agricultural University, Farm Information
Bureau, Central Plantation Research Institute,
TBGRI, and KISSAN Kerala etc. The farmers are
free to access these materials through the Centers.
20
The Maihti Mitra project, being implemented by
Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan in Kutch district of
Gujarat envisages the cre-
ation of 18 ICT kiosks by the
Setu centres in their respec-
tive clusters, and developing
the kiosk as a platform which
enables the Gram Panchayat
bodies and Gram Sabhas to
access the various ICT technology applications
and simple information tools in order to improve
both their ability to self-govern and generate bet-
ter development opportunities. The kiosk is a part
of the Setu centre, though physically it is in a dif-
ferent location generally situated in the commer-
cial hub of the main village. It is a revenue gener-
ating centre. Creating a close communication link-
age between the Gram Panchayats and the dis-
trict administration/Jilla Panchayat is also envis-
aged in the programme.
The project envisages ICT as one critical element
in an overall effort to build capacities of the Gram
Panchayats for self-governance. Apart from the
ICT intervention, the Setu centres are also in-
volved in other kinds of training interventions.
The vision to develop a sustaining, reliable, effec-
tive, and replicable model for e-self-governance
in Kutch district is the driving force behind the
project.
Fifteen Mahiti Mitra kiosks have been set up
Mahiti Mitra
21
while the remaining 3 will be set by the end of
March 2007. The current infrastructure set-up at
the centres is as follows:
a) Hardware:
• All Mahiti-Mitra centres have a computer
with printer, scanner, web cam and speak-
ers.
• Most Mahiti-mitra kiosks are also pro-
vided with an additional computer system
to fulfill the need of computer
education.
• Phone and digital still camera is
available at every Mahiti-Mitra
kiosk.
• At K-link central hub, there are
3 Servers and 10 workstations
along with plotters and A3
printer
b) Software :
To make the application software viable to be used
in rural areas, all the software was developed in-
house that supports regional language and can
run even on poor bandwidth. The different appli-
cations that have been developed in house or pro-
cured from other agencies are as follows:
i. SIMS (Setu Information Management Sys-
tem):
• User friendly GUI allows to access the in-
formation of the cluster with many indi-
cators regarding Demographic, Migration,
Credit, Land and Crop pattern, profile of
artisans and profile of vulnerable and dis-
abled. Information about village
• Infrastructure and institutes.
• Information of all cluster villages are avail-
able at village and household levels:
• Report module that generates analytical
and statistical report with a single click.
• The databank is also linked with GIS and
can generate information in Map format.
ii. Yojanakiya Darshan:
• Structure & details of govt. departments
in regional language.
• Application forms for govt. schemes and
scheme related information.
• General information of Kutch.
iii. Mahiti-Mitra Visitor MIS:
• Visitor type, Service, Revenue and
Visitor’s satisfaction level can be moni-
tored.
• It can be used to track the feedback and
attitude of the user.
22
iv. K-Link Info Portal:
• Mail Service
• Employment News
• Help Desk
• Discussion Board
• Announcement.
• Laws and Government
Orders.
v. E-Forms (C-DAC Product)
• Efficient way to create
forms, and get the
analysis of data
vi. VYAPAR (C-DAC Product)
• Info Portal for Buyer and Seller.
vii. Multi media Educational CDs (Azim Premji
Foundation CDs)
• 20 CDs covering various subjects in re-
gional language
viii. GIS based Decision Support System
• Census 2001 data generated in Map form
for different Indicators
• Query based generation of Map
• Searching for the village and retrieving
village information
• Generation of Village Revenue Map
• Distance between two locations
• Customization of Map with legends
• Decision Support System Layout
ix. Stand alone Portal for Legal Information
• Regional Language
• Structure & Detail of Police and court
• Role and Responsibility of Police
• Acts and Laws
• General Information of Kutch.
x. E-Kanoon : Web Based Portal
• Regional language support
• To solve the query of end user regarding
legal issue
• Expert Centre : Centre for Social Justice
c) Network & Connectivity :
• All Mahiti-Mitra are connected with cen-
tral hub K-Link with Intranet.
