08 egov / www.egovonline.net / July 2010

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news

State treasuries automation project gets MMP status

the up state Waqf

Boards (sWB) has decided

to move all its properties

related records online. the

initiative is being under-

taken by the uttar pradesh

central Waqf Boards and

the national informatics

centre uttar pradesh

(nicup). the ‘Waqf

computerisation

project’ is an

e-Governance

initiative being

carried out on the

guidelines and financial

support from the union

Ministry of Minority

Affairs. the project

aims to create e-doc-

uments for all records

of the Waqf properties

and also upload them on

the centre’s website.

“Waqf properties date

back to the Mughal era and

a lot of properties are still

disputed in the absence of

proper documents,” said an

official of the up shia cen-

tral Waqf Board. He added:

“And what makes these

In a move aimed at driving eGovernance initiative across the states, the Union Cabinet has decided to bring in computerisation of state treasuries as a Mission Mode Project (MMP), under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). The Cabinet also approved the expenditure of Rs 482 crore by the Centre as part of the grants-in-aid.

This Rs 626 crore MMP aims at supporting the state governments to computerise their treasury

functions and provide the required interface for data sharing among treasuries, state finance departments, Accountant General offices, Reserve Bank of India, agency banks and Central Plan Schemes Monitoring System of Controller General of Accounts.

The NeGP comprises 27 MMPs, including nine Central MMPs, 11 State MMPs and seven Integrated MMPs span-ning multiple ministries and departments. Mission mode implies that the

objectives and the scopes of the project are clearly defined, that the project has measurable outcomes and service-levels, and the project has well-defined milestones and timelines for implementation.

The focus of the treasuries MMP is to improve the efficiency and transparency of the financial administration of the state governments. The implementation of treasuries MMP will lead to improvement in financial administration of the state governments.

Kerala PwD to treaD e-tenDering routeKerala Government plans to introduce e-tendering in the Public Works Department (PWD) to bring in transparency in awarding contracts. This will be executed in a phased manner. In the first phase, submission and acceptance of tenders will go live. While the officials will initialy have to manually verify the tender details, the remaining procedures will be soon incorporated into the new system, sources said. The project is aimed at bringing in more transparency and efficiency in the PWD processes and execution of works.

“Apart from e-tendering, PWD also plans to bring in people’s supervision in construc-tion works to maintain quality”, said PWD minister TM Thomas Issac. He explained that a mechanism with the cooperation of local people to monitor the quality of the construction work will be put in place.

citizen identity

Delhi to sign Pact for early rollout of uin

citizen service centre

Punjab to set uP more than 3,000 e-gram suviDha centresThe Government of Punjab has decided to set up 3,037 e-Gram Suvidha Centres in the villages across the state at a cost of Rs 90 crore, to ensure citizen centric services to the people in the rural areas. Disclosing this, a spokesman of state government said that an empowered committee under the Chief Secretary comprising administrative secretaries of various departments has given in-principle approval to implement the scheme within a stipulated time frame of one year.

These centres will ensure the delivery of basic people-friendly services including delivery of old-age pension, registration of pension for handicapped and widows and disabled persons.

The Government of Delhi has decided to sign a pact with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for an early rollout of identification numbers for residents. The State Cabinet also decided to constitute two committees to oversee the implementation of the UIDAI project in the capital. While Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta will be the Chairman of one committee, the second panel will be headed by

the Chief Minister. “The government has

decided to collaborate with the UIDAI to enhance efficiency in delivery of citizen services through accurate identification of beneficiaries,” said Dikshit.

The Delhi cabinet also approved a draft memo-randum of understanding (MoU). As per the MoU, the UIDAI will prescribe standards for recording data and biometric fields and also the processes for enrolment of residents.

