Technology Sabha 2006

Towards empowerment with e-Governance

The recently-concluded Sabha discussed the various e-Governance initiatives being taken up at the central and state level and the issues concerning them. Faiz Askari reports.

The Technology Sabha 06, organised by the Indian Express Group at Goa, brought into focus the various e-Governance initiatives undertaken by the central and state governments and the industry’s views on the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.

A message by the President, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, read out at the outset said, “It is highly needed at this point in time in transforming India into a developed nation, ICT has to play a vital role.” The message was read out by Director, Technology Interface, President’s Office, V Ponraj. The President believes that IT applications have potential for strengthening India’s vision for 2020. Ponraj elaborated, “Areas like R&D and manufacturing need to be equipped with IT applications as they have the potential to drive the success story of India towards 2020.”

Ponraj identified three technological areas that are going to drive India’s growth, “Biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology. These three areas are different in nature but are interconnected. Out of these, IT has a major role to play as it will be converging all of them.”

Ponraj explained, “E-Governance is a transparent way to govern. It is good that the government, industry and citizens are showing interest in enhancing the reach of e-Governance. Many state governments are taking initiatives to improve the service deliverables to citizens.”

Kalam had stated, “Self-sufficiency is an important aspect for India as it is emerging into a bigger economy and IT applications are the key elements in strengthening self-sufficiency among the citizens.

He added, “Every government department is going to be connected enabling all the citizens to access relevant data on the Internet. This requires some time but there has to be a team effort.”

The President’s e-Gov grid is going to be connected with all the state governments soon. These initiatives will be enhancing the service deliverability, which will help both the citizens and officials implementing them.

Other initiatives taken up by the President include;

• e-Gov data centre
• Dedicated Internet connection for Rashtrapati Bhavan
• e-Gov portal
• Digital library
• e-learning centre

“In the virtual education or e-learning initiative, different universities have joined hands and formed a virtual university. This is done for creating a world knowledge platform by getting many countries to participate,” Ponraj said. Thus the Rashtrapati Bhavan also has a comprehensive e-Governance plan on the anvil.

In another message read out on behalf of Chandrababu Naidu, former Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, it was stated that the growth of Information Technology was essential for AP and other parts of India. The message said, “IT holds great potential in making India a developed nation. IT can improve the per capita income of Indian citizens and bring India and other developed countries of the world to a common platform.”

Naidu added, “Participation by the public is the key in making e-Governance a success. Participation by every citizen of India has to be ensured so as to make the Indian e-Governance initiatives a benchmark for other parts of the world.”

(From L to R) Dr Nitin Paranjpe, Sandeep Khosla, Dayanand Narvekar, V Ponraj and Dr T K Seshadri on the inaugural day	(From L to R) Atul Kumar Gupta, Dr K Subramanian and Dr T K Seshadri at the Open House
Sudipta Sen of SAS India	L V Sastry of Xerox
Prasad Babu of Juniper Networks

e-Gov initiatives in Goa

Goan IT Minister Dayanand G Narvekar said, “There is an immense potential for IT in Goa. IT is an area, which has no boundaries, and no limit, and it is moving at a fast pace in the country. The Government of Goa is emphasising on IT and in a couple of years we will be setting up an IT belt.”

The minister added, “Projects like e-Infrastructure and SWAN (State Wide Area Network), which is in partnership with private organisations, are coming up in Goa. We have identified that e-Governance can make the government-citizen interaction easy and transparent.”

The Government of Goa has taken up e-Governance initiatives in various areas including the state transport department and land records—a project called Dharni. National Informatics Centre (NIC)’s e-Gov project which is about setting up of Common Services Centres (CSCs) is also currently on in the state. Another important scheme is InfoGram, as part of which 109 village panchayats will be connected through Internet by next year.

That apart, Goa also has the Goa Healthcare Services—a healthcare initiative, ShikshaNet, an e-education initiative, and a Cyber age scheme.

“By the end of May 2007 we will have all the state government departments fully computerised and completely connected with each other. This will become a reality as the vision of the State government with regard to IT implementation is clear,” Narvekar explained.