• All Mahiti-Mitra are connected with the
rest of the world with Internet facility.
• Dial-up connection through PSTN or
WLL. Line provides two way data trans-
fer. However to access bandwidth con-
suming application with this scenario is
not feasible.
• To overcome with the problem of band-
width, technologies like Wi-Fi have been
experimented with
Four Centers (Adesar, Shamakhiyali, Khawda,
Bhadreshwar) are augmented with the VRC con-
cept of ISRO and provided V-SAT connectivity.
23
Village Information System
Village Information System, being implemented
by Gujarat Informatics Limited is targeted at the
rural population of Gujarat to bring better, effi-
cient, transparent and effective governance and
citizen services that are easy and simple to access
with minimum costs. Project will leverage the
existing infrastructure (network and hardware)
of Govt of Gujarat where applicable and develop
the application for entire gamut of citizen services
for rural population of selected Talukas.
Village Information System is an extension to e-
Gram targeted at rural population of Gujarat to
bring better, efficient, transparent and effective
governance and citizen services that are easy and
simple to access with minimum associated costs.
The village information system would run on the
backbone of the n-Logue and GSWAN connectiv-
ity.
Citizen services offered can be broadly classified
into three categories:
• Citizen Centric Services
• Information Services
• Internet Services
These services will be provided through a single
state level portal. Internet based services will uti-
lize existing applications already in place. This
approach will ensure that maximum number of
citizen services is offered and on the other hand,
existing applications are also utilized and dupli-
cation is avoided.
The project proposes to upgrade the existing sys-
tem to provide services which can be broadly clas-
sified in the following categories:
• Citizen Centric Services – These
would cater to the citizen centric services
like:
q Online Submission of application
forms for issuance of Farmer Certifi-
cate, Income Certificate, Domicile
Certificate, Birth Certificate, Death
Certificate etc.
q Public Information Services like
Health Information, Agriculture infor-
mation, Education information, Ani-
mal Husbandry Information etc.
q Public Grievance Redressal System
• Information Services – These would
provide specific information which could
be utilized by the villagers to improve their
productivity:
q Agriculture Mandi Rates
q Stocks information for farmers
q Fairs, Festivals and events
q Government Schemes
q Government/NGO sponsored camps
and programs
• Messaging and Internet Services –
Audio, video conferencing, e-mail facility
across Departments / Kiosks and Broad-
casting of Bulletin containing information
on:
q Diseases / Primary Health Issues
q Agriculture
q Pesticides
24
q Veterinary / Animal related problems
q Meteorological information – fore-
casts on rainfall, climatic conditions,
warnings on cyclones / floods, etc.
National Informatics Center (NIC) has been in-
volved in the designing and development of ICT
interventions for VIS Project. The village
panchayat services are being made available
through the existing e-Gram software application
developed by NIC using Microsoft Visual Basic
and having Microsoft Access Database as the
backend. It works on stand alone basis. The fol-
lowing services are provided through it:
q Birth Certificate
q Death Certificate
q Caste Certificate
q Character Certificate
q Income Certificate
q Domicile Certificate
q BPL Certificate
q 7/12,8/A Certificates
The e-Gram software also maintains the Register
of Revenue from Certificates provided through it.
e-Gram software developed by NIC has been
preloaded along with Windows XP in all the com-
puters provided to the village panchayats under
VIS Project.
NIC has also developed e-PRIMA in .NET tech-
nology using N-tier architecture. UNICODE sup-
port in local language is also available. Login is
provided up to Village Panchayat Level. Provision
is also made for District user to enter the data re-
lated to all talukas under that district and Taluka
users can also enter data of the Village Panchayats
under them.
Various other information and services related to
Agriculture, Health, Education, Employment,
Transportation, Schemes etc. will be accessible
through Internet. Three-Dimensional Education
Software is also likely to be deployed in all the
villages.
