As part of the e-governance initiatives, the industries department of Kerala will provide online registration facility for new small-scale industrial units (SSIs) in the state. The Government has identified the target beneficiaries of IT led development as –individuals, industry, academic institutions, and different bodies of government. There is the critical need to ensure that a minimum grade/quality of service is available from the small-scale units, so that the target beneficiaries can in turn plan software applications and hardware deployment based on the availability and quality of these SSI.

Kerala has the highest rural teledensity of 5.1%, and all of its 988 digital exchanges are connected to the national Net backbone

For the benefits of IT to be reached at a minimal cost, there is the need for a communication infrastructure backbone that spreads across the state and reaches out to all targeted beneficiaries. Industries will benefit from direct optic fiber cable connectivity into the Kochi gateway from most towns within the state, and that too at a significant cost advantage. This is expected to drive IT enabled services that are bandwidth intensive and which require reliable, failsafe operations, including Business Process Outsourcing operations, Multimedia call centers, and Multimedia Content Development/Processing centres. Schools and colleges within the State as well as the Panchayats can today look forward to an era of seamless connectivity for communication within their communities as well as the world at large. Most importantly, the SSIs would enable the ushering in of a new era of transparent, efficient, citizen-responsive governance from the Kerala government.

State industry minister P K Kunhalikutty said that the online system would expedite the process of registration of small-scale units in the state. The government’s objective is to promote more SSI’s which have the potential for growth in Kerala. Meanwhile, Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-BIP) has brought out a CD-ROM with a compilation of over 525 government orders pertaining to industry, issued over the past 25 years. The content has been arranged under various titles such as SSI registration, industrial policy clearances, prime minister’s Rozgar Yojana, Control Orders, Power Incentives, Rural Artisan’s Program, Store Purchase Orders, Margin Money Loan, State Investment Subsidy, Sales Tax Exemption, Women’s industries programs, harijan development scheme, infrastructure, handicrafts and co-operation, sick unit revival program, delegation of powers, information technology and miscellaneous items. The CD has the entire text and documents related to the recently announced labor, industry and IT policies of the state government.

The CD will prove beneficial for investors, entrepreneurs, chartered accountants, industrial and management consultants. Even government officials will benefit from this compilation. "Compiling the government orders released over quarter of a century was a tedious process", a K-BIP official said. The CD will be available for sale soon, however, the price is yet to be fixed, he added. Public sector company Keltron, and leading multimedia company Invis Multimedia were also involved in the compilation, which is the first of its kind in the state.

K-BIP , an autonomous wing under the industries department is also responsible for maintaining the industry website, Keralaindustry.org that is updated weekly. It has a ‘queries’ section for answering questions raised by investors and public. "On a weekly basis, we receive about 30 to 40 queries on the site," officials said. K-BIP is promoting food processing, bamboo and biotechnology industry in the state.

Electronic Kerala
State public sector Keltron, has also developed a prototype Community Information Kiosk ‘e-sringhala’, for taking various services of the government to the masses. "The ‘e-sringhala’ will provide a single window for different services and enable common people to interact with the government without actually having to go to the offices", says Ajay Kumar, managing director of Keltron. The kiosks have been developed in the model of eSeva in Andhra Pradesh and Gyandoot in Madhya Pradesh, he added.

The kiosks are designed to provide services like information regarding the schemes of various departments, down loading of applications for government support, incentives, subsidies, on-line submission of application forms, schemes for which separate notification is necessary, and government redressal modules for specific senior government functionaries. The kiosks will have special module for counseling farmers on latest agricultural practices. It also provides latest information on the census and electoral data. Schemes and application forms of the Industries, Civil Supplies, Motor Vehicles and Drugs Controller have been incorporated. On-line applications can be submitted for registration of SSI Units, besides sending representations and grievances to the chief minister and other ministers, chief secretary and district collectors. The Kiosks also provide discussion forums for the various interest groups.

Kumar claims that initially Keltron would set up the ‘e-sringhala’ Kiosks along with the participation of the Panchayats and other local bodies. In the second phase, private participation is also envisaged. Many panchayats in various parts of the state have evinced interest in the project. Installation work in Thoroorangadi in North Kerala is already in the final stage. The ‘e-sringhala’ has been soft launched in the Keltron kiosks set up at Thiruvananthapuram. The service can be availed free of cost during the initial two months. But once all the kiosks become fully functional, a nominal fee will be levied. Realizing the need of IT to provide better services, the Kerala government is going the Andhra ishtyle to make the best of information technology for electronic governance.

Suresh N/DQWEEK in Thiruvanthapuram