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Can you elaborate on the state government's spending so far in terms of hardware purchase and implementation of government process reengineering (GPR)?
According to the e-Gov report, 2% of the planned budget should be dedicated to IT. But this is a very high percentage for most states. We invest over Rs 10 crore annually on IT. In fact, last year we spent about Rs 19 crore-1.6% of the planned expenditure-on e-Gov activities. Out of this, Rs 13.5 crore was the outlay of all government departments and the rest included expenses by the various boards and corporations of the state.

Roughly stated, the HP government's spend could be split 75:25 between hardware and software reengineering, where reengineering also includes the cost of software development. Most of our reengineering process work has been done in-house. We have hired consultants only at limited places that fall out of the purview of our competencies.

What is the status of the HIMSWAN (HP State Wide Area Network)? What route are you planning to take-the PPP or NIC route?
We submitted a very comprehensive proposal for SWAN in February, which is now in the advanced stages of processing. We are expecting an approval from the DIT sometime soon.

We would be adopting the Public Private Partnership (PPP) route to supply, operate and manage the system, as compared to the BOOT model, which can escalate the costs. We are eyeing some 118 points of presence at the sub-tehsil level. But NIC's VSAT connection does not go beyond the district level. However, NIC's currently deployed infrastructure would be used as a backup and also continue to run all central applications.

Does the state has enough content to run on the 2 mbps SWAN network?
Content is not at all an issue. We already have numerous applications running. And there are others in the pipeline that HIMSWAN would facilitate. The entire state would be networked using HIMSWAN. This would then be coupled with NIC's Rural Soft, which works at the block level. About 25% of the tehsils are online already and we are aiming to take the total to 110 by the end of this year. With the kind of applications we have, we would be moving beyond the 2 Mbps limit, which would work at the tehsil level. Bandwidth requirements would be 16 Mbps between the districts and state, and between the districts themselves.

What are the various e-Gov projects taken up by the state?
Some of the projects are token tax, registration of deeds, integrated community centers, excise and taxation, registration and licensing, telemedicine, pension payment etc. Our Reference Monitoring (Refnic) Software, which allows the common man to track his files in all major government offices, earned us the Silver Icon award in the professional category at the National e-Gov conference in Bhubaneshwar earlier this year.

Another project, Hospital Management Information System, being built by C-DAC for the Shimla Medical College would be implemented in five months. Online filing of sales tax returns has also been a major initiative. E-Vikas, which also won the Golden Icon award, is more data based. We would be working on another GIS project in PPP mode very soon.

What is the status of LokMitra project? What are the services that have already been rolled out through the project?
Right now, rolling out the integrated community centers on top of our mind. More than 40 services are being rolled out, which would empower the citizens to break administrative hierarchy and get his work done without difficulty. For example, to get a certificate, an inhabitant would only need to scan and send his documents to the concerned authority anywhere in the state. Involving an investment of Rs 7 crore, the project is being rolled out in a phased manner, beginning with the districts of Mandi, Shimla, and Kangra.

Out of the total 3,000 panchayats, PCs are being installed in about 800 panchayats. The various applications would include rural development and watershed management. Cash books and ledgers, and birth and death certifications would be computerized. Besides, these places would also act as information centers.

What are you doing on the basic infrastructure front, particularly keeping in view the topology of the state?
We are employing a terrain redundant path in the state. Himachal has already 8,500 km optical fibre-the highest in the country. And wherever optical fibre cannot be used, wireless technology like Wi-Fi and WiMax are also being considered.

Infrastructure is not an issue in the state. Himachal is a power surplus state, with extensive telecom support.

The state had announced state- and district-level training program for employees in collaboration with the HP Institute of Public Administration. How many employees have taken up these courses so far?
HIPA has already trained 12,000 people. But we have a lot further to go. The individual departments have now taken
the job into their hands. Depending on the course content, we are currently paying Rs 15,000-20,000 per course for a batch of about 10 people. And all employees who are coached undergo an evaluation test at the end. Passing these tests is a preliminary condition for promotions and scales at the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat.

We are thinking of opening more training centers in the state. Within three to four years, we hope to cover all the employees.

Has there been any joint effort towards sharing of the intellectual property of e-Gov projects with other states?
The reference monitoring system, which we have built, is up for sharing. It has already found a few interested parties. For our earlier projects, we have exchanged our experiences with the neighboring states. Meanwhile, our current projects have kept us interacting more with Delhi and Maharashtra for intellectual property exchange.

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