M Manivannan, NIC-A&N (former SIO Pondicherry) A ... · M Manivannan, NIC-A&N (former SIO Pondicherry) A Venkatesan, SIO Pondicherry October 200 3 and association in initial internal

PONDICHERRYSetting an Example

M Manivannan, NIC-A&N (former SIO Pondicherry)A Venkatesan, SIO Pondicherry

October 2003



October 2003

Advisory CommitteeDr. N.VijayadityaDr. B.K. GairolaDr. Y.K. SharmaSh. D.P. BobdeSh. M. Moni

Managing EditorNeeta VermaEditorSonal KalraDesign & LayoutMohan Das VSSubhash Kapoor

Print ProductionA K AggarwalAnita Arora

DistributionAnita BhardwajJasvinder Kaur

Editorial CommitteeSh. A. MohanDr. Subir RoyDr. S.C. GuptaSh. D.C. MisraMs. Nandita Chaudhri

VOLUME 12 NO.2 OCTOBER 2003

WWW VersionAnil RathoreRavish Azad

02

Readers Write

Dear Editor,

I wish to thank “Informatics” team for giving good coverage to theinitiatives of the Himachal Pradesh Government. The IT efforts in HPhave mostly been NIC Driven. Informatics presents a true picture ofE-Governance in various State Governments. Hope the magazine willbe of immense use to Government Officials engaged in IT activitiesin the Country

Arvind Kaul, IASChief Secretary, Govt of Himachal Pradesh

Dear Editor,

I have, for the first time, seen your July 2003 issue of Informaticsand would like to avail myself of this opportunity to congratulateyou on bringing out an excellent magazine in a superb design, fullof information and presented in a very readable and attractivemanner. Please keep up the good work.

Harsh K. BhasinAmbassador of India

Copenhagen, Denmark

In this issue, we are covering two important developments as ‘Special Features’, namely the preparations forISO 9001 : 2000 Certification of NIC and the launch of NIC Certifying Authority. While the former signifies NIC’s effortstowards establishing its credibility in the global arena, the latter is a landmark achievement when it comes to theimportant issue of ensuring security and reliability in transactions performed through the Net.

We have received a fairly enthusiastic response to Informatics NewsOnline (http://informatics.nic.in/newsonline).The credit ,of course, goes to the development team at NIC HQ and to all the Informatics Correspondents whoseregular contributions have made NewsOnline, a successful concept...yet again !!

Sonal Kalra

Readers are invited to send their comments/suggestions to the Editor through this column. Yourletters may be sent through email at

[email protected]

or by post at the following address :

Room No. 379, 3rd Floor, NIC Headquarters, A-Block,CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, N.Delhi 110003

Visit http://informatics.nic.in/newsonlinefor the latest and up-to-date News

Dear Editor,

The Informatics News Bulletin from NIC provides important insightinto the IT initiatives undertaken by different State Governments.Youmay add a section in Informatics for showcasing successful ITProjects executed by the Private sector for Government Departments.This will also present a broader outlook of NIC.

Ajay Mittal, IAS Director, HP Institute of Public Administration



October 200303

Special FeatureISO 9001:2000Certification Process in NIC

Special FeatureNIC Certifying Authority

State in FocusHimachal Pradesh

District Informatics

Shimoga (Karnataka)

District InformaticsEast Siang (Arunachal Pradesh)

E-Gov Products & Services? Ekal Seva Kendra (Kaithal)? Tax Compliance Knowledge

Info System? Online Counselling &

Admissions? Prices over Phone (IVRS)? GOI Directory

Technology UpdateComputational Challengesin Bio-Informatics

Cyber Governance

Happenings

04

ContentsIN THIS ISSUE

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20

06

19

17

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12

13

Accolades……

Here’s what some of the esteemed users of NIC’s services have said in the recent past ….

“I write this letter to convey my sincere appreciation of the efforts put in by NIC in arranging a four-locationVideo Conference between New Delhi, Gandhinagar, Sachivalaya, Bhuj Hospital and a remote village Chapredi,in Bhuj Taluka, on 25th January, 2003 morning. I am sure NIC will continue to do so in future also.”

Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Hon’ble Prime Minister

“The Prime Minister was fascinated by the excellent video conferencing facilities of NIC.”Sh. Arun Shourie, Hon’ble Union Minister

for Communications and IT

“Every other day I am reminded of the excellent work NIC is doing.” Sh. Arun Shourie, Hon’ble Union Minister

for Communications and IT

“This is indeed a matter of pride to note, that NIC has done pioneering work ,to usher in computer culture inthe government. NICNET provides the networking backbone for e-governance in the country”.

Sh. Su.Thirunavukkarasar,Hon’ble MOS, Ministry of Communications and IT

“It (Bhoomi Project) is a unique programme and really fascinating. This is a programme dearer to my heart. Icompliment the Karnataka Revenue Department and NIC for this excellent work.”

Sh. Venkaiah Naidu,Former Union Minister for Rural Development

“I take this opportunity to commend the support provided by the National Informatics Centre to theTreasuries Department for its computerization.”

Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu,Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

“I think the Government of India nationwide has done a lot of work (in IT) and we are proud of their work.And that is the work done by the National Informatics Centre. In many states, NIC has met the requirementsof State Governments.”

Sh. Rajeev Ratna ShahFormer Secretary,

Dept of Information Technology

“NIC has been of immense help to Government to usher in E-Governance in the State and we look to theircontinued assistance for extending it to all spheres for better public service.”

Sh. P. ShankarFormer Chief Secretary,

Govt.of Tamilnadu

“I was thrilled and delighted to see the excellent work done in this registration office at Nemom. Icongratulate all who have made this possible. Our aim must be to ensure that all the offices in Kerala of theRegistration department are computerized on the same lines at Nemom.”

Shri N. Vittal Former Central vigilance

CommissionerGovernment of India

“ Oh... this is CIC, I have already visited over 20 nos. of CIC and their contribution to the society is immense ”Lt. General S.K. Sinha

Hon’ble Governor of Assam



October 2003

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ISO 9001: 2000 CertificationProcess in NIC - Aiming forexcellence in quality

Dr. Sunanda Banerjee, NIC HQ

?| What is ISO 9000?

ISO 9000 series of standards relate to QualityManagement System (QMS). It requires theorganization to establish & maintain thedocument “Quality Manual” as a means ofensuring product/services conformances tospecified requirements and improvecontinually. The ISO 9000 standards are thussignificantly different from normalengineering standards, which typically focuson product or material. Instead, ISO 9000attempts to standardize all the businessprocesses emphasizing continualimprovement.The standard includes a number of “goodpractices” which must be followed to ensurethe effectiveness of the quality system.

?| Advantages of ISO 9000Adopting ISO 9000 standard offers anumber of advantages to all thestakeholders including suppliers,customers, employees etc. The customerfeels more confident about the quality

Features of ISO 9000 Standard

? The standard is not a productstandard but a quality managementsystem standard.

? It has been produced by peoplewho were conversant with theproblems and failures in theindustry and also the requirementsof the quality system.

? The various clauses of the standardspecify the requirements for qualitysystem management, in anobjective manner.

? ISO 9001:2000 is used forcontractual situations (2nd/3rdparty assessment). Theorganisation meets therequirements of ISO 9001: 2000 forregistration or certification thatcan be obtained from authorizedbodies.

? The standard gives only the basicguidelines. The company ororganizations have to establishtheir own rules and procedures.The rules and procedures willdepend on the objective and qualitypolicy of the organization.

? The standard has found widespread acceptance.

? The philosophy of ISO 9000 is toprovide a system, which istransparent, preventive andpromises continual improvement ofquality of product/services orsystem as a whole.

assurance system used by his supplierthrough visibility & verifiability based ondocumented quality system. The standardcontributes effectively in reducing qualitycost thus enhancing profit and also leadsto an enhancement in the productivity ofthe employees. In addition, it brings apostive charge in the work culture of anorganization.

?| Structure of ISO 9000The latest ISO 9000 series of standardswere published in 2000. The relatedstandards in quality management include :ISO 9000:2000 - Quality ManagementSystems- Fundamentals and VocabularyISO 9001:2000 - Quality ManagementSystems - RequirementsISO 9004:2000 - Quality ManagementSystems- Guidelines for performanceimprovementsISO 10011-1 : 1991 - Guidelines forauditing Quality System (Part 1 : Auditing)ISO 10011-2 : 1991 - Guidelines forauditing Quality System (Part 2 :Qualification Criteria for QualitySystem)

ISO 10011-3 : 1991 - Guidelines forauditing Quality System (Part 3 :Management of Quality Programs)ISO 10011-1,2,3 have now been replacedby single standard ISO 19011 published in2002 (Auditing standard for QualityManagement System and EnvironmentalManagement System)

?| ISO 9001:2000 and NICStarting as a small programme under anexternal stimulus by an UNDP project, NIChas grown incrementally and laterexponentially as one of India’s major S&TOrgnaization promoting “Informatics-ledDevelopment”, which has helped to usherin the required transformation to cope withthe trends in the new millennium.

Today, NIC is ready to offer ICT consultancyservices to other countries and to take up

There are five elements of customerservice: Responsiveness, Knowledge,

Integration, Resourcefulness andDedication. Successful performance of

any organisation calls for maintenanceof highest level of quality through

proper instruction and vigilantmonitoring that helps it to identify

errors, improve performance andevaluate training deficiencies. The

solution requires fitting togetherhuman and technical resources into a

unique program that gets customersthe information they seek for – when

and how they like to have it.ISO Certification provides a stable

platform that is internationallyrecognized and serves as a distinctive

competitive advantage for anorganization.

OU TPUT

MEASUREMENTANALYSIS &

IMPROVEMENT

CONTINU AL IMPROVEMENT OF TH EQUALITY MANAGEMENT SYST EM

MANAGEMENTRESPONSIBIL IT Y

RESOURCEMANAGEMENT

PRODUCTPRODUCT

REALISATIONINPUT

KEYVALUE ADDED ACTIVIT IES

INFORMAT ION FLOW

MODEL OF A P ROCESS-BASED QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM



October 2003

and association in initial internalquality audits / pre- assessment.

2) Certification activities such asdocument evaluation as per ISO 9000standards, preliminary visit,certification audit and grant ofcertification.

3) Post Certification activities such assurveillance audits.

?| Current Status of Activities related toISO 9001:2000 Certification Process in NIC

? NIC has signed an MOU with STQCDirectorate in October, 2002

? Awareness Programmes andExecutive Briefings have beenconducted for all the employees inNIC Headquarters, State Centres andDistrict Centres.

? Review meetings are being held onthe subject on a regular basis.

? Various Groups have been consti-tuted to draft Quality Manuals anddocument various procedures asrequired under the process, andthese groups are on the job.

? The Quality Policy and QualityObjectives have been prepared anddocumented.

? Currently Pre-Certification activitiesare in progress viz. preparation ofQuality Manual, Project Life CycleDocument, template for SRS,documentation of various technicalprocedures practiced in NIC etc.

? Audit Process for Certification willstart once the documentation is inplace and approved by the NICmanagement.

Draft versions of documents have been

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made available on IntraNIC (http://intranic.nic.in), the Intranet portal of NICfor the access of NIC officers / officials

through which, useful comments are beingreceived for the further enhancement ofthe documents.

Quality Policy

National Informatics Centre iscommitted to meet and exceedcustomer requirements by providingQuality and Reliable ICT Services andGlobal Solutions.For this, We shall continually improveour Processes through a team ofCompetent Professionals, Adoption ofAppropriate Technologies, Use ofInternational Standards and BestPractices.