Village Computer Entreprenuers (VCEs) have
been appointed and trained for 66 villages. They
would assist the Talati at the village level to main-
tain accounts and provide required certificates to
the citizens. The remaining VCEs have to be ap-
pointed and trained. The computer hardware and
software have been procured and installed in all
the 100 villages.
25
DRISTI
In the light of the 73rd and 74th constitutional
amendment, more power and functions are de-
volved to the lower tiers of the Panchayats. This
necessitates the function of the PRIs should be to
deliver better services to its stakeholders. Effec-
tive participation of the people in their self-gov-
ernance necessarily requires access to informa-
tion regarding the func-
tioning of the Panchayats.
Panchayats need to play the
role of “information pro-
vider”.
Use of IT will bring more
transparency in the func-
tioning of the government
and help people to partici-
pate in decision-making
process. Against this back-
drop, the DRISTI project
was conceived of by the
West Bengal State Rural
Development Agency (WBSRDA)
It is felt that the traditional system for manage-
ment and flow of data are not adequate for the
MIS activities of the Panchayat bodies. In this per-
spective the Department of Panchayat and Rural
Development defined that IT has a major role to
play in strengthening the Information Manage-
ment system at PRIs for its efficient functioning.
The DRISTI project was conceived with the
following major objectives:
• Improve efficiency of PRIs in managing
various programmes and delivery sys-
tems,
• Provide decentralized information using
GIS at Block and Gram Panchayats.
• Create a better monitoring and compli-
ance machinery
• Promote social audit.
The entire project has been divided into four com-
ponents:
1) Sub-Project IA: Gram Panchayat
Management System
This sub-project will provide a complete IT solu-
tion for transacting all the business of a Gram
Panchayat. With this software total fund moni-
toring of a Gram Panchayat will be possible. The
project will also provide general information re-
lating to the Gram Panchayat and will provide a
module for assessment and collection of tax and
other non-tax revenues by the PRIs. It will also
26
provide other utilities like information on Below
Poverty Line (BPL) population, death and birth
registration, trade registration and issue of cer-
tificates; vital statistics disaggregated up to vil-
lage level.
2) Sub-Project IB: Decentralized Informa-
tion Management using GIS
• To create a GIS based information network
for enhanced information flow between
Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, Block
administration, line departments at block
level, Zilla Parishad, District administration,
selective line departments at the district level
and the state.
• To enable all the stakeholders to monitor the
development indicators at the grassroots
level on a regular basis, procuring informa-
tion at a shorter interval and planning and
executing focused interventions based on
recent information.
3) Sub-Project-II: Integrated Fund Moni-
toring and Accounting System
This is a complete IT solution for the financial
management for the upper two tiers of the PRI
system, i.e. for the Panchayat Samiti (at the Block
level) and Zilla Parishads (at the district levels).
Monitoring and accounting of the entire fund
management of the upper two tiers of the PRI
system is possible through this software. The so-
lution itself will provide a communication mod-
ule through which the incremental data for each
day will be transmitted to the upper tier of the
PRIs at a predefined hour of the day, through a
dial-up network.
4) Sub-Project-III: Government to citizen
Interface
This sub-project will focus on establishing strong
machinery to foster social audit, transparency and
responsibility of the government to the civil soci-
ety. It is envisaged that the entire business trans-
action by the three tiers Panchayat System will
be possible through the IT solution provided by
the Sub-Project-IA,IB and II above. The incre-
mental data of daily transaction will be ware-
housed at the State Level. Here all the relevant
information having bearing on public interest and
involvement will be extracted, summarized and
will be published through website for perusal of
the entire civil society. This is an effort for pro-
moting the social audit. The process will also gen-
erate and monitor an interface for online regis-
tration of grievance of any stakeholder through
the departmental website www.wbprd.nic.in . The
stakeholders will also be apprised about the ac-
tion taken on the basis of the grievances expressed
by them. Through another component of the
project, all the notifications, circulars, guidelines
issued by the department and case studies on best
practices related to PRIs, SHG, Watershed De-
velopment, Sanitation, Public Health, Alternative
Primary Education, etc will be categorized and will
be made available through the department’s
website.
