2007 could be dubbed as the year for underdogs to emerge as champions. It was the year when relative newcomers shone under the spotlight: be it a Dhoni or a beanpole Ishant Sharma shining on the cricket pitch or an effervescent kid walking away with the honors in Taare Zameen Par.

Even the Dataquest e-Gov Champions Awards 2008 followed a similar pattern. Most winners across India were not from traditional e-governance strongholds like Andhra or Karnataka. Instead the almost esoteric mix of winners represented a geographic spread that would find pride of place in the Lonely Planet. Our champions came from places like the drought-ridden Bolangir in Orissa or the ever-derided Patna in Bihar, Naxal-infested Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, from the terrorist hotbed in Kashmir or Lakshdweep away from the Indian mainland. We call this the democratization of Indian IT.

Other than coming from places you wont even send your enemies to, these champions also share some other common traits. For one, they have consistently fathered initiatives or missions that have over the years touched the lives of common citizens and have helped make their lives better. What also separates many of these people from their peers is the sheer innovativeness behind their ideas.

While these champions were honored for their endeavors over the e-Gov Summit Dataquest recently organized over four cities, here we present a brief snapshot of these illustrious sons (and daughters). And, as you read, we are sure that you too would join us in saluting the champions, the architects of tomorrows India.

All Chips in Place
A M Parial is known for his contributions to the e-gov initiatives taken in the state of Chhattisgarh since its inception. With an experience of over 18 years in MP and Chhattisgarh, Parial is presently leading various teams for implementing e-governance projects such as CHOICE, GIS, e-gram suraj, CGSWAN and State Data Centre. He has been awarded the Excellency Award twice by the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board.

CHIPS has successfully minimized the number of silos in the system to create a single framework for citizens to interact with the government. At CHIPS all the projects are citizen centric and each of the initiatives taken has been institutionalized.

According to Parial, every solution provided should address aspects such as front end services, back-end support, delivery mechanism etc. It should not be limited and should be easily replicable. The horizontal and vertical scalability of the IT solution should also be taken into consideration. According to Parial, though most projects are vendor driven, the citizen should feel empowered rather than being treated as customers.

The Chhattisgarh government is focused on enhancing the literacy levels within the state with the help of simple technologies. So IT in education and IT for education is the mantra today. But though there has been a great deal of investments in the core sectors such as cement, power, steel, etc, nobody wants to be the first mover in the IT sector. "There is an immediate need for certain anchor tenants to enter and leverage the overall benefits that the state has to offer from a long term perspective," says Parial. The government is being increasingly proactive with a number of SEZs coming up.

The Utility Man
Lakshadweep has attained the unique distinction of being the first UT/state in the country to fully digitize its employment exchange and related services in the country. The Ministry of Labor & Employment, Government of India has also evinced interest now, as this project has a high replicable potential and would definitely help the young human resource of India to dynamically and objectively participate in rapid economic development. The man responsible for this has been the administrator BV Selvaraj, one who deserves the sobriquet of being the architect of a modern Lakshadweep.

Selvarajs stints have been particularly fruitful in Union Territories like Puducherry and Andamans. Counted among his biggest achievements would be the appropriate administrative reforms he brought to facilitate execution of projects such as the opening of eight virtual employment exchange in different islands and decentralization at Sub Divisional Officers level with power delegation of Additional District Employment Officers.

Fortunately, technology is a two way sword and it always cuts both ways, so the very application, namely registration of seats on ships to and from Lakshadweep, has not only been a boon to tourists but also to the local population. Credit is due to a few individuals like the administrator of Lakshadweep, BV Selvaraj and his team. They have taken upon the cause of modernization and the result is robust and thriving ICT initiatives in the various islands. In fact, over the years, e-gov projects in Lakshadweep have received awards at different platforms in recognition of the path breaking work being done by the smallest union territory.

Poor Mans Messiah
The Balangir district in western Orissa has always been in the news for its extreme poverty, recurring droughts, and the pitiable state of its healthcare. But, now, Belangir is in the news for happier reasons, thanks to its new rainman CVK Maruti Rao.

Rao, the DIO of Balangir has been effectively championing the cause of e-governance for over five years. Ever since his first posting in the district in 2002, Rao has been creating the much-desired awareness about the use of ICT tools. But these five years of dedicated service were not a cakewalk.

In his own words: "Accuracy in information, credibility, and cost of acquisition with no or minimal time gap is what helps in strategic timely decisions. For successful e-governance, one needs to meet these requirements and generate a positive attitude for the users toward use of IT in government processes."

Rao says using the existing infrastructure effectively is the key to successful e-governance, followed by affecting a change in attitude of the stakeholders in the government.

Rao joined NIC in 2001, after which he started on his mission with his very first posting in the Balangir district. He developed the first district website, which had complete profiles and information about the government offices. There has been no looking back for Rao. Some of his projects that truly deserve a mention include the web-based Information Register of Public Authority, web-based Revenue Information System, the Orissa Rainfall Monitoring System, and an RTI website hosting information from 80 district departments.

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