The progress of adoption of ISO 9000 inIndia was in low key, initially. Of late,there has been increased enthusiasm forISO 9000. In fact the stakes are higher forIndian organizations. Given the directionin which the Indian economy is proceedingin terms of liberalization, internationaltrade & business, Indian organizations willbe facing world competition on their ownsoil. In such a case, quality improvementthrough total quality efforts & ISO 9000will be a strong competitive weapon forNIC. The ISO 9000 standards will help NICin generating confidence throughTransparency & Competence.

For further information,please write to [email protected]

ICT projects on turnkey basis. Need hasbeen felt to opt for ISO 9000 kind ofCertification that will provide NIC therequired recognition at the internationallevel as well as the capability to competeglobally with other ICT solution providers.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) in October, 2002, NIC has appointedStandardization, Testing & QualityCertification (STQC) Directorate , anattached office of Department ofInformation Technology, Ministry ofCommunications & Information Technologyas a consultant for its ISO 9001:2000Certification Process. STQC has been setup as a premier Institution to providequality assurance & certification support inthe field of Electronics and InformationTechnology. STQC has been providing avariety of internationally recognizedcertification services such as QualityManagement System (ISO 9000),Environmental Management System (ISO14000), Product Certification (Safety &EMI/EMC), Information Security System(BS 7799).The scope of the MoU with STQC coversQuality Management System Certificationsupport as per ISO 9000 Series ofInternational Standards in NIC HQincluding its units in different Ministries/Departments/Organizations of Govt. ofIndia, 28 State Units, 6 Union Territories,NCT as well as about 596 District Centresand its promotional units The activitieswould broadly cover:1) Preparatory activities such as

awareness training, documentation,internal quality audits training,guidance for preparing the qualitymanual and other documented system

Dr. S. Banerjee addressing the participants atthe review meeting.

Sh. M. Moni, DDG (NIC) showing the draft QualityManual at the review meeting. Sitting on his left: Dr. S. L. Sarnot DG (STQC)

The committee members at the ISO Reviewmeeting held at NIC HQ.



October 2003

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NIC Certifying Authority-Ensuring a Secure E-Future

“ The first step towards an Information Societyrequires that millions of people be entrustedwith information considered sensitive or evensecret”-S.Frederic Starr

The above quote implicitly considers thatsecret information be protected to maintainits secrecy ! But the very openness of theInternet, that has led to its explosive growth,has also given rise to security limitations.Government entities and private businessesthat are obvious candidates for participatingin electronic commerce are understandablycautious. To be able to rely on the electronicmessages they receive, such organizationsneed assurance that those messages areauthentic and reliable.

Digital communication has created newcomplications for old business models:? How do you know the identity of the

person you’re dealing with?? How do you prove that a certain

transaction was performed ?? How do you secure your communication?

By implementing a public key infrastructure(PKI), entities can be assured that dataremains confidential and intact, and alltransactions are legally binding.

?| NIC Certifying Authority (NICCA)

As the Government of India moves towardthe implementation of E-Governance atvarious levels of Government functioning,authentication of information becomes acritical requirement. To provide thenecessary platform, a Public KeyInfrastructure becomes essential. NIC hasset up a Certifying Authority, which is anintegral part of this Public KeyInfrastructure.

PKI refers to a whole host of components,applications, policies and practices which areresponsible for offering its users the

PKI Model

The basic components of a PKI are theRegistration Authority (RA) and theCertifying Authority (CA). The RAauthenticates and registers new users andrequests certificates for them. The CAgenerates certificates on the RA’s requestand posts the certificate to a directory. APKI also includes policies, procedures, andcontracts that govern how and when digitalcertificates are issued, renewed, or revoked,among other issues.

Therefore, public key infrastructure consistsof :? A certifying authority (CA) that issues

and verifies Digital Signature Certificate.? A registration authority (RA) that acts as

the verifier for the certificate authoritybefore a digital certificate is issued to arequestor

? One or more directories where thecertificates (with their public keys) areheld

? A certificate management system

A Certifying Authority (CA) is a trusted thirdparty or an entity that has been grantedlicense by the Controller of CertifyingAuthorities (CCA), the apex regulatory bodyfor Certifying Authorities in the country, tovalidate identities and issue DigitalSignature Certificates. The method ofvalidating identities, issuing of certificates,certificate management etc depends on thepolicies of CA as defined and published intheir Certificate Practice Statement (CPS).NICCA fulfills requirements oftrustworthiness of a Certifying Authority aslaid down by the IT Act2000.

?| A certificate-based system providesservices commonly known as ‘CAIN’ :

? Confidentiality- to ensure that sensitiveinformation does not fall into the wronghands

? Authentication- to verify the identity ofthe sender and the recipient of digitalinformation

? Integrity- to verify that information isreceived unaltered from the sender

? Non-repudiation- to ensure thattransactions are legally binding,protecting your business from fraud

?| How Public Key Cryptography Works :The method of disguising plain text in sucha way to hide its substance is calledEncryption. Encrypting plain text results inunreadable gibberish called Ciphertext. Theprocess of reverting ciphertext to its originalplain text is called Decryption.

?| In public key cryptography :

? A public and private key (called as keypair), are created by a CertifyingAuthority (CA) in the presence of thesubscriber or alternately this key pair maybe generated by subscriber himself.

? The private key is given only to therequesting party. The private key isnever shared with anyone or sent acrossthe Internet.

? The public key is made publicly available(as part of a digital certificate) in a

S.K Roy and Mona Asnani,NIC HQ

1

5

2

3

4

5. RA sendscertificate toend user

3. CA issuescertificate

to userUser deviceor server

Registrationauthority (RA)

CertificateAuthority (CA)

CertificateDirectory

1. User appliesfor cert ificate

2 . RA app rovesrequest , sendsto CA

4. CA postscert ificate todirecto ry

following benefits:

? Certainty of the quality of informationsent and received electronically

? Certainty of the source and destinationof that information

? Assurance of the time and timing of thatinformation

? Certainty of the privacy of thatinformation

? Assurance that the information may beintroduced as evidence in a court of law



October 200307

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directory that all parties can access.The private key is used to decrypt text thathas been encrypted with the correspondingpublic key of the key pair. Thus, if a person‘A’ wants to send a message to a person‘B’, ‘A’ can find out the public key (but notthe private key) of ‘B’ from a centraladministrator and encrypt a message usingthe same. When the person ‘B’ at the otherend receives it, he/she can decrypt it withhis/her private key. The Information Technology Act, 2000provides the required legal sanctity to theDigital Signatures based on asymmetriccrypto systems.

?| Functions of NIC Certifying Authority :? Subscriber Request: Identification of

persons applying for Digital SignatureCertificate (DSC) through RegistrationAuthority (RA).

? Key Certification: The transaction thatresults in the CA signing a subscribers’public key and issuing the DigitalSignature Certificate.

? Certificate Publishing: placing thecertificate in the PKI directory wherePKI users can search for and retrieveit.

? Certificate Renewal: issuing a newcertificate to the subject when thecurrent certificate has expired.

? Certificate Revocation: adding a userscertificate to the revocation list makingthe certificate invalid from that dateand time onward.

? Revocation list Publishing andmaintenance: to keep the CertificateRevocation list (CRL) current within thePKI and place the current CRL in thePKI directory where PKI users cansearch for and retrieve it.

Initially, NICCA functions as a trustedauthority in the G2G domain for issuance ofDigital Signature Certificates (DSC).?| Basic Services? Issuing Digital Signature Certificates to

Subscribers in G2G environment.? Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates:

Issuance of Web Server Certificate.? Online Certificate Status Protocol

(OCSP) Services: sends a request of acertificate status information to theclient.

? Directory Services: Posting andmaintenance of Valid Certificates and

Certificate Revocation List.? Time Stamping Services: a unique and

unforgeable time stamp can beassigned to any piece of digital data.The time stamp provides proof that thisparticular data existed at a certainpoint in time.

? Round the clock (24X 7) operations.? Provision for Key Archiving Services? Provision for Sub CA? Provision for Multiple RA: establishing

multiple Registration Authority within variousparts of the country, to function under NICCA

? Provision for Disaster Recovery Site

?| Application Development Services

? Build awareness among GovernmentDepartments.

? Provide training and consultancy services.? Integrate Digital Signature with existing

NICNET applications.? Assist development of new Digital

Signature based Applications.

?| Conclusion

The need for secure communications inComputer Networks has brought about theneed for setup of a Public KeyInfrastructure. NIC Certifying Authority isone such component in a PKI setup pavingthe way for a ‘trusted’ digital environmentleading towards good E-Governance.

With the CA facility at NIC providing digitalsignatures, it is hoped that governmentoffices will first turn “less-paper” andgradually “paperless”. It would also helpthe e-governance drive through a secure and‘trusted’ digital environment in cyber space.In fact, with digital signatures attached e-mail and other documents transmitted overthe Net would become valid legal documents.

For further information please contact:NIC Certifying Authority DivisionE-mail: [email protected]

WWW : http://nicca.nic.in

Hon’ble Minister for Communications & InformationTechnology, Shri Arun Shourie, lighting the lamp at theinauguration ceremony.Also seen in the pic:Sh. Thirunavukkarasar,MOS (IT), Sh. K.K.Jaswal,Secy(DIT),Sh. Lakshminarayanan, Add. Secy (DIT) and Sh. S. K. Roy,TD (NIC)

Dr. N Vijayaditya, DG (NIC) lighting the lamp atthe inauguration function

Shri Arun Shourie, Hon’ble Minister for Communications and Information Technology, inauguratedthe Certifying Authority for Digital Signature Certificates at National Informatics Centre on 8t h

July,2003. With this, NIC has become the first Certifying Authority in the government sector. Thisfacility will provide Digital Signature Cerificates(DSC) to the officials of central and state governmentand all District Administrators with a view to promote E-Governance in the country.The first lot ofdigital signature certificates from NIC were presented to Mr. Shourie, Mr. Thirunavukkarasar, Ministerof state for IT, and Mr. KK Jaswal, Secretary, Department of IT. As a first application of digitalsignatures in the government, electronically signed e-mails were exchanged.

Dignitaries visiting the NIC Certifying Authority. (From L toR) : Sh. M.Moni, Dr.N.Vijayaditya, Sh.Lakshminarayanan,Sh.K.K Jaswal, Dr. Y.K Sharma, Sh. Thirunavukkarasar,Sh. Arun Shourie and Dr. B.K Gairola



October 2003

?| Citizen ServicesWith the maturing of IT in India, there hasbeen a shift in focus with emphasis onproviding more citizen services. The NIC HP hasimplemented the following citizen centricprojects:

? LokMitra Project: The NIC HimachalPradesh State Unit (NIC-HP) hasformulated the LokMitra project as aGovernment to Citizen Interface. The pilotof the LokMitra project has beenimplemented in the Hamirpur district.Twenty-five Information Centres were setup in the district, which are managed bythe unemployed youth selected by theLokMitra Society on a self-sustaining basis.The basic objective is to provide variousservices to the people living in rural areasat their doorsteps like grievance redressal,queries, downloadable forms, details ofdevelopment schemes, how to availbenefit from various schemes, marketrates, buy-sell, matrimonial, notices,tenders, vacancy details etc. A nominalfee is charged from the users of thisservice. Based on the feedback andlessons learnt in the pilot project, it isproposed to implement the LokMitraproject in a modified form in the wholestate as a G2C Project. Sh. VirbhadraSingh, Hon’ble Chief Minister Himachal

Himachal Pradesh – SettingStandards in IT Excellence

Ajay Singh Chahal, Himachal Pradesh Correspondent

Pradesh specially mentioned LokMitra inhis budget speech of year 2003 layingstress on its implementation in all districtsof HP. “The LokMitra Project has beenlisted as one of the 20 Hot e-Govprojects of the country by the DataquestMagazine-September 15, 2003 issue.”

