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Integrated services are offered to citizens and businesses in Bengaluru with
the state-of-the-art ICT tools to enhance speed, efficiency, and accountability
to work processes. According to MN Vidyashankar, principal secretary,
e-Governance Department, Bengaluru is one of the major beneficiaries of
e-governance initiatives in the state. Currently, there are fifty-three outfits
of Bangalore One in the city. We are planning to expand it to nearly 100 by the
end of December this year. Bangalore One is a stationary initiative. We are also
putting something called e-service on wheels, where all the services given by
Bangalore One will also be given through a mobile van. We will be launching this
in November.
With the Karnataka SWAN project also going to be launched next month, both
horizontal and vertical connectivity at the taluka, district and state levels
are likely to be taken care off.
Road to Metro
Developing smarter cities is the need of the hour. It is believed that after
the completion of the Metro project, Bengaluru would be a much smarter city.
Bengaluru has under-invested in public transportation system for several years.
A key challenge would be to see if Bengaluru citizens in particular migrate from
their existing two wheelers or four wheelers to Metro rail as a preferred mode
of transportation within the city. Hence, the real challenge would not be the
creation of capacities or infrastructure by the government, but about the public
cooperating with such initiatives.
Efforts are being made, however, by the e-governance department to offer an
e-ticketing solution to daily commuters. The same ticket could be used for
multi-modal transportation. The government is going a bit slow in providing the
right e-ticketing solution for the time being, since technology is changing at a
faster pace, and as Metro is still under construction, plans for a better
e-ticketing solution would be underway, incorporating newer technologies.
Reason to Smile
The rapid development that has taken place in terms of Metro rail project
and other major initiatives make Bangalore one of the best e-governed cities in
India. Moreover, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has
selected Karnataka as the first state to be offered the first batch of unique
IDs. Headed by Nandan Nilekani, the UIDAI would start its pilot project in
Bengaluru. Guidelines for this project would be issued in October this year. The
UIDAI will own and operate the unique identification number database and
responsible for updating and maintaining the same. A single, universal identity
number will help eliminate false or duplicate identities, which in turn will
result in significant savings to the state exchequer. An interesting note here
is the role that will be played by the vendor community. The authority will
outsource basic data center and network for data management. Companies will be
selected through a transparent process.
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| Bengaluru is one of the major beneficiaries of e-governance
initiatives in the state. Currently there are fifty-three outfits of
Bangalore One in the city. We are planning to expand it to nearly 100 by end
December MN Vidyashankar, principal secretary to
government, e-Governance, DPAR (AR), Bengaluru |
ABIDe by the Laws
The Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development (ABIDe) Task Force,
initiated by CM BS Yeddyurappa and the Government of Karnataka, has always been
in the process of improving the quality of life of its citizens. According to
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, ABIDe convener and Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha,
Bengaluru citizens have been facing a major problem of urban chaos over the
past ten years. A key problem has been the lack of a blueprint that is directly
responsible for its rapid development and growth. There has not been a
comprehensive blueprint or a planning platform to gage, anticipate, and create
additional capacities. One of the areas where IT act an important role is when
there is a considerable demand for services. Technology can act as an enabler in
creating scaled up abilities to deliver larger volumes of services and mapping
and tracking requests for these services at a consistent level of quality.
Unfortunately, the government in Karnataka and other states in the country
have not adopted technology enough in its governance and planning blueprint,
according to ABIDe. ABIDe is preparing a blueprint plan for the city, that would
serve in key areas such housing, public transportation, urban poor development,
sanitation, and security. A core issue in which the task force is building up a
strategy is to technologically enabling Bengaluru and making the city a
connected community.
Five Years from Now
State-of-the-art technology is being deployed in road transport,
surveillance, police, food and civil supplies. HRMS and e-Procurement have
already been put in position. Last year the state government saw a 25% growth in
exports, which was higher than the national average, valued close to Rs 75,000
crore. Replicas of Bangalore One are also in the pipeline, such as Mysore One
and Belgaum One. Eight such corporations will have outfits similar to Bangalore
One in their respective cities.
Traffic management has been a key problem and add to it the Metro rail
construction, has disrupted regular traffic flow. The problems in urban cities
for long have been kept at the doorstep of the government. What is required in
Bengaluru is the fact that citizens need to maintain and abide by the laws,
rules and regulations of the state, whether it is following traffic rules, using
the car pool system to avoid high traffic, and providing the right kind of
feedback to the government for a better governance. IT will play a pivotal role
in shaping up Bengaluru in the coming years.
Suraj PC
surajp@cybermedia.co.in
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