AN ˘-GOVERNANCE PUBLICATION FROM NATIONAL … 2012.pdf · Agriculture is at the heart of Indian Economy. A very large segment of Indian population depends directly on agricul-

CCBS in Meghalaya Delivery of Public Services in Odisha Interview with Sh. A.N Sahay,

Chairman-cum-MD, MCL

ICT in Districts: Purulia, Bareilly, Jodhpur Biometric Authentication

Agricultural InformaticsDevelopment

Informatics

AN e-GOVERNANCE PUBLICATION FROM NATIONAL INFORMATICS CENTRE

htt

p:/

/in

form

ati

cs

.nic

.in

InformaticsVOL 20 No.3 January 2012 ISSN 0971-3409

Contents

PatronDr. B. K. Gairola

Editor-in-ChiefNeeta Verma

Regional EditorsVivek VermaR. GayatriAnshu RohatgiPrashant Belwariar

Advisory PanelDr. Y.K. SharmaT.A. KhanDr. Gautam Bose

Editorial BoardDr. Mahesh ChandraDr. Shefali DashB. V. SarmaVinay Thakur

WWW versionLokesh Joshi

Print Co-ordinationA. K. AggarwalAnita Arora

Circulation & DespatchJasvinder KaurAnita Bhardwaj

Editorial AssistanceAditya Gogoi

Informaticsis Published by National Informatics Centre, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications &Information Technology,Government of India

A-Block, CGO Complex,Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003

Design & Printed atCIRRUS GRAPHICS PVT. LTD.B-62/14, Naraina Industrial Area,Ph-II, New Delhi-10028 (INDIA)

InformaticsVolume 20 No.3 January 2012

We would like you to contribute to Informatics. You can send

your contributions to our State Correspondents or can also send

directly to us at the following address.

NEETA VERMA

Editor-in-Chief

Room No-375, 3rd Floor, NIC-HQ

A-Block, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road

New Delhi-110 003

[email protected]

Editorial

Agriculture is at the heart of Indian Economy. A very largesegment of Indian population depends directly on agricul-ture. Any initiative to introduce efficiency or productivity

in agriculture sector is going to touch lives of large population ofIndia. Application of ICT to agriculture has a huge potential. Getan insight on ICT Applications in Agriculture Sector in India byvarious Government Institutions, in our lead story contributedby our Agriculture Informatics Group. In our From the State/UTs Section, get an overview of e-

Governance in the States of Chandigarh and Odisha. Districts ofPurulia (West Bengal), Bareilly (Madhya Pradesh) and Jodhpur(Rajasthan) are also a part of our District governance sectionhighlighting fine examples of e-Governance. Besides, sections likeTechnology Updates and E-Gov Products & Services will keep youupdated on the vast potential of ICT applications in government..WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR !!

NEETA VERMAEditor- in-Chief

e-GOV PRODUCTS & SERVICES9 CCBS in Meghalaya12 e-District Implementation, Kerala14 Web Enabled Monitoring of Plan

Schemes, Manipur16 Electronic Payment System, Haryana

FROM THE STATES/UTS18 Chandigarh22 Odisha

GUEST COLUMN26 Sh. A.N Sahay, Chairman-cum-MD, MCL

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE28 Bringing GIS to Mainstream IT

through Service Oriented GIS31 Biometric Authentication

DISTRICT INFORMATICS34 Purulia, W.B36 Bareilly, M.P38 Jodhpur, Rajasthan

40 INTERNATIONAL E-GOV UPDATES42 NATIONAL PORTAL UPDATE43 CYBER GOVERNANCE44 IN THE NEWS

BOOK REVIEW48 Computer Networks, Fifth Edition: A

Systems Approach

LEAD STORY4 Agricultural Informatics Development: A Holistic Approach

AS WE STEP INTO 2012, I WISH YOU & YOUR FAMILY A VERY HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR !

NIC is the front runner in providing e-Governance services to the government and the common man alike.Thanks to your hard work, dedication and commitment the organisation has achieved new heights of success. Icompliment you all for the great achievements.

The Government of India is placing great emphasis on accelerating implementation of e-Governance initiativesin all sectors, especially the social sector, which impacts the lives of the aam aadmi. This will facilitate efficient,transparent, accountable & participative governance for the Citizens.

NIC's role has become very crucial in the implementation of various national/State level ICT enabled initiativesand acquiring strategic control of these ICT applications on behalf of the government.

In order to accelerate the implementation of e-Governance it is very vital that we, as technology supportproviders and enablers, free the users from the drudgery of managing either the ICT infrastructure or the appli-cation platform for their respective applications.

NIC therefore has to work towards creation of a Common National Information Infrastructure and move to‘cloud’ over a period of time. It must provide a ready- to- use secure environment for the users and allow themto concentrate on the services.

All of you today are building a number of applications with multiple variants for meeting specific needs of theState Governments. This is not only an inefficient way of software development but also does not allow buildingof interoperable unified systems. We need to build common service delivery platform/s with effective processreforms to meet the challenge in the future.