? Electoral Rolls: The Electoral Rolls of HP,in Hindi, covering 42 Lakh electors havebeen published on the HP Governmentwebsite and can be searched on name,polling station and serial number wise.

? Web enabled Hotel Reservation Systemsoftware: The Web-Enabled HotelsReservation System software developedand implemented for the HP TourismDevelopment Corporation, with hotels at54 different geographical locations hasbeen implemented for the last threeyears. The software has interfaces forreservation offices and individuals formaking on-line bookings in any of thehotels of HPTDC.

? Publishing of Examination Results: TheNIC HP has been successfully publishing allexamination results of the HP Board ofSchool Education for the last threeacademic years. This year, the InteractiveVoice Response System (IVRS) wasintroduced for the Board results by settingup a Server with telephone lines at NIC,Shimla. The results of all classes werepublished on the website http://hpresults.nic.in and made available to

S TATE IN FOCUS

08

students on local call basis within Himachal.About 8 Lakh students accessed theirresults through the website and the IVRSsystem, which is an achievement in itselffor a State with a total population of 62Lakhs.

Sh. B.R. Rahi, Chairman, HP Board ofSchool Education wrote to NIC, “Icongratulate the NIC officials who made itpossible. The NIC HP has been providingthis remarkable service and that’s why theBoard could achieve the distinction ofdisseminating results information throughIVRS, website and Email.”

? PEHAL-The E-Governance Initiatives: Tointroduce transparency in the governmentfunctioning and to give better, friendlier,speedier, efficient services to the citizenon a single window, an attempt has beenmade in HP by establishing E-governancecenters in various districts of HP whereactivities related to Vehicle Registration,Driving License, Registration of LandDeeds, Arms License, Land Records Copy(/Nakal(HIMBHOOMI), Passport FormCollection Centre have been taken up.

Computerisation in the Administration :? HP Secretariat: The Secretariat LAN is

spread across three buildings vizArmsdale, Yojna Bhawan and CMSecretariat. As many as 150 terminals and75 clients are installed in these buildingsand 8 servers are used to serveapplications to the users on the clientsand terminals. A number of software havebeen developed and implemented forvarious application areas. The importantones are LAN-REFNIC-letters and filesmonitoring system, Freedom Fighters MIS,House Allotment MIS, Vehicle ExpenditureMonitoring System, etc.

? CM Office: CM-REFNIC software has beendeveloped for monitoring the referencesreceived in the Chief Minister Office fromvarious sources (General Public, Ministers,MLAs and other VIPs) relating to subjectslike grievances, transfer, development etc.The software provides for diary of thereferences, report generation, queries andreminders.

? Districts computerisation: To computerisethe activities of the District Administration

The State of Himachal Pradesh, known as“Dev Bhoomi”, is situated in the North of

India with a population of 62 Lakhs andan area of 56 thousand square Kilometers.

“Start by doing what is necessary, thenwhat is possible and suddenly you are

doing the impossible” has been themotto of NIC Himachal Pradesh ever since

its establishment in the year 1988.

HimachalPradesh



October 200309

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in a standardized manner, an exercisewas taken up in 1993 to study the areaswhere the computerisation could help tomeet the desired objectives oftransparency, efficiency and bettergovernance. The project, ‘DISNIC-DistrictAdministration Project ’ is envisaged andfollowing software have been developedand implemented in all districts:

1. Public Grievance Information System2. Peshi Branch Monitoring Information

System3. Reference Monitoring Information System4. Group Housing Management Information

System5. Copying Branch Management Information

system6. Revenue Recoveries Management

Information System7. Cash Counter Management Information

System8. Schemes Monitoring Information System9. Tribal District MIS10. Sadar Kanungo MIS

? Excise & Taxation: The NIC HP hasdeveloped software for computerisationof all Excise Barriers in the State. The TaxBarrier MIS software takes care ofincoming and out-going goods bycapturing ST-XXVI Form data andgenerating receipts for tax. The softwareis implemented at the major barriers. TheDISNIC-Sales Tax software has beenimplemented at the AETC offices tomonitor the returns filed by the Dealersand cross checking the returns againstgoods recorded at the Barriers.

? Education: Two software, namelyPersonnel MIS and Institution MIS havebeen developed for the SecondaryEducation department, which employsmore than 40,000 employees. Data iscaptured at the District level and furtheranalysis/monitoring is done at theDirectorate level.

? 7th All India School Education SurveyThe NIC HP has been entrusted with thedesign and development of software fordata entry, validations & national leveltabulations for the 7th All India SchoolEducation project. The software for dataentry has already been distributed to all

State Units in a workshop held in themonth of April 2003 at Shimla, whichwas inaugurated by DG, NIC.

? Rural Development: The Web-enabledRuralSoft software, developed by NICHqrs, has been modified to allow Blocklevel data entry. Comprehensive onlinechecks have also been added in thesoftware to capture quality data directlyfrom the 75 Blocks of HP. The softwarehas been implemented for two schemesof SGSY and SGRY after imparting trainingto 64 employees of the ruraldevelopment department.

? Generalised Software: The NIC HP hasdeveloped generalised software forPayroll processing, Personnel MIS,Departmental Budget Monitoring System,Inventory Management InformationSystem.

? Land Record Computerisation(HIMBHOOMI): The Himbhoomi softwareaims at generating Records Of Rightsautomatically and to provide the copy ofrecords to the individuals andencompasses Land Records, Land Reforms,Agriculture Census, Agriculture Statistics,Minor Irrigation Census, Customary &Forestry rights information. The softwareis getting implemented in all Tehsils ofHP.

? Welfare Department: HP Welfare Depttdisburses pensions to around 1,60,000old aged, handicapped, widow, lepers,destitute pensioners quarterly in the formof Money Orders. The software generatesMoney Orders, ledgers and helps to keeptrack on the returned Money Orders,acknowledgement, dispatch details etc.The software has streamlined the systemand reduced the drudgery of the work.The software for Online DisabilityCertificates Issuance to the handicappedis also functional for the department andaround 30,000 disability certificates havebeen issued through the software. Theweb-interface updated quarterly givesinformation of pension disbursement andissue of disability certificates.

? Finance-State Budget Processing: Asoftware was developed to simplify the

process of budget preparation of theState in the year 1994. The budget booksare prepared through this software. Nowthe software has been converted into theWindows platform. Besides generatingthe budget books, the Budget CD isprepared and the summary of the budgetis hosted on the web at http://himachal.nic.in/finance

? Online Treasuries Information System:Himachal Pradesh was among the firstStates in the country to computerise theaccounts compilation process in theDistrict Treasuries of the State. TheDISNIC-Treasury software was developedand implemented in the year 1990 andhas been running smoothly. Now, theonline version of the software (onWindows platform) has been tested andimplemented in one Treasury and isunder implementation in otherTreasuries.

?| Web Services:The official website of the HimachalPradesh Government (http://himachal.nic.in) has been developed by

The Hon’ble Chief Minster of HP, Sh. VirbhadraSingh launching the Kinnaur Distt. website



October 200310

S TATE IN FOCUS

NIC as a web-portal covering all aspectsrelated to the Government of HP. Specialemphasis has been laid on the E-Governance and G2C services aspect. Thewebsite has won the Best Website Award(Silver Icon Year 2002) in the E-Governance conference organized by theDepartment of Personnel & PublicGrievances, Govt of India. After conferringof the Silver Icon Award to the HimachalGovernment website, Sh. Arvind Kaul,then Principal Secretary (IT) wrote anappreciation letter to NIC and commented“The conferring of Silver Icon Status is amorale booster for the state of HimachalPradesh with respect to the IT sectorinitiatives undertaken, especially in thefield of E-Governance”.

?| Computerisation in the Judiciary:The NIC HP initiated computerisationprocess in the H.P. High Court in themonth of March 1994 by posting oneofficer. The LOBIS software wasimplemented and extended to the filingand inquiry counters. Over the years anumber of other software have beendeveloped at HP High Court and now twoNIC officers are posted. These softwareare Fixed Deposits Receipt Monitoring,Indian Law Report (Himachal series),Personnel MIS, Library InformationSystem, Subordinate Courts DisposalInformation System etc. NIC has beenable to train nearly 150 employees of theHP High Court in the use of variousapplication software. The website of theHP High Court has been designed anddeveloped by NIC cell at High Court and isavailable at http://himachal.nic.in/highcourt The District courtscomputerisation was actively pursued byNIC HP and the District Courts InformationSystem software has been implemented inthe 11 District Courts.

?| Computerisation in the Legislature:The NIC HP has posted one officer in June1996 at the HP Vidhan Sabha tocomputerise its activities, being one ofthe three important wings of Democracy.The various software developed andimplemented are Discretionary GrantsMonitoring System, Loans MonitoringSystem, Bills Monitoring System, BudgetMonitoring System, Recurring Deposits

Monitoring System, Telephone BillingSystem, Pension MIS for Ex-MLA’s andPayroll Processing System.The NIC Vidhan Sabha has developed andlaunched the website of LegislativeAssembly, which can be accessed at http://himachal.nic.in/hpvs. During AssemblySessions Daily/Supplementary List ofBusiness, Rotation of Ministers, TentativeCalendar, Day wise list of AssemblyQuestions, Brief of days proceedings,Corrigendums are published.

?| Training:The NIC HP has entered into an MOU withthe Himachal Institute of PublicAdministration (HIPA) for providing qualitytraining on IT tools to the StateGovernment officers/officials on a regularand uniform basis. NIC has provided twofaculty members at HIPA and conductstraining courses on paid basis and equalnumber of courses are organised by NIC

free of cost at Shimla and all DistrictCentres of NIC. The following facts, afterthe signing of the MOU, speak forthemselves:

? Revenue of over Rs.18 Lakhs generated forNIC through paid courses

? 7300 officers/officials of the StateGovernment imparted training in 568courses

? Establishment of IT laboratories at HIPA,Shimla and District Training Institutes atMandi and Dharamshala withinfrastructure worth Rs.1.5 Crores

?| Paid Projects:The State Unit has formulated andexecuted a number of paid projects, theprominent ones are:

? Department of Education (Development ofPersonnel MIS and Institution MIS

software and supply of hardware)? HP Tourism Development Corporation

(Web-enabled Hotels Reservation Systemsoftware and supply of hardware)

? Department of Rural Development (Supplyof hardware, training and implementationof RuralSoft software)

? Department of Treasuries & Accounts(Supply of hardware)

? IVRS for the HP Board of School Education? HPSEDC (establishing dial-up connectivity

at counting centre and training to theoperators)

? Design, development and hosting of thewebsites of Corporations/Boards/Departments

?| Email/Internet connectivity:In H.P. Secretariat, Shimla, one SCPC VSATis installed to cater to the needs ofInternet browsing/ data transfer and E-mail facility to the state governmentdepartments on LAN as well as dial-up.Another SCPC VSAT is dedicated for theuse of Video Conferencing facilityextended to State Governmentdepartments. It also serves as a backupdata channel. One SCPC VSAT each isinstalled at Mandi and Dharamshala. Thereare as many as 237 users (including 64dial-up) provided with INTERNET/E-mailfacility at Shimla and around 40 users atMandi and Dharamshala.

?| Future Plans:? Setting up of the Himachal Pradesh State

Wide Area Network (HIMSWAN)? Implementation of LokMitra on the

Internet for G2C Services covering alldistricts

? Pehal-Establishing E-Governance Centres inall Districts/ Sub-divisions

The State Government, in its IT policy, hasacknowledged that in Himachal Pradesh,the efforts regarding E-Governance havebeen largely NIC driven. The State Unitof the NIC, headed by the StateInformatics Officer, has been identified asthe E-Governance Wing of the DoIT.