The pilot project has already been extended to
cover 106 Gram Panchayats (as against the ini-
tial target of 50) and to 24 Panchayat Samitis (as
against the initial target of 20).
Current Portfolio of Services
a) At the level of Gram Panchayat:
27
i. Informational Service - BPL list, village in-
formation, rural household data.
ii. Transactional service - tax assessment &
collection and accounts maintenance;
iii. E-Gov Service – birth certificate, death cer-
tificate, trade certificate and certificates
related to residence, caste, income etc.
b) At Panchayat Samiti Level:
i. Transactional service – account mainte-
nance and financial management, fund
monitoring for various programmes. It is
imperative that transparent and standard-
ized accounting is a step towards promot-
ing accountable and transparent gover-
nance. The transparent accounting reduces
fiduciary risk and helps effective statutory
as well as social audit.
Capacity Building/ Workshops:
Training courses were conducted both for GPMS
and IFMS. GPMS related trainings were organized
in two phases and follow-up trainings were orga-
nized for IFMS also. Hand holdings, objectives of
the training, preparation of manual were com-
Name of the
componentLevel of training Participants
Number of
trainings
conducted
Total number
of participants
GPMSComputer Basics &
GPMS SoftwareGram Panchayat
Sabhapatis, Sahayaks,17 250
IFMS
Basics, IFMS
softwareBDO, Extn. Officer of Panchayats, Accoun-
tant, Cashier, Accounts Clerk6 120
RefresherBDO, Extn. Officer of Panchayats,
Accountant, Cashier, Accounts Clerk 6 120
GIS
GIS Technology
Data porting and
report generation
BDO and other officials
Head of Panchayats and other
elected members
2 8
2 8
pleted for GPMS and in process for IFMAS.
Communication & Publicity Strategy:
The details of the projects, its objectives, expected
outcomes has been publicized through the depart-
mental web site. The progress of the DRISTI
project has also been depicted with special em-
phasis on the GIS component through the web-
site www.trendswestbengal.org. Some of the fea-
tures of GIS based initiative are also available in
the web-site of the Panchayats and Rural Devel-
opment of West Bengal (www.wbprd.nic.in). Sen-
sitization workshop has been organized at
Burdwan district with a cross-section of stakehold-
ers.
The Pilot project was awarded the Mirosoft e-Gov-
ernance Award 2006 for excellent work in the field
of promotion of rural local self governance.
A Government Order has been issued by the Gov-
ernment of West Bengal to introduce computer-
ised accounting and fund monitoring in the gram
panchayats. The success of the GPMS pilot has
been cited as the basis for this GO.
28
ASHWINI
Project Outline:
ASHWINI aims to provide a means of on-line in-
teraction between the village community in 32
villages of East and West Godavari and subject
experts in health, education, agriculture, liveli-
hoods, etc. who would be placed in Hyderabad or
even abroad. The project makes use of 802.11b
wireless technology to provide a 2 Mbps band-
width to every village covered through a cluster
system. This system would enable the population
from any of the selected villages covered, to in-
teract with experts and service providers from
Bhimavaram and Hyderabad. To bring focus to
the endeavour, one subject (Health, Governance
etc.) is taken up each day. Each day is further di-
vided into 7 Knowledge Blocks (KB) of 2 hours
each. Every KB covers one sub-topic in the broad
area (e.g. Gynaecology, Paediatrics etc. under the
broad area of Health). Using this system, people
with specific issues/queries would be able to con-
nect to the corresponding expert virtually at their
doorstep. In addition, the project will also bring
service providers in contact with the village popu-
lation. Within each KB described above, the rel-
evant service providers will be given time to con-
nect with the village population so that advice/
discussion is backed by decision making and ac-
tion at the village end. The program will be su-
pervised on a day to day basis by the Grama Vikasa
Samiti, a democratically constituted village-level
leadership body.
