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ICT is getting involved in different fields of human activities. Today, it is being effectively used in the governance system, cooperation, etc. As a more modern and effective tool of governance, e-governance is expanding its geography, compelling more and more countries to change their approaches towards the traditional governance. Implementation of e-governance has become all the more necessary for more enhanced participation, efficient public administration as well as heightened democratic principles of governance, transparency and decreased corruption. The rapid development in the fields of Information, Communication and Entertainment Technologies and the following explosive growth of the information-intensive services sector has radically changed the world economic landscape. These changes have paved the way to a new society based on knowledge. This has further resulted in the new avenues of development, employment, productivity, efficiency and enhanced factors of economic growth. Governance and transparency in the government policies and processes are the main objectives of the e-governance initiatives being taken in India. The e-governance initiatives of the Central and State Governments in the country aim at ensuring transparency at all levels of government. Governments of different states have recognized the huge potential of the IT and have decided to embark upon an ambitious journey to herald the benefits of IT to the people of their respective states. Taking steps in the direction, the governments have launched many e-governance projects with a view to making its citizens qualified to be e-citizens. The various e-governance projects running in different departments of the Government of Delhi have made an impact on improving the service delivery system for the citizens as reflected in the recent Bhagidari workshops. These departments include transport, education, revenue, PWD, excise and MCD. The e-governance initiatives taken in the Delhi Police include the Personnel Information System for all the Delhi Police employees, computerization of 128 police stations, computerized data on finger printing, photographs, etc. Data on stolen mobiles and cars are made available in the public domain, and are being implemented at the level of Police Stations for providing updated information to the citizens. Bhagidari, an e-governance initiative taken by the Government of Delhi, has won accolades and praise throughout the world. * is a means for facilitating city-wide changes in Delhi; * utilizes processes and principles of multi-stakeholders (citizen groups, NGOs, the Government…) collaboration; * applies the method of Large Group Interactive Events; * aims to develop “joint ownership” by the citizens and government of the change process; and * facilitates people’s participation in governance. “Bhagidari” as a good governance initiative has attracted the attention of the Government of India, which has been documenting the movement right from its inception. The programme has also been circulated by the Government of India to other states for replication. The programme finds mention in the Annual Confidential Reports of all the officers. “Bhagidari” has received the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management International Award, 2002 for “Innovations in Governance”. It was also selected for entry to URBIS 2003 International Congress of Cities, Brazil as entry for” “Innovative Public Policy”. It was short-listed among the top forty Best Practices for UN-HABITAT Dubai International Award for Best Practices”– 2004. “Bhagidari” has evolved as a platform available to the citizens to interact continuously with the field-level officers and even with the Chief Minister directly. It has attempted to address issues arising from multiplicity of institutions and their overlapping functions. The programme has influenced decision-making process and increased the accountability of the Government. When the 28th state of India came into existence on 5th of November, 2000 in the form of Jharkhand, the fruition of a long-standing dream became a reality. Since then, the state has been making efforts on a war footing to change the lives of its people whose aspirations found their fullest expression in the formation of the state. So, it became incumbent upon the ruling dispensations to rise to the people’s expectations. In a state where poverty rules the roost, it is a truism that digital divide at its worst makes its dominant presence felt. However, the state can draw comfort from the fact that the ruling authorities were quick to recongnize the potential of IT in ameliorating the conditions of the people. The Government of Jharkhanad has taken many e-governance initiatives by announcing its IT policy. Accordingly, an e-governance Roadmap has been prepared by the Government. Jharkhand prides itself on being the first state in India that has done world-class implementation of CSCs. The Department of IT, Government of Jharkhand, has an ambitious plan to set up about 4,500 Common Service Centres (CSCs) in all the Panchayats of the State of Jharkhand, to provide e-government services