For further information, please contact,State Informatics Officer

NIC Himachal Pradesh State UnitHP Secretariat, Shimla – 171002

Email : [email protected]



October 200311

D ISTRICT INFORMATICS

Shimoga -Marching towardsE-Governance

-

Shimoga District in Karnataka is a true pictureof nature’s bounty with landscapes dotted withwaterfalls, swaying palms and lush paddy fields.The district, located almost in the center ofKarnataka map is also known as the ‘Rice Bowlof the State.’ Jog Falls, the highest waterfallsof India and Agumbe, the Cherrapunjee ofSouth India are located in Shimoga.

NIC at Shimoga

NIC Centre at Shimoga District was establishedin the year 1988 with an aim to providecomputerization support to the local governmentand district administration. The NIC offices wereset up in Zilla Panchayat Office Premises andDistrict Magistrate’s office. The initial task wasto generate computer awareness among thelocal government officials and encourage themto use NICNET communication facility. Overtime, the district unit got involved in variouscomputerisation Projects catering to the needsof the District Administration, Zilla Panchayatand other state/central governmentdepartments. The district unit also contributedto the e-governance drive by designing websites

for all the three major departments of ShimogaDistrict i.e District Administration, PoliceDepartment and Zilla Panchayat.

?| Major Accomplishments

? Jana Samvedana : A Grievance monitoringsystem called ‘Jana Samvedana’ – a uniquesoftware for Mass Contact Programmeconducted every week by the DistrictAdministration. This software has twomodules, one for the Block levelimplementation and the other for the Sub-

Divisional and District level implementation.This software generates various reports andhelps the District Administration inmonitoring and faster disposal of theGrievances.

? Bhoomi (Land Records Computerisation):NIC Unit successfully implemented theBhoomi project in all 7 talukas of ShimogaDistrict. A total of 3.5 Lakh RTC’s have beencomputerised. The District administrationhas provided unique concept of displayingthe RTCs to the farmers by installingTelevision sets in place of traditionalmonitors.

? GRASP (Grants and Releases AccountingSoftware Package): This software is used byZilla Panchayat Accounts section. Thesoftware automates the flow of governmentGrants/Releases to the respectiveImplementing Officers of differentdepartments.

? Zilla Panchayat Accounting Package: TheDistrict Unit of NIC is providing total supportto the Zilla Panchayat Accounts Section. Apackage is developed by local unit forcomputerisation of accounting process. Thepackage is used for entering the dailyvoucher details of both the Zilla PanchayatAccounts and Taluka Panchayat Accounts.The software generates various reports forboth monthly and annual accounts forsubmission to Accountant General Office.

? Internet Scenario: NIC Shimoga has playedan instrumental role in design anddevelopment of three popular websites forDistrict Administration, District Police andZilla Panchayat.

? Zilla Panchayat Website : First of its kind inKarnataka, this website was officiallylaunched by Shri. S.M.Krishna, Hon’ble ChiefMinister of Karnataka on 19th February2000. The site presents the Organisationalstructure, Political Structure, Departmentsand their activities, Citizen centric

information of different developmentalschemes taken up by the Zilla Panchayatand other important statistics related toZilla Panchayat Office.URL : http://www.kar.nic.in/zpshimoga

? District Website Shimoga : This websitewas officially launched by DistrictMagistrate Shimoga on 26th January 2003.This site presents History, Geography,Industrial information, Educational andadministrative details of Shimoga District.This site also covers e-citizen informationlike govt. telephone directory , bus andtrain timings, downloadable forms, mapsetc.URL : http://shimoga.nic.in

? Shimoga Police Website : This websitewas officially launched by HomeMinister, Government of Karnataka on1st June 2001. This site presentsinformation about Shimoga police,organisational structure, Citizencharter services like Crime preventionguidelines, Circle wise police stationdetails and contact information.URL : http://www.shimogapolice.org

?| Other Activities

? Election Support : Shimoga District NICwas involved in computerising the Pre-Poll Statistics, Counting of Votes andPost Poll Statistics of Lok Sabha andVidhan Sabha Elections.

? Implementation of different NICsoftware packages developed by thestate and central units like CNAA,AGMARKNET, AHVS, Samanya Mahiti,RGRHCL etc..

? Computerisation of payroll system forZilla Panchayat Office and DistrictMagistrate’s office.

? Providing NICNET facilities to differentdepartments through dial-up network.

Contd. on pageNo.12 (col.3)

Pramod Hirolikar, NIC Shimoga



October 2003

area of un-spoilt natural beauty.?| Other Activities:? NIC has provided LAN connection as well as

Internet Connectivity to several userdepartments, some of which are located atfar-flung areas.

? NIC is imparting training to employees ofvarious Government Departments and also tothose who are involved in Centrallysponsored schemes like AGMARKNET, 7th

AISES project, PMGSY and BPL survey.? Monitoring and promotion of CIC project is

being done regularly so that maximum publicutility can be achieved though CICs.

NIC East Siang District Unit

District Informatics OfficerDebdeep Guha

For further information, please contact:District Informatics OfficerEast Siang District, PasighatArunachal PradeshPhone: 0368 – 2222545Email: [email protected]

D ISTRICT INFORMATICS

12

Dilip Kr. Debnath, NIC Arunachal Pradesh

East Siang - The Gateway toArunachal

East Siang District in Arunachal Pradeshderives its name from the mighty Siang River.Established in 1911, it is the first district ofArunachal Pradesh to have a modernadministrative setup. As per Census 2001, thepopulation of the district is 87,430 and theDistrict Headquarters is ‘Pasighat’ which is oneof the important townships in the State.

?| NIC-East Siang

The NIC District Unit of East Siang, Pasighat wassetup in 1990 with the objective of promotingInformatics culture in the district administrationand employees. It is presently involved inseveral important ICT activities for promoting E-governance in the District.

?| Key Activities

? Inner Line softwareSince Arunachal Pradesh is a protectedarea, “Inner Line Permits” are required bythe tourists visiting the State. For theconcerned department, NIC has developedan Inner line software package in MS-Access, which keeps daily track of fresh, andrenewal cases of Innerline permits issued aswell as the revenue generated everydayfrom this activity.

? Trade License SoftwareA Software on similar lines has beendeveloped for Trade License Branch forIssue and Renewal of Trade Licenses.Reports are generated on Trade licenses

Contn. from P-11

In the Words of Deputy Commissioner,Shimoga, Mr.Tushar Girinath, IAS

“ NIC Shimoga is a very vibrant and resultoriented unit. District Administration has used theNIC technical and human resources extensivelyfor accomplishing the objectives of resourcemapping, planning and grievance redressal. NIChas been involved with development andmaintenance of ‘Bhoomi’ software, which is thepride of Karnataka. They have developedShimoga’s website http://shimoga.nic.in in avery short time. I thank NIC for their support ofall District level initiatives taken by us and solicittheir co-operation in future. I wish them all theluck in their endeavors.”

NIC Shimoga District Unit

District Informatics OfficerPramod Hirolikar

District Informatics AssociateCherla Ramakanth

For further information, please contactDistrict Informatics Officer,

National Informatics Centre, Zilla PanchayatOffice, Shimoga (Karnataka)Email: [email protected]

issued, renewed, daily receipts along withfees & late fine calculations. The software isbeing extensively used by the Department.

? Arms License Software: For the JudicialBranch of the administration, NIC hasdeveloped an Arms License softwarepackage in MS-Access, using which, reportscan be generated based on applications forissuance of fresh licenses for various typesof guns and renewal of the same along withthe requisite fees.

? Monthly Expenditure Software: NIC hasdeveloped a monthly expenditure softwarefor district’s General Hospital to generatemonthly reports on revenues earned fromdiagnostic tests as well as reports generatedhead-wise for expenditures like salary,stationery purchased, etc.

? Paybill SoftwareFor the Accounts Department, NIC hasdeveloped a complete Payroll Package inMS-Access and implemented it from March2001 onwards. The software is findingextensive application in their monthly payrollprinting, especially the TR-22 forms whichwere once a manual and cumbersomeprocess. The software also has provision forgenerating Challans, Bill Extract, Schedulesetc. These forms are also being accepted bythe Bank and Treasury.

?| District Web SiteThe Website of East Siang districtdeveloped by NIC was launched on 26th o fMarch, 2003 at http://eastsiang.nic.in bythe Deputy Commissioner, East SiangDistrict , Pasighat. The Site comprisesdata and information pertaining to theDistrict Administration, MajorDepartments, Tourism, Entry formalitiesfor entering the District etc. ImportantDownloadable forms for availing variouscitizen services have also been put up.Photo Gallery is one of the attractivesections for encouraging tourism in this



October 2003

E GOV PRODUCTS & SERVICES

13

Ekal Seva Kendra – BringingIT and People Closer

Hari Chand, Haryana Correspondent

“EKAL SEVA KENDRA” has been setup byNational Informatics Centre, District IT Cell,at the district Secretariat, Kaithal (Haryana)with a mission to bring districtadministration closer to public by providingtime bound, hassle free, single pointdelivery of services. The center aims toprovide its services in a professional andcitizen friendly environment. Separatecounters have been setup with a seven-nodeLocal Area Network.All services from distribution of applicationforms to medical examination/photographyof applicant and delivery of certificates/documents are being provided at thesecounters. Receipts are provided to public onwhich time of delivery is mentioned. Infact,total integrated solution is provided by NICfor the following services included in theprogramme.

?| The Services:? Driving Licence (Learner/Permanent/

Renewal/Duplicate/Addition of Classetc.)

? Conductor Licence (Learner/Permanent/Renewal/Duplicate etc.).

? Vehicle Registration (New/Transfer/NOC/Addition & removal of HPA etc.).

? Caste Certificate.? Residence Certificate.? Nakal (Revenue Document) service.? Birth and Death Certificate.? Passport application acceptance service.

?| Objectives:? Time bound delivery.? On the spot Computerised scrutiny of

documents.? Single point contact : Services under one

roof.? Simplified procedure :Total Transparency.? Easy & Effective monitoring :Fixed

accountability.? Total solution: All activities

computerised.? Elimination of issuance of bogus/fake

licenses.? Elimination of Middleman? Automatic generation of periodic

Account/Audit statements.? Quick search facilities.? On line/ Offline MIS reports.? Reduced clerical workload.? Self-sustained project.

?| Technology behind the Kendra

NIC developed and implemented all softwareused at ‘EKAL SEVA KENDRA’. These softwareare highly versatile, robust and scalable.Most of them use Visual Basic as front-endand SQL Server as back-end. Databases aredesigned considering the best and latestsecurity techniques.One server, seven nodes, four Dot Matrixprinters, two LaserJet printers, one Inkjetprinter, Digital Camera and Signature Padare ultimately planned to be installed at thesite using Local Area Network havingconnectivity with DC, ADC , SDM and NICOffices.

?| Operational Aspects? “SARATHI”, National level software,which provides comprehensive and inte-grated solutions for issuance of drivinglicence, has been implemented. Driving testdate is booked as per applicant’s choice andthe modularity of software has beendesigned to ensure the delivery of thelicence in stipulated time period and forgenerating cash/audit statements.

? “VAHAN”, National level software hasbeen implemented for the solutions of

vehicle registration related work. Softwarehas provision of online scrutiny of thedocuments and booking of vehicle inspectiondate as per applicant’s choice. Several typesof MIS reports for the District administrationand other agencies like police, insurancecompanies etc. can be generated instantly.

? “HarCIS and BDMIS” Software areimplemented for issuance of certificates ofCaste(SC/BC/OBC), Haryana Residence andBirth & Death. The Kendra is issuingcertificates instantly on submission ofverified document and in case of non-verified document certificate are beingissued within stipulated time period.

? “NAKAL” of Jamabandies, Mutations andKhasra Girdawari are being issued from thiscounter within stipulated time frame. NAKALare being generated from the onlinecomputerised data available as well as fromthe manual records.