Project ASHWINI would have three streams of
revenue:
1. User charges
2. Sponsorship from service providers
3. Transaction fee
User charges: Since the services provided in each
Knowledge Block are targeted, and only those who
feel the specific need for that service will be at-
tending the respective Knowledge Block, reason-
able user charges are proposed to be collected.
The actual user charge would vary from KB to KB
depending on the service on offer and the target
segment of the population. The range would vary
from Rs.2 (as entry charges) to Rs.10.
Sponsorships: In addition, another channel of
revenue is sponsorships from the service provid-
ers who would use the channel to market their
goods/services. For each KB, the project would
provide at least 2 service providers who will then
be allowed to use POP displays, communication
material etc at the ASHWINI center. The charges,
which the service providers incur, would be to-
wards the interaction with captive customers and
for disseminating information to their target au-
dience.
Transaction fee: The center would also get its rev-
enues from the transactions, which it enables for
the service providers. Since the enabling infra-
29
structure like online payments are not considered,
the charges would be nominal (say, Rs.1 per trans-
action). Other revenue streams possible are the
inclusion of various services such as printing,
photocopying, e-Seva services etc. at the
ASHWINI center.
Video-conferencing studios have been set up at
Hyderabad, Bhimavaram and Alamapuram of-
fices of Byrraju Foundation. A wireless broad-
band network with Bhimavaram as the hub and
32 Ashwini village centres in East and West
Godavari districts has been established. This net-
work is connected to Hyderabad office of Byrraju
Foundation using 2MBPS VPN connection using
PSTN lines. A network bandwidth of 16MB
backhaul is created between Bhimavaram and
Amalapuram and then 2MBPS of intranet band-
width to each village Ashwini centre is provided.
Also 2MBPS of shared Internet bandwidth is pro-
vided to all the Ashwini centres to facilitate
Internet browsing, video-conferencing e-mail fa-
cility etc. A studio has also been established at
ASRAM medical college at Eluru, West Godavari
district for conducting telemedicine programs to
the villages where Ashwini centres are available.
Connectivity has been established for 25 Ashwini
centres in East and West Godavari districts. For
other centres in East Godavari, connectivity will
be established by end of March 2007. Video-
conferencing software from Polycom for indi-
vidual Ashwini centres as well as the multi-
conferencing software/hardware has been pro-
cured and put into operation at respective loca-
tions. Also multi-media facility with audio equip-
30
ment is put in place in 25 Ashwini centres and
the remaining centres also will be provided this
facility by March 2007.
For the delivery of various programs to the re-
spective Ashwini centres at a pre-designated time
and schedule resource persons have been hired
and content identified/prepared for spoken En-
glish, Mathematics, embroidery training, sciences
for the students, computer education, personal-
ity development etc. Besides a number of virtual
leaders from around the world and alliance part-
ners are identified to roll out various programs
aimed at improving the quality of life of the rural
people. Also the Non-resident Villagers (NRVs)
who have migrated to various places from the vil-
lage are told about the program and provided an
opportunity to connect to their roots using the
virtual medium. Apart from this, a team of vol-
unteers are working in the villages to conduct a
sustained advocacy and awareness campaign
among the villagers to impress upon them the
need to utilize these facilities available at Ashwini
and also capturing their specific requirements.
Current Portfolio of Services
Informational Services: Information about vari-
ous Govt. schemes and services offered and tar-
geted at rural communities; banking information
services like loan eligibility for crop loan, loan for
livestock etc, availability and timings of rail ser-
vices to different locations, details
of courses offered in various edu-
cational institutions; latest news
pertaining to the locality and inter-
est of the villagers, etc are being of-
fered.