and other value-added services. The CSC scheme seeks to transform rural India through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and delivery of a host of government and private services to the people living in the rural areas at their doorstep. The services envisaged include e-government services, education, health and tele-medicine, financial, entertainment and others. The CSC Scheme has been implemented on a public-private partnership model, wherein you can participate as a Service Centre Agency (SCA) responsible for developing and managing effective and sustainable business model. The Government of India and the State Government have provided financial support to SCA and facilitate delivery of government services through CSCs to create economically sustainable models for social development. Orissa, an eastern state of India facing the Bay of Bengal, is today poised to accelerate the use of information technology at the Government level with a view to providing better and expeditious services to the citizens of the state. The Government of Orissa has taken many e-governance initiatives by announcing its IT policy, which is very comprehensive and it incorporates all the things that other states offer. Accordingly, an e-governance Roadmap has been prepared by the Government. Orissa is the first state in India to introduce computerization with VSAT at the block level under the Gramsat pilot project. A VSAT-based network which provides 128 Kbps connectivity to all DRDAs/Blocks and facilitates dissemination of government information, monitoring of schemes and fund utilization and bringing about transparency in various projects getting executed at the Panchayat/Block levels. It is very essential to have a single Official Portal for the entire State of Orissa, to act as a single repository for the services offered by the State. Through this portal, the state has offered all informative, transactional, interactive and collaborative services to the people and business. Orissa State Portal modelled on the guidelines of the India Portal, the State Portal (www.orissa.gov.in) provides a host of information and interaction services to citizens. It is planned to deliver multiple citizen services through this portal. . The portal contains features that enable all the departments of the State Government to transact and communicate with definite technology. The eastern state of West Bengal has also done a lot on the e-governance initiatives. The compounded annual growth of the software industry in the state has been around 119 per cent. In the year 2003-04 where the country’s average growth in the knowledge sector has been around 28 per cent, West Bengal has recorded a growth in excess of 50 per cent. Practically, all the “big boys” of the IT industry in the State such as TCS, Cognizant, IBM, WIPRO, etc are doubling their manpower strength. In addition, there is a very encouraging pipeline of investors both in the IT and BPO space who have shown keen interest to invest in the State. The availability of talent, low cost of operations, excellent business infrastructure and a proactive government in terms of policies and investor-friendly attitude is fuelling this remarkable growth. West Bengal is the only state which has declared IT and the ITeS industry as a “Public Utility Service”, thus immunizing the industry from any disruptions. Webel has implemented a number of remarkable e-governance projects, which deliver value to citizens. To name a few, a private Optical Fiber Network, the West Bengal State Wide Area Network (WBSWAN) has been set up connecting all the district headquarters, Gram Panchayat level and the Block level. WBSWAN forms the basic backbone of the government’s e-governance programme. Webel has brought quality Internet Bandwidth to the common people as well as Corporate, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and many other organizations across the State at an affordable price keeping a very high uptime with an aim to provide quality Internet service across the rural areas to increase social & economic stability and opportunities, new channels for learning, better communication with government and improvements in health and welfare. This is the first step to make the rural India the back office of urban India, including e-education, tele-medicine, e-governance, entertainment as well as employment generation by way of high-speed access to information and web-based communication. Riding on the basic connectivity, successful projects in the fields of healthcare, law and order, commercial tax applications, to name a few have been implemented. The power of IT has been harnessed to provide tangible benefits to citizens in the remote areas of the state through the tele-medicine project. The project offers the best-of-breed medical expertise from Kolkata to people visiting hospitals in districts where this quality of consultation is unavailable. Today, three referral hospitals and six nodal centres have the tele-medicine facility established and the tele-medicine model which Webel has established is one of its kind in the country in terms of technology and value addition. Webel has implemented an application, the