? “WEBPASS”, National level software bywhich a computerised file reference numberis being issued to the passport applicantsand after scrutiny, these are forwardedelectronically to Regional Passport Office forissuance of passport.

?| Self SustainabilityThe entire project has been setup withoutany budgetary allocation from the Govern-ment. The District Red Cross Society, Kaithal,is meeting all running expenses includingthose of manpower. For this purpose, anominal contribution from the users hasbeen charged for each service.All the service charges are inclusive of thefacilities such as on the spot Blood GroupTest wherever applicable, governmentprescribed forms, Photographs, Laminationof documents, Booklet of Traffic rules &symbols, File Folders etc.

The System is technologically foolproof andupgradable to provide more such servicesand information in future. Through the EkalSeva Kendra, NIC has attempted to set-upa Centre which is people friendly, needbased, technologically empowered and self-sustaining.

For further information, write [email protected]



October 2003


14

TACKIS - Tax ComplianceKnowledge Information System

N.K. Prasad, Bihar Correspondent

In the modern world, administration of anyrevenue law has become a technical and,more often than not, a contentious issue.Revenue management is the key toeconomic stability and development. In thepresent day world, IT Tools have becomecrucial for efficient revenue management.The Finance (Commercial Taxes) Department,Govt of Bihar, has foreseen the role IT canplay in streamlining fiscal management andimparting impetus to resource mobilizationand has, accordingly, embarked on a projectto fully computerize its activities.

?| Finance (Commercial Taxes) DepartmentThe Finance (Commercial Taxes)Department is the most significantrevenue-earning wing of the Governmentof Bihar. It is the largest revenue earnerfor the Govt. of Bihar as it contributesmore than 70% of total tax collection inthe State. Keeping track of the kind ofactivities yielding revenue for thedepartment becomes difficult and timeconsuming when carried out manually and itis here that an effective utilization ofInformation Technology can prove useful.

?| TACKIS - Introduction & ScopeThe computerization of Commercial Taxesenvisages micro and macro level automationand trend analysis. At micro level, the scopeof the software solution is to administerCommercial Taxes at circle level. At macrolevel the scope is to provide knowledgemanagement system to monitor thedistribution network of companies anddealers in the state of Bihar at the HQ.TACKIS is designed for macro level analysise.g., monitoring of Tax Behavior andmanagement of Tax Compliance. It isfashioning the dream of Finance(Commercial Taxes) Department, Govt. ofBihar into reality.

?| Objectives• To monitor the Distribution Network of

Companies.

• To monitor the Tax Compliance ofDealers.

• To estimate and widen the Tax Base ofthe Department.

• To estimate fresh potential for Revenue.• To increase the revenue collection by

tapping the latent potentials in the stateeconomy.

• To unearth incidences of tax evasion andplugging tax.

• Realization of Arrears.• Improved and efficient Knowledge

Management of revenue collection.• To establish a basis for implementation

of Value Added Tax (VAT).

?| Challenges to meet• Collection of data regarding sales of

Companies.• Analysis of approximate market size of

these Companies and their relativemarket share in Bihar in the light ofmacro economic indicators.

• Collecting data regarding purchases andsales of dealers and assessing their taxpotential.

• Ascertaining the realization of AdditionalTax when the consumer goods are re-sold down the line.

• Identifying and bringing new / left outdealers under sales taxation.

?| Sources of Data• Records of the Companies dispatching

goods from outside the State.• Depots, Branch-Offices, C&F Agents and

Consignee Agents of the Companiesestablished inside the State.

• Purchase and Sales carried out by theDealers or the Distributors in the State.

• Payments made and Returns submittedby the Dealers (Output of STAMINA, amacro level software developed by NICBihar State Unit, running at CommercialTaxes Circles in the State).

?| Analysis carried out by TACKIS• National level performance indicators of

companies vs. their respective share ofbusiness in the State.

• Distribution Network of the Companieswithin the State, e.g.,Depots, Branch-Offices, C&F Agents andConsignee Agents, Dealers/Distributors.

• Taxable as well as Tax-Paid sales ofvarious Companies to their Dealerswithin the State.

• Purchases and Sales of individualDealers and Tax deposited by them.

• Tax Compliance and Tax Behaviors ofDealers.

?| Status of ImplementationTACKIS is being used effectively since lastone year at Finance (Commercial Taxes)Department, Govt. of Bihar. It has not onlyhelped in computerizing DistributionNetwork of all C&F Agents, whichcontributes more than 80% of the totalCommercial Taxes Revenue, but also recordsthe Dealer-wise Purchase, Sale, and Taxdeposited figures.

?| ImpactTACKIS has so far created additionalrevenue of more than Rs. 250 Crores, whichwould otherwise remained un-earthed. Thishas become a boon for a poor state likeBihar.

?| Future ApplicationTACKIS has recorded a grand success in theState of Bihar. It can be easily configuredand implemented in other States for turningDistribution Networks into fully tax compliantsystems. Senior Officers from other Stateshave seen the software and shown interestin implementing the same in their respectiveStates.

In the words of Sh. Sudhir Kumar, IAS,Commissioner & Secretary… “TACKIS, anapplication software for effective monitoringof the distribution chain operating in Biharand the tax implications, is the result of aconcerted effort on the part of the NIC andthe department … It is among the mostwonderful applications of IT “

For further information, please email [email protected]



October 200315


ONLINE Counselling &Admissions at Andhra

CSR Prabhu, NIC Andhra Pradesh

NTR University of Health Sciences in AndhraPradesh is responsible for conductingadmissions into various medical coursesmainly MBBS, BDS, BPT, B.Sc. (MLT), BAMS,BHMS, BUMS and admissions into postgraduate diploma courses in variousbranches of medicine. The University invitesapplications from prospective students andthen prepares merit list based on rankissued by Convener of Common EntranceExam. The admissions into the abovecourses are to be done as per thereservation policy defined by theGovernment from time-to-time. The entireadmission process depends basically on twoparameters viz. Local area of candidate andCaste category of candidate. In order tosmoothen out the process and make itfaster and convenient, online counseling andadmissions system has been implemented bythe NIC Andhra Pradesh State Unit.In the State, 4 sub-categories in ScheduledCaste and 4 sub-categories in Backward

Classes exist. In addition, the Governmenthas issued 33.3% reservation to women. Inorder to make the admission processtransparent to the students and parents,the vacancy position and the list ofselected candidates in the order of rank isdisplayed at different locations by usinglarge display screens.The entire process of admission is dividedinto 4 stages:1. At the registration counters, candidates

called for counselling in that session gettheir arrival status registered.

2. Verification of certificates - Certificatesof the students and the CasteCertificate, if required, will be verifiedby the officers concerned and theacceptance / rejection of candidate willbe indicated through the system

3. Counselling and selection - Candidatewho is on the next rank to select seat

will be shown the availability positiondepending on his/her local area andcategory of the seats he/she is entitled.The candidate will select seat of hischoice and proceed to the Bank counterto fulfil necessary formallities. Theinformation pertaining to previousadmissions, if any, is displayed on thescreen for the reference counselor

4. Selected candidates pay the required feeat the payment counter.

Payment of feesThe entire process is done using Windows 2000server with VB as front end and MS-Accessas back end and the crystal reports forgeneration of various reports. The entire setuphas 2 servers and 15 clients connected in LANand the client to server access is throughterminal control services in Windows 2000.The reports which can be generated includeCollege-wise students admitted, Rank-wiselist of candidates and Total amountcollected (Bank-wise). The package can beadapted for any kind of admission bycustomizing the local requirements.

For further information, mail [email protected]

Interactive Voice Response is a form ofComputer Telephony (CT) that allows peopleto interact with a computer through theirtelephone. For the first time in the country,Computer Telephony Integration technologyhas been harnessed by NIC in designing anddeveloping an application for the benefit offarmers. The service was formally

inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister ofAndhra Pradesh Sh.N Chadrababu Naidu at afunction held in Hyderabad.Using this technology, the prices ofcommodities (minimum, maximum andmodal) prevailing in various markets in A.Pcan be obtained through an ordinary phoneby the information seekers, without anymanual intervention. No prior training isrequired to get the prices information, ascustomer need not touch any key board ormouse. Due to local language interface, thefarmers can interact with the systemcomfortably in local language.This system has been conceptualised,designed and developed by the GISTNICDivision,National Informatics Centre. Thecost of establishing such a service was quiteaffordable for the Market Department of

Prices Over Phone (IVRS)CSR Prabhu, NIC Andhra Pradesh Government of Andhra Pradesh. In default

mode, the system announces the maximum,minimum and modal prices of a fewprominent commodities. However, the usercan obtain maximum, minimum and modalprices of a chosen commodity across thestate or can choose a market to obtain theprices prevailing over there. As the systemreads the information from a central server,periodically every few hours, more latestprices as per reported information, areannounced automatically. ‘Prices over phone’service is at present available from fourlocations in Andhra Pradesh, - 1. MarketingDepartment , State Head quarters,Hyderabad, 2- AMC Vijayawada, 3. AMCKarimnagar, 4- AMC Cuddapah. It isproposed to cover all the important marketsin the state by installing more such systems.This IVR software has been standardisedand reusable for other markets in thecountry.For further information , write [email protected]



October 2003


16

On the eve of the 57th Independence Day, thelaunch of the new version of GOI Directory(http://goidirectory.nic.in) added a newdimension to e-governance in India. TheDirectory of Websites of Government officesand organisations in India encompasses allgovernment entities at all levels and from allsectors. For the first time after Independence,government offices having web presence -belonging to both Central and Stategovernments - have been showcased under asingle Digital document for the benefit of thecitizens of India and global viewers.Though a preliminary version was launched in2000 with only 8 broad categories when theconcept of web site development was graduallyspreading along the Government spectrum,soon this version was found to be insufficientto precisely accommodate all sorts ofgovernment entities surfacing on the web.Based on users’ feedback received from acrossthe globe, a thorough reorganisation of theweb directory was felt necessary. Detailedstudies and extensive interactions with variousMinistries and Departments were done toascertain various kinds of government officesand organisations existing in India. Thisculminated in the new comprehensive versionof the GOI Directory that can suitablyaccommodate any government offices ororganisations at any level starting from thehighest seat of the Office of the President ofIndia to the grassroot level of a PanchayatOffice. GOI Directory thus serves as a singlewindow for all e-information of IndianGovernment.

?| Cyber PresenceThe GOI Directory is a unique effort of NICto project the cyber presence of IndianGovernment before the global communityin the era of E-governance. Many of thewebsites included in the directory facilitatedirect Government to Citizen (G2C) as wellas Government to Business (G2B)interaction.

?| Authentic InformationThe directory includes information aboutonly official websites of government

entities, thus providing the visitorauthentic information.

?| Extensive CategorisationThe directory is extensively categorisedfirst into broad categories and then eachbroad category is further divided intonumerous sub-categories to cover allentities of Indian Government at all levelsas mentioned below.

? ExecutivePresident, Prime Minister, CentralGovernment Ministries, Departments,Offices under Ministries/Departments, ApexOffices/Institutions

? LegislatureIndian Parliament, Rajya Sabha, LokSabha, State Legislative Assemblies andLegislative Councils

? JudiciarySupreme Court, High Courts, DistrictCourts, other judicial entities

? States and Union Territories DistrictsGovernment Departments, Agencies andInstitutions

? Organisations / Banking, Financial andInsurance

? InstitutionsCo-operatives, Cultural, Educational,Health and Medical Public Sectors andJoint Ventures, Scientific and Research,Sports, Tourism and Hospitality

? CommitteesCommittees, Commissions, Working Groups,Missions, Taskforces

? Documents

Budgets, Plans, Policies, Reports, Results,SurveysMiscellaneousEvents – Seminars, Conferences,Workshops

?| Unique OrganisationOne-of-its-kind, for the first time, allIndian Government offices underMinistries/Departments are organisedaccording to their individual mode offunctioning and relation with the parentMinistry/Department such as Attachedoffice, Subordinate office, Autonomousinstitution/organisation, Division/Unit/Wingof the parent organisation, PSU/JV,Society, Statutory Body, etc. presentingthe exact status of individual offices.