Transactional services: Currently
no transactional services are of-
fered to the rural people through
Ashwini centres. Efforts to intro-
duce banking transaction services
through SBI and ICICI are at an ad-
vanced stage.
e-Governance Services: Only informational ser-
vices on various e-Gov initiatives pertaining to the
rural people like the pension scheme, employment
guarantee scheme etc, are offered. No transac-
tional services or certificates are being offered to
the communities.
Development related services: Spoken English for
housewives, students and youth in the villages is
offered regularly. Computer education, livelihood
training (embroidery, saree making, tailoring
techniques), mathematics and sciences using
multi-media techniques is offered to higher sec-
ondary students. Agricultural advisory services to
the farmers is being offered in collaboration with
Acharya Ranga Agricultural University, Krishi
Vignana Kendras and domain experts in the
paddy and aqua.
31
S. No Month Newsletter Topic
1) January i-Governance – The DRISTI way
2) February Developing Community Radio Skills
3) March Creating Rural Entrepreneurs – EDSS
4) April Village information System – Attempting to transform rural e-Governance
5) May Rationale for single state wide e-Procurement system
6) June Workshop for review of ICTD projects
7) July Results Based Management
8) August ICTs in NREGS
9) September Efficient Programme Monitoring (e-Krishi)
10) October Road Ahead for CSCs
11) November Taking ICT to marginalized communities (Mahiti Mitra)
12) December Women’s voices on air – Potential of Community Radio
Comprehensive discussions between NISG and
CSDMS were held to determine the engagement
terms for the year 2006. Based on the discussions,
NISG has made amendments to the contract for
funding of i4d magazine under the ICTD Project.
While most of the terms agreed upon last year
remain the same, under the amended conditions
for the year 2006, the funding has been reduced
to Rs. 20 lakhs from the earlier sanctioned bud-
I4d Magazine
get of Rs. 23 lakhs for the year 2006. Hereafter,
NISG will prepare the content of the newsletter
in-house. CSDMS will only print and circulate the
newsletters. The recommendations were circu-
lated to the SC members through email and have
been approved.
The newsletters printed during 2006 covered the
following topics:
32
II NISG Activities
ii Review Workshop for ICTD Project
A Workshop was organized at Hyderabad on May
8-9, 2006 at the Indian School of Business involv-
ing all the project partners to find out possible
gaps between targeted goals and those achieved
so far. The workshop was attended by senior offi-
cials from MoCIT, Govt. of Indian and UNDP,
along with representatives from each of the
project partners.
i CISCO Summit
The National Institute for Smart Government
(NISG) and Cisco Systems organized the 2nd Pub-
lic Sector Summit on Infrastructure for e-Gover-
nance in New Delhi on March 9th - 10th 2006.
The Summit theme was “Connecting Govern-
ment, Empowering Citizens”. The Summit pro-
vided a platform for government leaders, deci-
sion-makers, policy designers and international
experts to exchange views and share case studies
on common challenges relating to establishing
infrastructure for information sharing and col-
laboration, business models for supporting ICT
infrastructure, governance and standards issues
and the role of a CIO among others.
Attended by over 120 delegates from across the
country comprising senior officials from DIT,
NIC, NeGP PMU, IT Secretaries, IT Directors,
System Managers from state governments and
various key agencies involved in the implemen-
tation of the National e-Governance Plan. Inter-
national speakers included Hon’ble Andrew
Thomson, Minister of Finance & Information
Technology, Govt. of Saskatchewan, Canada; Mr.
Lawrence Knafo, First Deputy Commissioner &
Deputy CIO, City of New York; Mr. Jeff Kaplan,
Founder & Director, Open ePolicy Group,
Harvard University among others.