UP’s IT forays

Secretary for IT, Uttar Pradesh Government, Zohra Chatterji elaborated on her state’s IT forays, “UP is an important hub for IT and e-Governance activities. The state government has taken the initiative to create best possible citizen services for governance. UP will have 16,348 CSCs covering all the regions and villages of the state. The state is going to see the biggest SWAN project. Computerisation of treasuries has already taken place in UP. The Principal Secretary Finance regularly monitors the network.”

Chatterji highlighted other flagship e-Gov projects in UP such as database of pensioners, digitised land records, UPTPO Online—counselling now available online, a housing portal, and Lokvani programme to address citizens’ grievances.

Among these projects, Lokvani has created a landmark not only in India but also in the global context. Chatterji explained, “Lokvani has been our flagship project as it has connected the common citizen’s voice directly to the decision-makers in the government. It has received global awards as well as national awards.”

Atul Kumar Gupta, Industrial Development Commissioner, UP Government said, “We are having leadership in many business areas. IT is a great enabler for development. We are moving at a high speed in implementing IT applications in government practices.”

Kumar added, “UP has Web sites for all its districts. The judiciary has its own online infrastructure which is up and running. Noida is a great destination for IT companies and a great asset for UP.”

Yugal Sharma of Polycom	Sandeep Menon of Novell
Sanjay Deshmukh of Business Objects	Deepak Bhagchandaney of Spanco
Rajendra Dhavale of CA	Shantaram Shet of Infotech Corporation of Goa

Good effort

Speaking at the event, CEO and Managing Director, SAS, Sudipta K Sen said, “India has huge opportunity to become a robust economy. It is a data-driven scenario that’s the reason why IT applications and e-Governance can ensure that the government sector embarks into a golden future.”

Dr K Subramanian, IT Advisor & Deputy Director General to CAG of India and President Emeritus to eISA said, “This is a good effort for keeping the e-Governance wagon moving with a sustainable speed in India. I think in the e-Governance scenario, knowledge-sharing is the decisive factor in that way the Sabha is a great effort.”

He said, “We are at the threshold of high-end technology of global standards. Now we have to identify within ourselves as to how we should go about it. IT applications can definitely be a great enabler for our success in coming years.”

L V Sastry, Associate Director, Xerox Global Services believes, “The government has lot of areas in which cutting edge technology applications can be a great fit. Xerox as a company deals in entire documentation processes and we foresee a huge potential in e-Governance activities. The way the Indian government is working on the e-Governance initiatives, I am sure of a golden future ahead.”

Sandeep Menon, Director, Sales, Linux West Asia Business, Novell said, “Open Source has many applications which are being implemented at the governmental level worldwide. It is a good sign that the Indian government is considering open source as a major area in the implementation of e-Governance.”

Dr T K Seshadri, Scientist G, MCIT, Government of India said, “I appreciate such events in which the industry and government can interact to discuss e-Governance initiatives. A successful Indian e-Governance is possible by knowledge-sharing.”

Yugal Sharma, Country Manager, India-SAARC, Polycom expressed, “It is a positive approach by the Indian Express Group as the government segment has immense potential. Government is facing lot of challenges like managing massive information material, enabling easy connectivity and ensuring growth on the technology front. All these can be taken care of by staying conected with the latest technologies from across the globe.” Sharma added, “Government officials are giving good response when we represent unique and high-end product range of office communication to them.”

Rajendra Dhavale, Consulting Director, CA said, “The world is being driven by innovation. We are still at the implementation phase. Though in the e-Governance space we are considered to be late-comers, we are utilising the opportunities coming our way. These kind of initiatives have to be appreciated as they are binding the industry, government, and people and also are the best platforms for knowledge-sharing. I think e-Governance in India needs more such conferences.”

Alok Bhushan, Manager Enterprise Businesses, Juniper stated, “It is good to see technologies like WAN and MPLS being discussed. Apart from this the government is also making good efforts to keep the flag of e-Governance flying high. Trends like network security are picking up in the government segment. It will help in staying connected with the outside world and keeping up the speed of growth in implementation of IT.”