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North East India is often associated with words such as unconnected and
geographically isolated. But the spread of e-governance in the state of
Meghalaya vouches to connect this part of the world to the mainstream through
the extensive usage of ICT. With the three main arms of e-governanceCSCs, SWAN
and SDCsmaking inroads here, the state is all set to embark on a path of
development explains AK Srivastava, principal secretary, IT, Government of
Meghalaya. Excerpts
Out of the total 225 Common Services Centers (CSCs) earmarked for
Meghalaya, how many are operational as of now? Is topography a main hindrance
over setting up these CSCs?
So far, sixty-six CSCs have been rolled out. Topography is not a predominant
issue. It poses some challenges as far as the connectivity is concerned.
However, there are many challenges with respect to operationalizing the CSCs,
such as connectivity and power supply, generating awareness among the people and
dissemination of information, lack of entrepreneur skills / basic IT skills,
non-availability of suitable premises, not many G2C applications in place. So
far, understanding rural needs and finding innovative solutions to meet them,
and delay in rolling out of CSCs due to tedious process in approaching local
authorities (village headmen, etc).
The RFP for State Data Center (SDC) was issued recently by your
department. When do you foresee the project to take off?
At present the state is awaiting approval of DIT, Government of India for
issuing corrigendum/addendum to the RFP that was issued earlier. The
corrigendum/addendum is based on the pre-bid meeting held on April 28, 2009. As
soon as the corrigendum/addendum is approved by the DIT, it will be issued
calling upon parties to submit their bids. Considering the past experience, it
may take two to three months to finalize the bids. We are hopeful that the
project should take off within this year.
What is the status of State Wide Area Network (SWAN) in the state?
There has been a bit of setback to this important program. The successful
bidder backed out even before starting the work. The matter has presently been
taken up with the Government of India to allow us to re-invite bids from
interested parties for implementation of SWAN on built-own-operate-transfer
(BOOT) model with slightly modified terms and conditions. Once the approval of
DIT, Government of India is obtained, RFP will be issued again.
English speaking population is a major advantage for Meghalaya, especially
in the BPO and ITeS. What are the plans to utilize this?
Yes, we have a pool of English speaking people in the state and we
definitely want to take advantage of the same. The state government, in
collaboration with DOEACC Society, Guwahati, has been conducting ITeS courses
for youths since 2005-06 and about 70% of pass-outs have been provided placement
in BPOs and IT related industry. Currently, an ITeS course is being conducted
exclusively for women candidates only under Women Empowerment Program. Under
this program, hundred women candidates are to be trained during the current
year. Besides, the state government has entered into an agreement with Symantec
International, which includes training programs to enhance the employability
potential of the youths in the state. So far, 500 youths have been provided
training by Symantec, and another 1,500 youths are proposed to be covered under
the program. The training programs have been held in Shillong (state capital)
and Tura, the headquarters of West Garo Hills district. The training programs
will also be organized at Jowai, the headquarters of Jaintia Hills district. The
participants in the programs have come from both urban and rural areas. We want
to train up as many people as possible.
What are the major e-governance projects being undertaken/completed in the
state?
As far as e-governance program is concerned, we are focusing on the key
infrastructureSDC, SWAN, CSCsand the state service delivery gateway. Besides
these, we are also in the process of developing applications which will strictly
be citizen centric and are being taken under the mission mode project. So far
some of the services are already under implementation. VAT is under
implementation. The Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for various departments of
the state are either completed or are under completion. This includes
agriculture, road transport, health, urban affairs, and education. These DPRs
will be sent to the line ministries in the Government of India so that we can
take them under the MMPs. Apart from this, we are also planning to develop one
common software that will cut across all the departments. This is the public
grievances system which will be web-enabled, whereby people can submit their
grievances to the government. The system is under the planning stage and the
software is under development. NIC is given the responsibility to develop the
software. This is one of the major projects that will cut across all the state
departments.
Apart from the STPI in Shillong, are there any other areas being marked
for STPIs in the state?
For setting up the first IT Park in the state, the government had tied up
with the STPI Guwahati. An MoU was signed with STPI on September 23, 2006, and
an area of about 1.5 acres was handed over to the organization. The STPI park is
located at Lumjingshai, Mawlai Mawroh in Shillong and made functional in October
2007, marking the beginning of the first step towards making Meghalaya as the
future IT destination of the eastern region. The STPI Shillong with the building
area of 549.62 sq meters has at present three companies located in itChillibreeze,
designing and content management; ETPL India, software consultants; and Anjaybee
Infotech, outbound call center.
The Government of India has in principle agreed to upgrade the STPI Shillong
due to high demand. Therefore, there is a plan to construct a new building at
the same location with an area of approximately 464.73 sq metres.
The state government also proposes to set up an IT Estate at New Shillong
in the public private partnership (PPP) mode. A plot of land has already been
identified for this purpose by the Urban Affairs department. The plan is still
at a nascent stage.
What is the future roadmap for e-governance in Meghalaya?
In short, I would say that we have to take action on three important areas.
One is the focus on the key infrastructure in terms of SWAN, SDC and CSCs.
Secondly, we want to focus on useful applications for the benefit of the
citizens. And third area is capacity building. This is of utmost importance. We
need to work on capacity building within the organization, and develop IT skills
of the officials. Action will be taken simultaneously on all the three fronts
for achieving the objective of the national e-governance plan (NeGP) in as
little time as possible.
Nilakshi Barooah
nilakshib@cybermedia.co.in
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