Objectives of the Summit
1) Provide a framework for developing State-
level infrastructure strategy that supports e-
a) Workshops Governance roadmaps
2) Present and discuss business models and
technology options for top-priority ICT infra-
structure issues
3) Address key implementation challenges of
State-level ICT infrastructure
4) Share lessons from different jurisdictions
inside and outside India to leverage best prac-
tices
5) Provide an opportunity for feedback and
discussion on the national e-Governance
Roadmap blueprint
6) Explore trends and issues on key ICT infra-
structure issues such as Data-Centers, Storage
and Wireless
Through presentations, the Summit showcased
innovative models that have raised the levels of
connectivity and competence of national and in-
ternational governments. The Summit also
blended together workshops providing an oppor-
tunity for the delegates to have more in-depth
discussions on specific issues related to the roll-
out of SWANs, e-Governance roadmaps and the
NeGP.
33
The Report on the Workshop was published as
part of the i4d magazine in the June 2006 ICTD
newsletter.
iii. Workshop in Bhubaneshwar:
A Workshop to discuss the “Roadmap for the
Gyan o Soochna Kendras (GSKs)” in Orissa was
organized in association with UNDP and
NASSCOM Foundation in Bhubaneshwar on June
22-23 2006. The objective of the workshop was
to build a roadmap to strengthen GSKs as
• Centre for public information sharing
• Implementation of Right to Information at
village level
• Training and learning centre
• Service providers to the line departments
• Business Centre promoting entrepreneur-
ship
• Centres of e-governance with citizen cen-
tric services
The workshop focused on sharing the experiences
of various governmental, non-governmental and
corporate sector agencies, in implementing rural
ICT programmes in various parts of India. Nearly
40 participants representing government, re-
search institutions, NGOs and private sector par-
ticipated in the workshop and presented their
experiences and learning.
Some of the key learnings from the Workshop
were:
a) ICTs for Development should focus on
knowledge empowerment..
b) ICT strategies are only effective, sustainable,
and worth the effort if they are integrally
linked to broader, more comprehensive de-
velopment, and poverty-reduction strategies.
c) ICTs are, to some extent, social constructs.
Therefore, they need to be adapted to differ-
ent social contexts.
d) ICT4D should not be confined to computers
and internet alone. Other forms of media and
communication networks should also be in-
tegrated.
e) A pilot project at two or three district level
should pave way for self-replication
f) Participatory mechanisms are crucial for the
success of the project
g) Potentials of schools as GSKs could be ex-
plored.
h) It is possible to blend enterprise model with
social development perspectives.
i) Projects should have process of targeting is-
sues such as class and gender.
j) ICT4D should add value to the social and
economic value chains of the local economy.
k) Evolving grassroots institutional structures
to convert generic information into locale
specific knowledge is vital for ICT4D.
l) Content Management System and Learning
Management System are important for
ICT4D.
m) Query less system of answering the informa-
tion need is effective.
n) Plan for outcomes rather than outputs
o) Address needs of different sections of the
community rather than treat it as a unit.
iv. Workshop on Results Based Management
NISG engaged Accounts Training Institute (ATI),
an organization based in Bangalore to deploy a
Result Based Management System. A 2-day
Workshop on RBM was organized at Hyderabad
for all project partners to introduce them to the
concept of RBM and its application for their pi-
lots. The RBM-MIS developed by ATI was also
34
introduced to the partners during the workshop
v. Review Workshop – November 2006
A Review Workshop of the ICTD Project was held
in Mysore on 30 November & 1 December. All
the pilots were represented at the review. Repre-
sentatives of UNDP and DIT were also present.
The pilots gave an update of their respective
projects from the last review (May 2006) till Nov
06. The RBM framework of each pilot was also
presented and discussed. A field visit was also
organised for the partners to the Mahiti Manthana
project. Two telecentres: Atiguppe and Chaman
Halli hundi were visited where all interacted with
the sangha women and the sakhi of the telecentre.
At the Chaman Halli Hundi centre the partici-
pants witnessed the launch of the radio
programme “Kelu Sakhi” produced by sangha
women.
b) Documentation Activities
NISG has engaged undertaken case studies dur-
ing the year 2006 that will be completed in the
year 2007.