?| Easy AccessEase of Access and navigation are usefulfeatures of this directory. Hosted on astate-of-the-art server at NIC and backedby high-bandwidth, the directory is easilyand quickly accessible from any part of theworld. From a broader view to specificrequirements, level-by-level arrangementof websites make the navigation bothcomfortable and enjoyable for the user.

?| State-of-the-Art TechnologyDeveloped using state-of-the-art technol-ogy and powered by database, thedirectory provides extreme flexibility toreflect any changes in the status andrelationship of government organisationsas and when required.

?| Comprehensive Search Powered by auser-friendly, extremely fast search enginewith both keyword and URL based searchoptions, the user can mine millions ofwebpages for his or her governmentinformation in no time.

?| Participatory ApproachThough a lot of effort is put to keep thedirectory updated with new websites, thedirectory invites participation of visitors aswell as government offices by allowingthem to directly participate in itsdevelopment through ‘Suggest A Site’ andFeedback forms.

?| Value AdditionsThe Directory announces all New Additionsin the Directory indicating the categoriesunder which the new sites have beenentered. At the same time, the directoryreveals the actual Statistics of web sitesreflecting the number of sites includedunder each category.

For further details regarding GOI Directory,please email at [email protected]

GOI Directory - A Gateway toIndian Government Websites(http://goidirectory.nic.in)

J. Thakur, NIC HQ



October 200317

T ECHNOLOGY UPDATE

Computational Challengesin Bio-Informatics

Dibakar Ray, NIC HQ

The definition of bioinformatics is not universallyagreed upon. The most authoritative one byBiomedical Information Science and TechnologyInitiative(BISTI) (http://www.bisti.nih.gov/) atNational Institute of Health is - “Research,development or application of computational toolsand approaches for expanding the use of biological,medical, behavioral or health data, including thoseto acquire, store, organize, archive, analyze orvisualize such data”.From a computational perspective the goals ofbioinformatics are :-? Analysis and interpretation of various types of

biological data including nucleotide and aminoacid sequences, protein domains and proteinstructures.

? The development and implementation of toolsthat enable efficient access, use andmanagement of these data sets.

? The development of new algorithms andstatistical methods to assess relationshipsamong members of large data sets.

What makes bio-informatics relevant and such animportant topic is its many practical applications indifferent areas of biology and medicine like creatingnew drugs, discovering cures for genetic diseases,improve diagnosis of disease, detect geneticpredispositions to disease, create drugs based onmolecular information (smart drugs), cloningthreatened species, creating new biomaterials formilitary and civilian applications, and creating high-yield and disease-resistant crops to feed the world’sgrowing population.Biotechnology, being the thrust area of research, isproducing genomic data at an exponential rate. Thisgrowth in data along with its increasing complexityhas thrown quite a few challenges. From computerscience perspective challenges in bioinformatcs canbe divided into number of areas, of which we willdiscuss about data management and organisation,data mining, high performance computing, andalgorithms.

?| Data Management and OrganisationIn the early years handling of bioinformatics dataused to be carried out by individual research groups.With advent of new automated experimentalmethods, which are increasingly generatingenormous amount of data, storing and organisingthese complex data were made responsibility ofnational and international initiatives. Initially these

databases were simple flat files, however increasinglyrelational databases are being used for betterperformance. Web interface has become an integralpart of such databases for retrieval and analysis ofthe content of the database. The challenges in thefield of data management and organization can begrouped as -? How to incorporate data and annotation

emerging from different sequencing centers intoa searchable resource, providing a single, robustpoint of access and a user friendly interface,with extensive links to relevant resources anddatabases under development elsewhere.

? How to integrate genomic data with existingand future experimental result related togenome mapping, gene expression, proteinfunction, protein-protein interactions,metabolic pathways etc. in both graphical andtext based formats.

? How to establish a database that canincorporate sequence information from otherrelated species.

? Providing web based access, email-based accessin order to ensure full access to the sequenceand related resources to all regardless ofgeographic location.

Development of whole genome database of malariacausing Plasmodium falciparum (http://plasmodb.org) is an attempt to answer suchchallenges and can provide valuable guidance infuture developments.

?| Data miningAs mentioned earlier high-throughput techniquesand functional genomics generate large amounts ofdata. This ever-growing amount of data requires notonly sophisticated tools for storage and retrievalbut also tools for analysing and interpretingcontent hidden in it which is not immediatelyintelligible. Data mining techniques are being usedto discover new, previously unknown and hiddenpatterns in large data set, and to represent andinterpret those patterns in a human intelligible way.The common data mining tools are clustering,classification, dependency modeling, and regression,but more advanced techniques are required toidentify different and unknown structural patterns.The fields of Natural Language Processing, logic,artificial intelligence, ontologies are being usedmore and more to find meaningful information fromthis flood of data.

?| Software development and AlgorithmResearchers in bioinformatics generally prefer todevelop software tools required for their very specificarea of research. Generally speaking , algorithmsused in such programs are often found to be toosimplistic and not optimised. Most of the cases theyneed modification in some way or other to fit intothe structures and requirements of problems of otherresearchers. The data processing logic in thesesoftware are typically written using conventionalprogramming languages (e.g., C , Fortran or Java) forthe basic algorithms and scripting languages likePerl are used as the glue between the differentcomponents. Such an approach leads to logic that isextremely difficult to modify. This situation calls forapplication of better software development strategyand software engineering methodologies indeveloping bioinformatics software.Yet another challenge in development ofbioinformatics software tool is algorithmdevelopment. Special problems in the area ofbioinformatics is that programs are verycomputationally intensive, so development of betteralgorithms in terms of resource requirements are agreat challenge. Areas where better algorithms are apressing necessity are sequence alignment, proteinstructure prediction, protein function prediction,protein protein interactions etc.

?| High performance computingMany biomedical problems like microarray geneexpression data analysis, multiple sequencealignments, genetic network, biochemical network,protein-protein interactions, phylogenyreconstruction, genetic linkage analysis, proteinstructure prediction, etc, require computationallyintensive numerical operations on a large datadomain. They take an enormous amount ofcomputational time and make it impractical to solvethem on uniprocessor or multiprocessor basedcomputers. Parallel computing can be applied tosolve those numerically intensive biomedicalproblems. Among number of available architectures,Linux-based Beowulf clusters are providing a high-performance and inexpensive alternative solution.Beowulf cluster is built primarily out of commodityhardware components, interconnected by a privatehigh-speed network. Setting up and fine tuningsuch clusters requires considerable effort andexpertise in operating system and communication.Developing programs which can harness power ofparallel processing is also a considerable challenge.

An inter disciplinary and systematic approach isnecessary to overcome these challenges and developbetter and efficient tools for bioinformatics whichwill help the country in a long way to fight againstdisease and hunger.

For further information, please write [email protected]



October 2003

C YBER GOVERNANCE

18

CYBER GOVERNANCEA Glimpse of some of the new websites launched on NIC’s web servers

under the “India Image” Programme during the past quarter......

?| Krishi Marata Vahini

Krishi Marata Vahni is a bi-lingual (Kannadaand English) Regional portal developed byNIC Karnataka to strengthen the AGMARKNETProgramme in the State.The Portal is a complete web enabledagricultural market information systemcovering all the markets in Karnataka State.The Portal was inaugurated by Hon’ble ChiefMinister of Karnataka Sh S.M Krishna inpresence of Dr. N. Vijayaditya, DG(NIC) andSh. M. Moni, DDG (NIC). The portal getsupdated directly from markets everyday andprovides marketwise, commodity wise, dailyand periodic report. Information on thestatus of updation and holiday details arealso available on daily basis. Krishi MarataVahini will be available through IVRS shortly.

?| ROC Keralahttp://rockerala.nic.in

Registrar of Companies (ROC), Departmentof Company Affairs is vested with theprimary duty of registering companies andensuring that such companies comply withstatutory requirements.This Site, designedby NITPU Cochin, provides informationregarding the various procedures to befollowed by companies. The NameApplication Status Query helps a promoterto check the status of his application byentering just the Application Number or thefirst name without having to visit the Officeof ROC. Besides, information is providedabout ROC, the List of Defaulting

Companies, List of Returns to be filed,Details of Filing Fee, Corporate GrowthChart, Press Notes, List of Holidays &Working Hours, FAQs etc.Sh. Sameer Biswas, Regional Director, Dept.of Company Affairs inaugurated the ROCKerala Web Site in the presence of Sh. HenryRichard, Registrar of Companies, Kerala,Hon’ble Justice K. J. Mathew, and Officersand Staff of NIC, NITPU& ROC.

Julie Zachariah, NITPU Cochin

?| Distt Kinnaur, Himachal Pradeshhttp://hpkinnaur.nic.in

The district website of Kinnaur was launchedby Sh. Virbhadra Singh, Hon’ble ChiefMinister, Himachal Pradesh on 2ndSeptember, 2003 at Shimla. The website hasbeen developed by the DistrictAdministration, Kinnaur and NIC, HimachalPradesh. The website provides informationabout the History, Culture, Tourism, Facts,Administration etc. The Tourism section isvery elaborate and covers everything atourist may like to know before actuallyvisiting the district.

Ajay Singh Chahal, Himachal Pradesh

?| Industrial Portal, Haryanahttp://haryanaindustries.nic.in

An Industrial portal of Haryana governmenthas been developed by NIC Haryana StateUnit with the purpose of facilitating theentrepreneurs to file online application forsetting up an industry in the State. At

present, four major governmentdepartments wiz. Industries Department,Labour Department, Pollution Control Boardand Environment Department are involved inthis portal. The Portal would facilitateanyone:

• To file applications online for servicesand facilities and obtain informationabout their status.

• To obtain information, downloadableforms and procedures in respect ofservices, clearances and facilities beingprovided by various departments andorganizations.

• To file periodical returns online ; and• To file grievances online using the

online grievances monitoring system(OGIS) of NIC.In addition, all the involved departmentscan check and update the status ofapplications related to them online,thereby enabling them to interact withthe entrepreneurs through web.


?| Tamil Nadu Rural Bazarhttp://www.ruralbazar.tn.gov.in

Rural Bazar website is a new initiative fromthe Department of Rural Development,Government of Tamil Nadu and NIC, inpopularising the fine creations of ruralgenius. The site, which was launched by theHon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,provides information on more than 700products produced by the Rural Women SelfHelp Groups. Online ordering facility hasbeen provided which enables the customersto place orders through the Internet. Thesite was developed by NIC Tamil Nadu StateUnit in consultation with Rural DevelopmentInformatics Systems Division.

R. Gayatri, Tamil Nadu Correspondent

P.Shreekrishna Bhat, NIC Karnataka



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C YBER GOVERNANCE

?| Lower Dibang Valley, Arunachalhttp://roing.nic.in

The Official Website of Lower Dibang ValleyDistrict was recently inaugurated bySh.Roding Pertin, Hon’ble Minister ofEnvironment & Forest, Government ofArunachal Preadesh at a special function inthe presence of Deputy Commissioner, allHeads of Departments, Zilla ParishadChairman, Anchal Samity Chairman, allpublic leaders and other officials. All visitorsshowed great enthusiasm to see the websitewhich has plenty of information about theDistrict, its history, archaeology, flora andfauna as well as citizen services being

provided by the Administration.Tasso Habung, Arunachal Correspondent

?| Coconut Development Board, Kochihttp://coconutboard.nic.in

The Coconut Development Board (CDB) withits headquarters at Kochi in Kerala is astatutory body established under the Ministryof Agriculture, Government of India for theintegrated development of coconutcultivation and industry in the country withfocus on productivity increase and productdiversification. Details about CDB Offices,Mandate, Functions of the Board, CDBServices, Acts, Rules & Regulations, Schemes

of CDB, Technology Mission on Coconut,Coconut Products of India, ApplicationForms, Video & Publications Online OrderForms etc. are provided in this Site, whichhas been recently re-designed by NITPUCochin.

