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What is the current e-governance scenario like in Jharkhand? What are the
attributes that are being worked upon?
E-governance is being worked upon on various fronts as of now. Most of the
efforts are being put in two areas-the creation of infrastructure and the
e-governance initiatives in various departments like transport and the public
distribution.
On the infrastructure front we are working on two aspects-connectivity and
storage. Connectivity includes projects like Jharnet, SWAN, etc, and storage
includes various data center initiatives like Pragyakendras.
We are also actively pushing e-governance initiatives and programs in various
departments. For example, in transport we have started digitization of
registered vehicle details and registration. We have also successfully
implemented projects like treasuries automation and automated scholarship
grants.
The Government of Jharkhand is committed to provide simple, moral,
accountable, responsive and transparent (SMART) governance to its citizens. The
state believes that every citizen has a right to information pertaining to his
own welfare needs and opportunities; to understand the process of governance;
and to know the rationale behind the decisions which the state government takes.
And we are already seeing results of from e-governance initiatives. There have
already been marked increase in revenues from some projects.
What do you think are the most important projects underway or implemented
in Jharkhand right now?
I would say that the treasuries automation project and the computerization
and networking of the transport department have been the most important
projects. Both have been on our priority list for sometime now. It has been the
strategy of the government to first introduce e-governance in departments which
have maximum public interface. We want to make our e-governance initiatives as
inclusive and as development oriented as possible.
Can you divulge some more details about the treasury automation and
transportation department projects?
Yes. We have recently concluded computerizing our treasuries. As a result of
this there has been significant improvement in our fiscal resources. The extent
of networking and computerization of the treasuries in Jharkhand makes them one
of the most modern and integrated treasury systems in the country. When one
makes this assertion, people generally dismiss this as a mere publicity gimmick.
Unfortunately, we in this part of the country have started believing in the
stereo-type that anything in technology happens first in states like AP,
Karnataka or Gujarat before it can be replicated in states like Bihar, Jharkhand
or UP.
But we in Jharkhand have implemented the treasuries project in a very planned
and phased manner. All the thirty-one treasuries and sub-treasuries in the state
are interconnected through a dedicated lease line. They are fully computerized
and they are net-worked with the state data center with high speed leased lines.
All the banks which conduct the business of the treasuries are also linked with
the state data center and the concerned treasuries with high speed leased lines.
This has not only ensured an extremely efficient system of financial management
in the government but also eliminated the possibility of forged withdrawals.
The details of every bill, which is passed in any of the treasuries are made
available to the state HQ and the banks on a real time basis. In other words,
the entire system is Web-based and the data is kept on a centralized basis in
the state data center in Ranchi.
All this has enabled us to eliminate the long process that was involved in
bill processing and realization. The project has resulted in huge satisfaction
of the employees. We have the SMS response-mechanism built in the project, and
the Provident Fund data is a part of the macro-database. The system doesn't just
record withdrawals but also generates revenue based data. The system can send
alarms on over-draws and has been a great tool in bringing about fiscal
discipline.
The transport department, which is a high revenue generating department, was
also facing some problems like that of corruption amongst agents, etc. So the
government has implemented a very ambitious plan of fully automating and
networking all the offices of the department in the state. Now the details of
any vehicle can be obtained online, including its ownership and accident details
and duplicate copies of all documents, including permits can also be obtained
online. Registration and permit applications have also become Web-based.
What are the other important projects underway in the state?
There are quite a few projects. The important ones are the computerization
of the commercial taxes department, Jharnet, computerized registration of land,
etc.
We have connected five divisions and twenty eight circles of the commercial
tax department recently. We can now capture online data using wireless and other
services. We have also introduced a GUI based system to promote accountability
and user friendliness. We maintain high levels of data security with access
through registered id and password.
Jharnet is another attempt to enhance connectivity within the state. The
Jharkhand SWAN, christened JharNet, connects state headquarters down to block
level to provide secure, reliable and seamless information flow to all the
offices under the government and also to the citizens. Jharkhand is a pioneer in
establishing this network. This provides cost-effective, reliable, secure and
high bandwidth connectivity of 2 Mbps to all these offices. The number of
offices connected to this network exceeds 5,000. All the government departments,
their offices and the agencies till the block level are being connected to this
network. The implementation of the network has been done in a public private
partnership (PPP) model and the operator was selected through an open and
competitive bidding process. There is also strict SLAs to ensure network uptime
to more than 99%, so that it is a robust network with minimum breakdown and
outages. All the connected nodes have IP telephones, which provide a secure and
reliable vice communication among all offices. The network also enables
videoconferencing facilities to government offices in all the districts. There
are a number of mobile vans, which will provide videoconferencing facilities
even in remote areas. Other applications like tele-medicine and tele-education
are being planned which will use the videoconferencing delivery capabilities of
JharNet.
Under the land registration initiative we computerized all land records to
eliminate fraud. We have begun digitization of maps and data feeding of record
of rights. We use the GIS (Geographical Information System) for this purpose.
The other projects like granting scholarships online, and public distribution
system projects are all aimed at making governance more and more Web-based and
efficient.
With the rising threat of terror, governments have security high on their
agendas. Any work in that regard?
For security we are taking the usual steps. These include bio-metric
authentication devices, virtual private networks, authenticated sources of bill
generation and other software measures. For security, digitization has to happen
at a broader level.
What is the status of SWAN and CSCs in the state?
Our SWAN is operational and our CSCs, which we have christened Pragya Kendras,
are being established at a very good pace.
How do you see the future of Jharkhand vis-a-vis e-governance?
I foresee a great future for Jharkhand. We have the infrastructure in place.
We have the roadmap in place. Also, e-governance as a concept is catching up
very fast. More and more states are doing it.
Mehak Chawla
mehakc@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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