Technology is changing very rapidly. We need to keep pace with it to ensure that India takes maximum advantageto meet the challenges which are unique to us.

In the coming years therefore, we need to rededicate ourselves to accelerate the e-governance process and achievethe vision and goal before us. I am sure that together we will be successful in our endeavors and bring glory to theorganization. I once again wish everyone, the best in this year and the times to come.

Dr. B.K. GairolaDirector General

National Informatics Centre

Dr. B.K. Gairola

4 informatics.nic.in January 2012

With the PanchayatRaj institutionsin operation and

the agriculture as the subjectbrought under the list of PanchayatRaj Institutions, through theConstitutional Amendments, it isessential to build database on agri-culture and allied sectors, at villagelevel, farm level and farming house-hold level granularities. The 120 mil-lion farm households of India, out ofwhich 80 per cent are poor and mar-ginal farmers, are the target benefici-aries of “ICT led agricultural develop-ment initiatives”. An ICT-triggeredrural knowledge revolution can helpto break the barriers that standbetween “localised rural economies”and the ‘globalised market’.Both the National Informatics

Centre (NIC) and the Ministry ofAgriculture (MOA) have been workingtogether in establishing agriculturalinformatics for sustainable develop-ment, since 1995. The journey startedwith the National Conference onInformatics for SustainableAgricultural Development (ISDA-95),which gave the informatics blueprintfor e-governance in the agriculturalsector, and also recommended for allo-cation of 3-6% of the Agriculturalbudget outlay for ICT as follows:AGRISNET – an Infrastructurenetwork up to block level agricul-tural offices facilitating agricul-tural extension services andagribusiness activities to usher inrural prosperity;AGMARKNET – with a road map

to network 7000 Agricultural pro-duce wholesale markets and 32000rural markets;ARISNET – Agricultural ResearchInformation System Network;SEEDNET – Seed InformaticsNetwork;CoopNet – to network 1,40000Agricultural Primary CreditSocieties (PACS) and AgriculturalCooperative Marketing Societies tousher in ICT enabled services andrural transformation;HORTNET – HorticulturalInformatics Network;PPIN – Plant ProtectionInformatics NetworkFERTNET – Fertilizers (Chemical,Bio and Organic Manure)Informatics Network facilitating“Integrating NutrientManagement” at farm level;VISTARNET – AgriculturalExtension Information SystemNetworkPPIN – Plant ProtectionInformatics Network;APHNET – Animal production andHealth Informatics Network net-working about 42000 AnimalPrimary Health Centre;FISHNET – Fisheries InformaticsNetworkLISNET – Land InformationSystem Network linking all institu-tions involved in land and watermanagement for agricultural pro-ductivity and production systems,which has now evolved as“Agricultural ResourcesInformation System” during theTenth Plan is being implementedthrough NIC;AFPINET – Agricultural & Food

Agricultural InformaticsDevelopment: AHolistic Approach

Rural India, where morethan 70% of the Indianpopulation lives in, is in direneed of knowledge intensivetechniques for sustainabilityof its shareholders, andfarm and non-farm linkagesthrough grassroots levelinformation access(contents) and grassrootslevel access to information(networking). Availability ofthis will be the measure toachieve sustainable andmore than that inclusivegrowth, during the twelfthplan period.

NAVEEN KUMARTechnical Director

NIC [email protected]

PRATIBHA LOKHANDETechnical DirectorNIC [email protected]

DR. P.K.SURISenior Technical Director


Lead Story

Processing Industries InformaticsNetwork;ARINET – Agricultural and RuralIndustries Information SystemNetwork to strengthen Small &Micro Enterprises (SMEs);NDMNET – Natural DisasterManagement Knowledge Networkin India;Weather NET – Weather ResourceSystem of India;

During the 9th and 10th Five Year Planperiods, the Central Sector Scheme“Strengthening and promoting agricul-ture informatics systems” gainedimportance, and flagship programmesviz., INTRADAC, DACNET (http://dacnet .nic.in), Agricultural MarketingInformation System Network(AGMARKNET), Agricultural ResourceInformation System - AgRIS(http://agris.nic.in) and AGRISNETetc., were launched. The DACNET proj-ect was viewed as the “model frame-work for e-Governance” in theGovernment. The projects such asDACNET (http://dacnet.nic.in), SEED-NET (http://seednet.gov.in), PPIN(http://cibrc.nic.in, http://ppqs.gov.in,http://plantquarantine india.nic.in),AGMARKMET (http:// www.agmarknet.nic.in), AGRISNET etc., areoperational in the country and theseG2B, G2G, G2F projects are benefitingthe agricultural stakeholders such asfarmers, traders, scientists, administra-tors etc., in a potential manner.The AGMARKNET project has, now

emerged, as an important national por-tal , with local language interfaces, con-taining databases comprising daily mar-ket information, in terms of commodityarrivals; minimum, maximum andmodal prices for about 300 commodi-ties and 2000 varieties. The project hasstrengthened decision making at vari-ous levels and paved the way for global-ization of Indian agriculture. Apartfrom domestic access, there has been atremendous global access of this portal.Agricultural Informatics Division was

instrumental in establishing ARISNET(Agricultural Research InformationSystem Network) for the Department