Julie Zachariah, NITPU Cochin

?| Agriculture Deptt, Haryanahttp://agriharyana.nic.in

The Web site of Agriculture Department ofHaryana Government was recentlylaunched. The website contains, besidegeneral information, the detailedinformation on Agriculture extensionprogramme, Agriculture Informationservices, Soil conservation activities, Soiltesting facilities, Agriculture engineering,Ground water cell, Plant protection andIntegrated pest management, Beekeeping, Details of district wiseconsumption of fertilizers and pesticides,Lists of notified verities of seeds in thestate, Seed producing agencies in thestate, Sugarcane varities, crushingcapacity of the units in the state etc. andinformation about the Kandi projects ofthe state (IWDP and HOPP).


?| High Court, Uttaranchal

The Hon’ble Governor of UttaranchalSh. Sudershan Agrawal during his recentvisit to Nainital inaugurated the official website of High Court of Uttaranchal in thepresence of Hon’ble Chief Justice ofUttaranchal Mr.Ashok A.Desai and otherdignitaries. The website has beendeveloped and hosted by NIC UttaranchalState Unit.

Apart from the web site, the Hon’bleGovernor also reviewed the working of newlydeveloped software developed by NIC for theHigh Court computerisation. Sh. Prafulla C.Pant (H.J.S) Registrar General, High Court ofUttaranchal appreciated the work of NICteam led by Sh. Deep Kumar, Officer-in-charge of the Project.

Rajesh Goyal, NIC Uttaranchal

?| Balangir Distt, Orissahttp://balangir.nic.in

Balangir District of Orissa recentlystepped into the world of web with thelaunch of its website. The site is richwith information on Topography,Demography, History, Culture, Places ofTourist interest etc. Various Public Utilityforms have also been provided fordownload. The site, developed by the NICDistrict Unit team comprising Sh S.PDash, DIO and Sh C.V.K.M Rao, DIA, wasformally inaugurated by Sh. A.U SinghDeo, Hon’ble Minister for IT in OrissaGovt.

A.K Hota, Orissa Correspondent

In order to facilitate and streamline

the procedure for Website Registration

at NIC HQ, an automated system has

been initiated whereby the requests

for website registration can be

submitted Online. In an attempt to

make this system fully secure, an

authentication mechanism has been

worked out and User IDs/passwords

have been created to submit the

website registration requests online.

At present, this facility is open ONLY

for SIOs and HODs of NIC.

Visit http://webservices.nic.in for

further details

NoticeWebsite Registration Automated



October 200320

H APPENINGS

HAPPENINGSA Glimpse of e-governance activities carried out by the various NIC Centresduring the past quarter…

?| Computerisation of District Court atAlappuzha

Alappuzha District of Kerala has becomethe first district in the State to have a fullycomputerized Enquiry Counter at the DistrictCourt. NIC initiated the District CourtComputerization programme at Alappuzha in1999. With the activeco-operation of the District Judge and theother officers, the District Court InformationSystem (DCIS) was implemented. All thecases filed during the day are entered intothe system and the database is up-to-date.Apart from the case details, the dailyproceedings of the court are also entered .Due to its achievements in CourtsComputerisation, Alappuzha District hasbecome a Model District in the State . NICrecently setup a facilitation counter forhelping the general public in getting theircase details. The Counter was inauguratedrecently by the Hon’ble Justice Kum.Lekshmikutty, Judge, High Court of Kerela inthe esteemed presence of Hon’ble ChiefJustice R.L.Gupta and other dignitaries.Hon’ble Justice Kum. Lekshmikutty in herinaugural speech said “ This breakthroughwould not have occurred but for the wholehearted support of the NIC team comprisingSh. Saji K Abraham, DIO, Smt. Parvathy,DIA and Sri. T D Jainendrakumar, Statecoordinator of Kerela. I heartily thank themfor the support extended to us toaccomplish this milestone achievement.”

Saji K. Abraham, NIC Alappuzha

?| GOANET Inaugurated

GOANET, the Intranet of Government of Goawas inaugurated on 30 May 2003 by theHon’ble Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Parrikar.GOANET has been set up to inter-connect allDepartments, Collectorates, Taluka Offices,Block Offices and Village Panchayats. It isplanned to provide all Government services tocitizens on-line through Government officesand Mahithi Ghars networked throughGOANET. All 11 Taluka Offices, both theDistrict Collectorates, 3 Mahithi Ghars, oneRTO Office (Panaji) and two City SurveyOffices have already been connected toGOANET through dedicated Leased Lines.Database and Application Servers for LandRecords and RTO Applications are also co-located at the central Hub. The servicescurrently available through GOANET includeissuance of Form I & XIV (Record of Right) ofall Villages , On-Line Mutation, Learner’sLicense etc. Many more utility services areproposed to be included in the near future.Beside GOANET, a Touch screen based EnquiryCounter at Panaji Collectorate for facilitationof information dissemination was alsoinaugurated by the Chief Minister on thesame day.

C.Chandran, NIC Goa

?| Review of LRC in Rajasthan

Sh. Madho Singh Diwan, Hon’ble InformationTechnology Minister, Government of Rajasthanrecently reviewed the status of Land Records

The Secretaries to the State Govt for IT andRevenue were also present in the meeting,apart from other dignitaries. Hon’ble Ministercongratulated the officials associated in theProject for successfully implementing theProject in 206 Tehsils of the State andappreciated NIC’s role in the endeavour. Allthe activities carried out in the Project eversince its inception in the State werehighlighted in a presentation by Smt. InduGupta, SIO Rajasthan, who also demonstratedthe Tehsil Level Land Records Software.

Deepak Bhargava, Rajasthan Correspondent

?| Immigration Control Software atAndaman & Nicobar Islands

The newly Computerized Immigration ControlSystem (ICS) developed by NIC has beenimplemented at Haddo Sea Port, Port Blair on4th July, 2003. The Special Secretary, Ministryof Home Affairs, Sh. R.K. Sharmainaugurated the System at a function held atHaddo. The Chief Secretary, A & NAdministration,Sh. Pradeep Singh presided over the function.

Gautam Gupta, A&N Correspondent

?| Office Automation Training at Bomdila

A two week long training programme onOffice Automation was conducted jointly byNIC and ATI, Arunachal Predash at Bomdilafor the Officers and staff of West KamengDistrict Administration. The training dealtwith the basic concepts of computers andfamiliarised the participants with Windows,



October 200321

H APPENINGS

MS-Office, Internet and Networking. TheCourse Director was Mrs. Y.W Ringu, ADC,Bomdila. Sh. Deepak Gohain, DIO and Sh. N.DamodarSingh, DIA from NIC were actively involvedin the Programme. The Deputy Commissionerof Bomdila, Sh. H.Rajesh Prasad presidedover the valedictory function and appreciatedNIC’s efforts in conducting the Programme.


?| Integrated Marketing InformationSystem for NAFED

The Co-operatives Informatics Division of NIChas developed a Web based IntegratedMarketing Information System for NAFEDwhich will capture on-line, data from 30branches of NAFED (located througout theCountry) on daily purchases, sales, import/export, stocks and processing of agriculturalcommodities. In the words of Sh. Ajit KumarSingh, Chairman NAFED, “ In oder to havespeed and efficiency in the marketingactivities of the Federation, an onlinemarketing facility has been developed by NICwhich shall help in faster retrieval of allrelevant marketing information”. Sh. P.KAggarwal, Managing Director of NAFED alsoexpressed that the electronic systemdeveloped by NIC shall lead to a fasterdissemination and exchange of information

IPS Sethi, NIC HQ

?| Nagrik Seva Kendra at Vadodara

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of GujaratSh. Narendra Modi inaugurated the‘Mamlatdar Management System’ developedby NIC at Nagrik Seva Kendra in VadodaraDistrict. Nagrik Seva Kendra is a singlewindow service for the citizens to obtainvarious government certificates andaffidavits. The System, developed by NICsupports Gujarati language and automatesthe procedure right from receipt of

application to approval to printing of variouscertificates.

Manoj P.A, Gujarat Correspondent

?| Workshop-cum-Training on Agmarknet

A two day workshop cum training wasorganised for the APMC Secretaries on theAgmarknet (Agriculture MarketingInformation System) project at Patnarecently. Sh. M. Moni, DDG (NIC) delivered avisionary lecture on ICT based AgriculturalInformation System. The workshop wasinaugurated by Sh Sanjay Kr. Rakesh, IAS,Bihar State Agriculture Marketing Board.

Dr. Saurabh Gupta, SIO Bihar gave theintroductory speech highlighting the benefitsof the Project and Sh. P.K Suri, TD &National Project Co-ordinator presented theover-all National Scenario on Agmarknet. Sh.P.C Sahoo, NIC Bihar state Unit co-ordinatedthe workshop. 24 Bazar Samities areoperational for Agmarknet data transmissionin Bihar.

N.K Prasad, Bihar Correspondent

?| Registration Software at Uttaranchal

NIC Uttaranchal has developed a softwareAURES (Automation of Registrar of Society,Chits and Firms) with the help of which,registrations and renewals of different typesof societies, firms and chits are beingperformed. Renewal activity of thesesocieties generally takes place every yearafter the elections of members or any otherrelated activities are completed. Duplicationof name, very important from the point ofview of registration, was difficult in manualprocess and has become easier to restrictafter implementation of this package.The software has been developed in VisualBasic and MS-Access. It generates output inthe form of reports and queries and meetsthe requirements of the officials at all

levels.

A.K Dadhichi, Uttaranchal Correspondent

?| NIC Officers Honoured

Many DIOs and DIAs of NIC in almost all theStates are honoured for their meritoriousservices by the respective District Collectorsevery year on the occassion of IndependenceDay. Some Officers of NIC who wererecently awarded for their contributioninclude the following :-

- Sh. Pramod Sharma, DIA, Udaipur(Rajasthan) who was awarded bySh. Sudershan Sethi IAS, DC ,Udaipur

- Sh. M.M Khan, DIO Muktsar (Punjab) whowas honoured by Sh. Jagmohan Singh Kang,Hon’ble Minister of Animal Husbandry, Govtof Punjab

- Sh. Sarbjeet Singh (NIC Punjab) who wasawarded, along with his team, for thesuccessful computerisation of theemployment exchange at Muktsar byCh. Jagjit Singh, Hon’ble Minister forLabour and Employment, Govt of Punjab.



October 200322

H APPENINGS

?| E-Granthalaya Software Released

A library management software developedby Karnataka State Unit was released byDr. N. Vijayaditya, DG(NIC) in a functionheld on 23rd June 2003 at NIC HQ, NewDelhi. The software has already beenimplemented in many libraries in India.The software is a standard package forlibrary automation having all the modulesfor inhouse operations of a library. Onthe occasion, DG (NIC) said that “ Thesoftware package will be distributed freeof cost to all the government librariesincluding schools and colleges for libraryautomation and networking.” E-Granthalaya is an XML based platformindependent system which can be easilycustomised as per the requirements of anindividual library. Ms. Veena Oak, NICKarnataka demonstrated the features ofthe software.

On the same day, DG (NIC) also inaugurateda consortium of Ministry of Communications &Information Technology Libraries. The primarypurpose of library Consortium is to shareinformation resources including Books,Periodicals, e-journals, e-books. AConsortium Committee has been formedunder the Chairmanship of Shri M. Moni, DDG(NIC) and members from libaries Departmentof Information Technology (DIT), Departmentof Post (DOP) and Department ofTelecommunications (DOT).