first of its kind in the country, where 411 Police Stations of West Bengal have been networked and a series of applications run on the network such as criminal tracking system, application which permit messaging and access to data at the grassroots level to track crime. The Government has launched a distinctive IT Literacy Programme in the Secondary and Higher Secondary schools. In partnership with IBM, 500 Secondary and Higher Secondary schools of West Bengal run the IT Literacy Programme from Class VII to Class XII. The next phase will be done on a BOOT model and will cover another 2,500 schools, and it is expected that in the next three years all 12,000 schools will be brought under this programme. To leverage the inherent creative talent in the State, Webel has set up an international animation academy – Toonz Webel Academy, which produces industry-ready animators who will help fuel the growth of the animation industry in the country. Akshaya Project Akshaya is the one of the most famous IT projects in India. Initiated by the state of Kerala, the project is an ambitious plan to provide e-literacy to the citizens. Under the project, Akshaya e-Centres are being set up throughout the state. These centres will initially provide e-literacy to one member from every household and act as ICT dissemination nodes and ITeS delivery points in every village. The twin objectives of Akshaya are (i) to provide basic e-literacy, and (ii) to develop appropriate IT infrastructure so as to leverage e-literacy and IT infrastructure for e-governance in the state. Imparting basic IT literacy to at least one member of each of the 6.4 million families in the state is the primary objective of Akshaya. Bhoomi Started by Karnataka in mid-1998, Bhoomi Project, which has won the United Nations Public Service Award, has been successfully implemented in different districts of the state. The project is a bold step to computerize land records to ensure more secure title deeds and minimize the widespread cases of corruption. The Computer-Aided Administration of Registration Department (CARD) project of Andhra Pradesh was started with a view to computerizing all the activities and procedures of the Registration Department of the state. A pilot was conducted at two SROs in August–September 1997. The project was started on 4th November, 1998. Presently, the project covers the whole state of Andhra Pradesh. Six months following the launch of the CARD project, about 80 per cent of all the land registration transactions in the state were carried out electronically. Delhi Slum Computer Kiosks Project The Delhi Slum Computer Kiosks Project was initiated by the Delhi Government in November 2000. It is a unique project targeted at the urban poor. After using the computer-based learning modules, the children’s grades in subjects like Science, Mathematics and the English language improved remarkably. Gramsampark A website named “Gramsampark” has been developed in the state of Madhya Pradesh. A complete database of available resources, basic amenities, beneficiaries of government programmes and public grievances in all the 51,000 villages of Madhya Pradesh can be obtained by accessing the website www.mp.nic.in/gramsampark/. Gramsampark has three sections – Gram Paridrashya (village scenario), Samasya Nivaran (grievance redressal) and Gram Prahari (village sentinel). An 11-point monitoring system has been put in place, whereby programmes are monitored village-wise every month. Gyandoot The Gyandoot project initiated in January 2000 in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh is a low-cost, self-sustainable, and community-owned rural Intranet system (Soochnalaya) that caters to the specific needs of village communities in the district. These centres are managed by the rural youth selected and trained from amongst the unemployed educated youth of the village. Headstart Headstart is the concrete expression of the Government of Madhya Pradesh to bridge the digital divide by harnessing the potential of Information Technology to improve the quality of education. Zila Shiksha Kendra has implemented the Headstart Project in the 6,000 Jan Shiksha Kendras of Madhya Pradesh. Headstart has equipped every Jan Shiksha Kendra in the state with computer hardware and multimedia software. Lok Mitra Lok Mitra is the first of its own kind of electronic service in the state. It aims to deploy Information Technology for the benefit of the masses. It is a one-stop, citizen-friendly computerized centre located in the heart of the city at the Government Hostel, Jaipur. This has provided relief to the common man as he gets efficient services through IT-driven interfaces at a single window. It is an e-governance project in which the computer server is linked to different departmental servers through Dedicated Leased Line & Dial-up Network with multiple e-counters, which can handle all the services. It has the facility of making payments through Internet by using a Credit Card. Dharani Project Under the Dharani Project, a software is being developed for computerization of land records in Goa. The project is under implementation.
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