UP Waqf property records to be online soon

citizen identity

disputes worse is the fact

that some of the old records

of the pre-independence era

have gone missing in their

entirety. Hence, comput-

erisation and making the

records accessible online

will certainly help maintain

a second copy of the

records for a longer period

of time.”

news

09 July 2010 / www.egovonline.net / egov

puBlic distriBution systeM

GPS to track PDS vehicles in Chhattisgrah

the Government of

Haryana has announced the

launch of its public

grievance Web

portal www.harsa-

madhan.gov.in. the

web portal-based

centralised public

grievances redressal and

monitoring system aims to

provide a quick grievance

redressal mechanism

for citizens. Haryana

is the first state in the

country to launch such

a portal.

Announcing the launch

of the pilot project state

chief Minister Bhupinder

singh Hooda said that

redressing citizens’ griev-

ances was a priority area

with the state government

and that the user friendly

portal will help citizens

seek faster disposal of their

cases.

Global Positioning System (GPS) devices will be used in Chhattisgarh State to track the movement of vehicles carrying subsi-dised rice for the poor. All the 600 vehicles carrying subsidised food grains, distributed through Public Distribution System (PDS) in the state, will be equipped with the GPS devices. These devices will give complete information on where and for how long the vehicles carrying rice are halted after load-ing at the warehouses and before unloading the rice at PDS shops.

The move will ensure effective implementation of the Rs 1,000-crore, Chief Minister’s Food

Security Scheme, under which the state govern-ment provides 35 kg rice a month at Rs 2 and Re 1 per kg to the poor families.

With the launch of the project, the state govern-ment is looking at putting in place the monitoring mechanism essential to track the state’s food scheme that covers over 60 percent of Chhattis-garh’s population of above 20 million. According to reports, the state Civil Supplies Corporation has already floated the tender for GPS installation and their integration with the existing software for tracking of PDS vehicles in all the 18 districts.

r-Apdrp

Haryana in revieW StaGe of PoWer reforMS ProjeCtthe power distribution reforms projects for 36 towns

of Haryana will be analysed by a technical evaluation

committee, set up to carry forward the implementa-

tion of restructured-Accelerated power development

and reforms programme (r-Apdrp) of the union

government.

Haryana is one of the first states to get approval for

the ambitious plan. A spokesperson for the Haryana

power utilities said that the union Ministry of power

had approved projects worth rs 158.36 crore for the

state to implement the reforms programme and mod-

ernise the power distribution

system. He said under the

scheme a disaster manage-

ment centre at panchkula

and a data centre at Hisar

will be set up to ensure the

timely implementation of

the schemes in the towns for

which the project had been

sanctioned.

the project will be completed in two years. the

various works in this project include consumer index-

ing, geographic information system, and metering of

distribution transformers and feeders.

the project will also cover asset mapping of the

entire distribution network comprising 11 Kv feeders,

distribution transformers, low-tension lines, poles and

other distribution network equipment of these towns.

consumers will be benefited by way of better service,

while for the power sector there will be an increase

in revenue after the implementation of the scheme.

the Government is implementing r-Apdrp

during the 11th Five year plan period. this is a usd

12 billion project aimed at it enabling india’s power

distribution system. the main objective of r-Apdrp

is to strengthen overall power distribution system

and reduce the aggregated technical and commercial

losses of power utilities. implementation of the infor-

mation technology plan to achieve the goal under the

scheme will go a long way in minimising interruptions

and breakdowns.

Haryana PUbliC GrievanCe Portal laUnCHeD

lAuncH

the two Waqf boards

of up—shia central Waqf

Board and sunni central

Waqf Board—have already

completed 60 percent

of the computerisation

process of all documents.

the Ministry of Minority

Affairs has given a financial

support of rs 27 lakh

each to both the Waqf

boards in the first phase,

where records will be

computerised and e-copies

prepared.

in the first phase, all

records from the block level

to the state level will be

computerised and e-copies

will be submitted to nic

for uploading them on the

portal.

coMMerciAl tAx

chanDigarh gets e-services grantChandigarh has got a grant of Rs 5.97 crore from the central government to implement various e-services in this union territory. This sanctioned amount is part of the Commercial Taxes Mission Mode Programme (CT-MMP) project, according to officials.