P.K Upadhyay, NIC HQ

?| Computerised Birth & DeathRegistration at Bhubaneswar

A Computerised Birth & Death RegistrationSystem, developed by NIC Orissa State Unitfor the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporationwas inaugurated by Sh. BiswabhushanHarichandan, Hon’ble Minister, Revenue &Law, Govt of Orissa. Sh. Samir Dey, Hon’bleMinister, Urban Development presided overthe meeting and declared that thegovernment shall soon implement thepackage at all urban bodies. Sh. S.K Panda,SIO, highlighted the features of the softwareand a team of NIC officers led by Sh. A.KHota presented the web enabled module ofthe software before the audience.


?| Mobile Services launched in J&Kthrough VC

Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh. Atal BihariVajpayee launched BSNL’s Cell ONE MobileServices in J & K from “Panchvati” at hisresidence over videoconferencing on 20thAugust 2003. Prime Minister wasaccompanied by Sh. Arun Shourie, Hon’bleMinister of Communications and IT.Sh. Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, Hon’ble ChiefMinister of Jammu & Kashmir was present atthe launch programme in Srinagar along withhis Cabinet Ministers and press. NICfacilitated the videoconferencing byconnecting “Panchvati” with StateSecretariat, Srinagar over NICNET.

Sambeet Mishra, NIC HQ

?| BRO-SOFT for Army Recruitment

Ahmedabad Branch Recruiting Office (BRO) ofIndian Army conducted recruitment rallies torecruit soldiers at Surat, Himat Nagar andAhmedabad recently. Those rallies weresuccessfully supported by BRO-SOFT softwaredeveloped by NIC Gujarat State Unit. BRO-

SOFT automates the systematic proceduresrelated to each task of the recruitmentprocess. Some of the tasks are checking ofdocuments, physical measurements, physicalfitness test, medical examination, writtenexamination, preparation of merit list andenrolment and despatch of selectedcandidates

Manoj P.A , Gujarat Correspondent

?| Orissa Home Deptt moving towardsComputerisation

As a step towards e-governance, HomeDepartment, Govt. of Orissa has taken theideal step to install P-4 systems at 16important sections with Networked printers topromote IT culture in the department. On itsinauguration, one week training programmewith vigorous hands-on sessions wasorganized by NIC State Unit. Shri SantoshKumar, I.A.S, Principal Secretary to Govt.,Home department, addressing theparticipants said that all other sections aregoing to have computers very soon and moretraining programmes will be organized inactive coordination with NIC SecretariatCentre. The R-F Connectivity with Fiber Opticsbackbone to the department will catertowards e-mail services and in handling inter-departmental transactions.


?| JEE Exam Results at Arunachal

The Directorate of Higher and TechnicalEducation, Government of Arunachal Pradeshconducts Joint Entrance Exam every year. Thejob of generating the Merit list and publishingthe result on the Net is entrusted every yearto NIC, Arunachal Pradesh State Unit. Thisyear too, the work assigned was completedsuccessfully to the satisfaction of theDirectorate. Thousands of records wereprocessed and various kinds of merit listswere generated. The results were published



October 200323

H APPENINGS

His Excellency Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo,President of Co-operative Republic ofGuyana visited NIC on 24th August 2003.The Hon’ble President was received by DG,NIC and he visited the Master EarthStation of NIC HQ and was briefed on theNICNET operations by NIC officials. ADemonstration of Utility Mapping of Delhiwas also done.Hon’ble President alsoparticipated in a videoconferencingsession where he interacted with StateInformatics Officers of Chhattisgarh, MPand Jharkhand. He appreciated the effortsput in by NIC for providing Government-Citizen interface using state of the artcommunication technology. His Excellencywas accompanied by Sh.K.K.Jaswal,Secretary-DIT.

President of Guyana visits NIC

During his India trip, the President also visitedhis ancestral village Pura Thakurain MasraNawawa, Sahuji Maharaj Nagar, Uttar Pradeshalsong with Sh. Digvijay Singh, Hon’ble Ministerof State for External Affairs. The Hon’blePresident launched two websites developed byNIC, namely‘Trace your Roots’ (http://indianroots.nic.in)which an endeavor to assist Indian Diaspora totrace their ancestral roots in a systematicmanner, in an interactive mode through aquestionnaire ; and ‘Website of Distt ChatrapatiSahuji Maharaj Nagar (http://csmnagar.nic.in),developed in the local language by NICSultanpur, which provides useful informationabout the newly formed District.

Sambeet Mishra, NIC HQ, Anshu Rohatgi, UP Correspondent & Somesh Kumar, NIC Sultanpur

in the official Web Site of the State and wasalso linked from NIC’s result portal (http://results.nic.in). For the first time all the CICsof Arunachal Pradesh along with NIC Districtunits were able to disseminate the results tothe anxious students of JEE-2003 staying inthe remote areas of the state.


?| CIC Activities in North Sikkim

Recently, the District Collector along with allthe district level officers visited theCommunity Information Centre (CIC) at theHee-gyathang School Hostel in North Sikkimas a part of a drive to encourage local publicto use IT tools and to announce various ITinitiatives taken by the government for thebenefit of the public.Sh. L.P. Sharma, DIO North Sikkim explainedthe various computerization plans in the

district to the visiting officials and thegathered audience.

District Collector, North Sikkim ShriP.S.Targain handed over a CD-ROM containingsoftcopies of all the application forms usefulfor the public for availing the various citizenservices to the CIC management Committee.During the meeting a statistical profile ofHee-gyathang GPU prepared by NIC, NorthSikkim and Annual Performance Report ofCIC Hee-gyathang, prepared by CIC Hee-gyathang were also released.

District Collector, Shri P.S.Targaincongratulated DIO, NIC and the CIC staff fortheir active initiatives in bringing e-governance to the grass root level and saidthat establishment of CIC’s is an extremelygood and useful idea.

L.P Sharma, NIC Sikkim

?| Commendation for DIO Purnia

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India visitedPurnia District of Bihar on 6th May 2003 .Showing great faith in NIC’s team in theDistrict , the District Magistrate , Purnia(Bihar)Sh. Pankaj Kumar , IAS recommended thename of DIO Purnia Sh. G K Mishra asOfficer–in–charge of the temporary officefor the PM to be located at Army Air Port ,Chunapur , Purnia. DIO was assigned theimportant task of providing completetechnical support to delegates arrivingfrom PMO consisting of 25 senior IASofficers . Accepting this challenge, NICteam at Purnia made elaborate advancearrangements relating to IT and Technicalinfrastructure as per the protocol receivedfrom PMO, New Delhi. In an appreciationletter later issued, the DM applauded thearrangements and said that the roleplayed by the DIO was outstanding anddeserves all appreciation.

N.K Prasad, Bihar Correspondent

?| Vidhan Sabha Info at Finger-Touch

In an e-governance endeavour, NIC-Punjabhas deployed touch screen kiosk in theState Vidhan Sabha. The information kioskwas inaugurated by Hon’ble FinanceMinister of Punjab Sardar Lal Singhrecently. The Kiosk will help the Membersof Legislative Assembly to know about thevarious schemes announced by theGovernment, Questions of the House,Meetings of the various Committees,Detailed introduction of the members ofthe house etc.

Sarbjeet Singh, Punjab Correspondent

?| PUGMARS Software at Doda

NIC Unit at Doda Distt in J&K hasdeveloped a Web based Online Public



October 200324

National Informatics Centre, Department of Information Technology,Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India,A-Block, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110003

Telephone: 91-11-24361133 Fax: 91-11-24362628 www: http://home.nic.in

This publication is brought to you by:

H APPENINGS

?| Papers/Articles Published by NIC Officers

? Title : NewsNIC: a Web-based, full-textnews clipping service from the NationalInformatics Centre Library in IndiaAuthors : Ram Kumar Matoria; P.K.Upadhyay; Arvind Mishra, NIC HQPublication : Journal : ElectronicLibrary and Information Systems, Vol37 No. 3Abstract : This case study discussesthe needs, objectives and advantagesof NewsNIC, a Web-based full-textnews clippings project implemented bythe library of the National InformaticsCentre, Ministry of Communicationsand Information Technology,Government of India. The authorsdiscuss the design aspects, varioussystems components, Web technologyand database tools used as back-endsolutions.

[email protected]

M.Moni, NIC HQ

DG (NIC) addressing the gathering. (Inset) : Sh. M.Moni (DDG), speaking at the function

Grievances Monitoring and RedressalSystem (PUGMARS) as per the requirementsof the District Administration. PUGMARShas a user-friendly interface for submissionof Grievance, knowing the status ofsubmitted Grievance and Frequently AskedQuestions about Grievances. Utility forsearching grievances has also beenincorporated in the system. In the words ofSh.Mehboob Iqbal, IAS, DeputyCommissioner, Doda “Monitoring of PublicGrievances with traditional system was notonly time consuming but also extremelydifficult . With the implementation ofPUGMARS, monitoring of Grievances hasbecome very organized and smooth for theAdministration.

Sunil Kumar, J&K Correspondent

?| NIC Team Honoured for Results

The Haryana State Unit of NIC has beenpublishing the results of various exams of theBoard of School Education, Haryana since theyear 2000. This year, a web-enabledapplication was developed and the results of

10+2, 10th and 8th Standard and OpenSchool Examinations were published on theNet.Access to results was also provided throughIVR System. Due to widespread Internetculture in the state and well-plannedpublicity, there was an over-whelmingresponse. The website received more than2.5 lakh hits and IVRS site received morethan one Lakh hits in a very short period.TheChairman and Secretary of the EducationBoard honoured the NIC team involved inthe project with mementos at a functionorganized in the office of DG(NIC).


?| Director General (NIC) FelicitatedAt a function organised recently by theBhoovigyan Vikas Foundation, Dr. N.Vijayaditya, Director General (NIC) washonoured, among other dignitaries. DG (NIC)was presented a memento by Sh. Sompal,Member, Planning Commission.

The IT Luminaries from across the Countryhad gathered at the occassion where aLifetime Achievement Award was presentedto Dr. N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman &Chief Mentor, Infosys in recognition of hiscontribution towards India’s globalpre-eminence in the area of InformationTechnology. The award was presented bySh. T.N Chaturvedi, Hon’ble Governor ofKarnataka and Dr. K V Sundaram, ChairmanBhoovigyan Vikas Foundation.

?| Web-enabled Ship Ticket ReservationSystem

A Web-enabled Ship Ticket AdvanceReservation System(WEB-STARS) (http://lakport.nic.in) developed by NIC,Lakshadweep U.T. Unit was inaugurated bythe Lakshadweep Administrator Sri. K.S.Mehra,IAS on 15th August 2003. Through thissystem, advance reservation for all the shipsleaving Kochi can be made from Kochi,

Kavaratti and Kozhikode through theauthorised ticket counters of theLakshadweep administration. The tickets areissued on-line through Internet. Theadministration is planning to extend thisfacility to all the islands in Lakshadweep andalso planning to have special counter inErnakulam town.

Ajith Brahmanandan, NIC Lakshadweep

?| Block Community Portals for NE States

Block Community portals have been launchedas part of CIC activities (http://www.cic.nic.in) for 487 blocks in eight Statesof the North Eastern Region. The portals aimto project the information about local people,values and practices (Local content) as wellas provide them with an opportunity toaccess the information available in cyberspace (Global content), as per their need.These collaborative, multilingual, multimedia& Knowledge Management enabled portalshave been dynamically generated using singleinstallation of eNRICH (http://enrich.nic.in)Community Software Solution Framework.

Anjali Dhingra, NIC HQ