(i) ICT in Agriculture: The case study will map
the operational issues and linkages between
ICT for Development applications and im-
provements in agricultural production, pro-
cessing and marketing. This would generate
recommendations that are relevant in formu-
lating viable linkages between agricultural
information producers, users and technol-
ogy-service providers in rural areas (such as
the village knowledge centers or the CSC’s).
The study would also capture the lessons
learnt which can be plugged into the NeGP
specially the Mission Mode Project for Agri-
culture. Based on the discussions with
ICRISAT, NISG has engaged ICRISAT to
undertake this study.
(ii) ICT and Gender: Within ICT initiatives, the
focus on gender has varied from targeting
women as beneficiaries to other projects be-
ing ‘gender neutral’. But all projects have
some impact on gender, whether positive or
negative. It is important to identify what are
project design options available, which can
lead to gender equal and women’s empow-
erment outcomes in ICT initiatives. NISG has
engaged IT for Change, an NGO based in
Bangalore and working on women empow-
erment issues for this study.
(iii) Gender Perspective in ICTD Project: The
United Nations Development Assistance
Framework has as its main focus the promo-
tion of gender equality. The first theme of the
UNDP Country Programme (2003-2007)
identifies promotion of human development
and gender equality as a primary concern. In
the above context it is imperative that the
promotion of gender equality is an impor-
tant aspect of the ICTD project. This study
aims to examine the current ICTD pilots in
the light of a gender framework and make
recommendations for aligning the projects
with the gender framework. The study will
also draw recommendations for future ICTD
projects to be implemented by UNDP or DIT.
NISG has engaged Asmita, a gender special-
ist for this study.
(iv) Integrating existing CSCs with the proposed
govt. CSC project: The study will assess the
35
implications the govt. CSC scheme has for
the estimated 13,000 kiosks currently opera-
tional in the country, understand the opera-
tional issues and capture the lessons learnt
from existing kiosks that can be beneficial for
the rollout of the CSCs. NISG has engaged
Chetan Sharma of Datamation Foundation
for this study.
c) Results Based Management
To be able to effectively monitor the projects for
outputs and outcomes NISG felt the need to put
in place a Results Based Management (RBM) sys-
tem. A RBM framework would not only help the
implementing agency manage the programme
more effectively by focusing on outputs and out-
comes but also help NISG monitor the projects
better with the help of a pre-defined framework.
For each of the ICTD pilots NISG has imple-
mented a Results-Based Management (RBM)
framework for monitoring and evaluation factor-
ing in the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). In June 2006, NISG engaged Accounts
Training Institute (ATI), an organization based
in Bangalore to deploy a Result Based Manage-
ment System at the pilot sites and consolidate the
results at NISG. ATI in consultation with NISG
will monitor and evaluate all the pilot projects
based on the RBM frameworks over a 2-year pe-
riod. ATI has also developed an RBM MIS. All
projects have started reporting to NISG using this
MIS from the end of November onwards.
Methodology followed: A workshop was held in
July for all the implementing agencies to acquaint
them with the RBM framework and methodology.
A team from ATI and NISG then carried out pre-
liminary visits to each of the projects and helped
the partners draw up the initial frameworks. Then
the partners worked on the frameworks further.
During the second round of visits, the frameworks
were refined, indicators selected, targets set for
each indicator and data sources identified. The
frameworks were now falling into a usable shape.
Preliminary data entry for the months of October
and November has started. During the third
round of visits in December any minor flaws were
ironed out and the frameworks frozen. Septem-
ber was taken as the starting point for baselines
and data entry for the months of Oct to Dec started
in earnest and the partners started reporting to
NISG in the RBM format.
In the meanwhile an in-house team at ATI was
working on the MIS software. The software was
installed at the partners’ site and they were trained
in using the software. Based on suggestions from
the partners and NISG the software was refined
many times so that it would facilitate the work of
the partners and also enable NISG to monitor ef-
ficiently.