“We have already prepared a blueprint and this project will be completed in the next two years. Under this project, various e-services like e-registration, e-filling, e-payment, e-forms, e-refunds and e-redressal of grievances will be introduced in Chandigarh,” said the UT’s Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar.

“Our basic aim is to create citizen-centric environment in Chandigarh and to bring more transparency in work. All these services will be available to citizens on 24x7 basis and people can access all the services sitting in any part of the world,” Kumar said.

indiA

news

10 egov / www.egovonline.net / July 2010

uid

Mindtree bags aadhaar’s it deal MindTree Limited, a global IT solutions company, has secured the application develop-ment and maintenance services contract of the Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification (UID) project, renamed ‘Aadhaar.’ The multi-crore project involves services across the application lifecycle—from designing, developing, testing, main-taining and supporting the Aadhaar application to providing help desk services from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI’s) Bangalore Technology Centre.

Aadhaar will authenti-cate every Indian citizen in terms of his or her identity based on biometric verification. With a mas-

sive information base of 1.2 billion people and the ongoing collection, valida-tion, issue and constant verification of identities, project Aadhaar will require one of the most complex IT architectures

ever created and a software implementation that will become a benchmark for years to come.

The company will work as the development part-ner to build the Aadhaar application, in collabora-

tion with the technology team of UIDAI and other stakeholders. It will also carry out the ongoing services of development and enhancement to the core Aadhaar application.

MindTree won the project against competi-tion from large global IT players. “It is not just a matter of business for us; it is an opportunity to serve the nation. This partnership further affirms MindTree’s com-mitment and focus in the Indian market,” said Anjan Lahiri, President and CEO, IT Services, MindTree. “This project win reaffirms our leader-ship in architecting and delivering large mission-critical high throughput applications.” he added.

police records

wipro infotech bags rs 2,000 crore e-policing project

Integrated IT solutions provider Wipro Infotech has bagged one of the largest e-Governance projects worth Rs 2,000 crore for linking police records across the country.

The project, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). It aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing by adopting principles of e-Governance and creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled state-of-the-art tracking system. The focus will be on investigation of crime and detection of criminals.

The project will link police stations nation-wide, digitise criminal records, and develop Core Application Software (CAS) for CCTNS. It will digitally integrate 14,000 police stations and 6,000 headquarters.

The final agreement is expected to be signed within a month. The contract is for a period of eight years.

it MAnAGeMent

niit tech, hitachi asia team up, launch cloud servicesNIIT Technologies Limited and Hitachi Asia (Thailand) Co. Ltd. have jointly launched a high-reliability cloud computing service, leveraging their respective expertise in data center management.

The suite of cloud-based offerings ‘Caliver,’ derived from ‘cloud computing being alive and responsive,’ offers resource-on-demand, virtual mail hosting and virtual Web hosting services on the cloud.

The cloud computing hub will be hosted at NIIT Technologies’ data center in Bangkok and will initially serve local Japanese corporations.

Hitachi Asia (Thailand) and Hitachi Information System have carried out the design and architecture of the cloud system while NIIT Technologies will be responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the system. Both the companies will leverage their strengths in solu-tion designing, SaaS application development and sales and marketing to evangelise this technology.

coMMon service centre

sahaj e-matrimony services for rural indiaSrei Sahaj e-Village Limited, a subsidiary of Srei Infra-structure Finance Limited, has partnered with Bharat Matrimony, India’s leading matrimony solutions provider to announce the launch of online matrimonial services for rural India through the 28,000 common service centres (CSCs) that Sahaj is setting up in the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

To avail of the service, one will have to get registered by a village level entrepreneur (VLE) on the Sahaj Portal to obtain a unique ID and password which can be used to register on the Sahaj-Bharat Matrimony home page on the portal. The profile will be created in English.

This is an attempt to provide hassle free matrimonial services to the rural India by coupling technology with the tradition of marriage. The idea is to introduce the prospective eligible singles and their families in rural areas to online matchmaking that saves time and gives them access to thousands of enlisted singles at a click.

industry

news

11 July 2010 / www.egovonline.net / egov

stAndArds

oman launches e-Government services frameworkInformation Technology Authority (ITA) of Oman has launched ‘framework for the technical criteria of e-Government’ to provide the frameworks and standards to promote information systems and e-Government services.

Omar bin Salim al Shanfari, Head of Corpo-rate Sector and Consul-tancy at ITA said that the

Sultanate had initiated an ambitious journey to transfer Oman to a sustainable knowledge based society through utilising ICT in enhancing government services, enriching business sector and enabling individuals to improve the quality of their lives.

The framework aims to build e-Oman society and

e-Government and will provide the criteria that identify the technologies required to support the governmental work and utilising them in the provision of services. It will also reduce the time and cost incurred by rolling out these applica-tions and merging the information and services provided.

puBlic AdMin

Un, S Korea to jointly DeveloP e-aDMiniStration SySteMSouth Korea and the United Nations have agreed to jointly develop a UN electronic public administration system. In this regard, Maeng Hyung-kyu, Minister of Public Administration and Security, and Sha Zukang, a Chinese diplomat who is currently the UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs, exchanged a letter of intent in Barcelona, Spain, for the joint development of “UN public administration knowledge space.” The UN knowledge space is a system for collecting and analysing basic data on 192 UN member nations’ e-Government policies and infrastructure. The project will become a base for the UN’s efforts to construct a global electronic government.

south Korea will provide its knowledge and tech-

nology for the usd 6-8 million project being pushed

by the un department of economic and social Affairs,

said park Min-sik, an official in charge of the e-Gov-

ernment project.

“south Korea’s winning of the un e-government

global grand prize is an achievement resulting

from a combination of public attention, the govern-

ment’s strong driving force and technological support

by the country’s information-technology industries,”

Maeng said.

leGislAtion

australia puts e-health on fast track with healthcare identifiersWith the passing of Healthcare Identifiers legislation by the Australian Parliament, imple-mentation of e-Health programmes has gained speed in Australia. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has actively pushed for the identifiers and was involved in the discussions on the development of the legislation. AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce said healthcare identifiers are an important building block for electronic health records.

“Healthcare identifiers will facilitate the timely and accurate sharing of electronic patient information to improve medical care in Australia,” Dr Pesce said. The legislation provides for the healthcare identifiers to be used solely to identify individuals for the purposes of accessing and sharing individual electronic health information.

“AMA is keen to see the funding allocated in the 2010-11 Budget being directed to building the infrastructure to connect up patient information across the health care sector so that a summary electronic health record can finally become a reality,” Dr Pesce said.

e-citizen

singapore to have e-postbags for citizens by 2012All Singapore residents will have an online mailbox to which various Government agencies will send statements and bills ranging from tax statements to TV license renewals and service and conservancy bills.

Informing this, the country’s Chief Informaton Officer James Kang said that citizens can log into the mailbox using their SingPass ID as well as register online to get e-mail and SMS alerts for new mail.

Called OneInbox, this service will be launched by 2012. The initiative is part of a new approach to cut down paper usage, make it quick and easy for people to keep track of their bills, and provide citizens with a digital “safe deposit box” for their important documents and statements. People will also be able to track the status of their transactions with various public agencies online, just as they track registered mail.

World

US CHief inforMation offiCer

viveK KUnDra on tHe neeD for a SeCUre CloUD

“As we move to the cloud, we must be vigilant in our efforts to ensure the secu-rity of government information, protect the privacy of our citizens, and safeguard our national security interests”

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