January 2012 informatics.nic.in 5

Since 1995, the Indian Agricultural Sector has been witnessing

“Informatization” progressively, through the efforts of NIC. I was instru-

mental, as a Project Director in conceiving the “AGRIS” (Agriculture

Information System) and MISAH (MIS for Animal Husbandry Sector) proj-

ects, under the DISNIC Programme during 1987 and promoted in about

520+ districts in the country, along with the expansion of NICNET, in about

520+ districts, in the country. This approach was further strengthened

through the National Conference on “Informatics for Sustainable

Agricultural Development (ISDA-95)” in May 1995, organised by NIC, in

collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Rural

Development and Ministry of Fertilizers. The conference, which was well

attended by a large number of practitioners, academicians and policy

makers, produced informatics blueprint for Informatization of the agricul-

ture sector.

Rural India requires “Digital Network for Farmers (DNF)” viz.,

AGMARKNET, SeedNet, HORTNET, AGRISNET, FISHNET, NADRS,

ReALCRAFT, APHNET, AgRIS, DISNIC-PLAN etc, for moving towards

faster and more sustainable and inclusive growth. The ICT triggered rural

knowledge revolution is helping to break the barriers that stand between

“Localized Rural Economies” and “Globalized Market”, through contents

and networks. Breaking the language barriers is like providing an essen-

tial infrastructure for Good Governance, peace and prosperity at the grass

root level. Digital Network for Farmers (DNF) is a strength, wealth and

prosperity for about 125 million farming households in India. To facilitate

this, India requires a “National Rural Informatics Policy”, which is the need

of the hour and further, a step towards achieving “Rural India to Smile,

Shine and Roar.” The definition of “Rural” is as adopted by FAO of UN.

Madaswamy MONIDeputy Director General, NIC

Lead Story


Lead Story

of Agricultural Research& Education, topromote agricultural research informat-ics in the Indian National AgriculturalResearch System. ARISNET was initiallydeveloped as a close user group on NIC-NET by networking of ICAR Institutes,Central Agricultural University andState Agricultural Universities throughhigh speed Ku band FTDMA VSATS(85). During 2003-04, the ARISNETbackbone has been changed to ERNETfrom NICNET. NIC has been continuingto associate ICAR Institutions instrengthening the agricultural informat-ics development programs.Informatization of various subsectors,such as: horticulture, plant protection,animal health, fertilizers have taken theprogressive steps to mainstream ICT inthe desirable manner. The AGRISNETproject is facilitating building of infor-mation systems, through bottom-upprocess, in the States of Gujarat, UttarPradesh, Orissa, West Bengal,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu AndhraPradesh, Himachal Pradesh,Uttrakhand, Assam Karnataka, Kerala,Puducherry, Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Mizoram,Nagaland, Sikkim, Punjab andRajasthan. The pilot project of AgRIS(http://agris.nic.in) is likely to emerge asfarmer’s centric “resource informationsystem” to facilitate productivityincrease in the sector. In view of its importance in the Indian

economy, agricultural sector has beenincorporated as a mission mode project

under e-gover-nance underwhich the follow-ing 12 serviceswill be providedto the agriculturals t akeho lde r s ,through multipledelivery channelssuch as mobilephones, IVRS,touch screenkiosks, commonservice centres,etc. Below are the12 services:

Information on Pesticides, Fertilizersand SeedsProviding information on soil healthInformation on crops, farm machin-ery, training and Good AgriculturalPractices (GAPs)Information on forecasted weatherand agro-met advisoryInformation on prices, arrivals, pro-curement points, and providinginteraction platform Electronic certification for exports &importsInformation on marketing infra-structure Monitoring implementation /Evaluation of schemes & programsInformation on fisheriesInformation on irrigation infrastruc-tureDrought Relief and ManagementLivestock Management

This Agricultural mission mode project(NeGP-A) promotes integrated servicedelivery through local languages, andinvolves database applications, work-flow applications, content managementsystem, decision support system, GISapplications, advisory system, and griev-ances management and redressal sys-tem. These systems are to be integratedwith the national, state and districtdelivery gateways. The other flagship programmes of the

Agricultural sector, such as NationalFood Security Mission(http://nfsm.gov.in), Rashtriya KrishiVikas Yojana (http://rkvy.nic.in) ,National Horticulture Mission(http://nhm.nic.in) , TechnologyMission on Horticulture in NorthEastern and Himalayan states(http://tmnehs.gov.in), and NationalBamboo Mission (http://nbm.nic.in)have been enhanced through main-streaming of ICT to benefit the farmingcommunity and other stakeholders. Thedatabases on agriculture statistics suchas land use (http://lus.dacnet.in), areaand production (http://apy.dacnet.nic.in), agriculture censusand input survey(http://agcensus.nic.in), Minor irriga-tion Census (http://mowr.gov.in), 18thLivestock census (http://dadf.gov.in) arebeing effectively utilized by researchers,economists and policy makers. The e-Governance project - G2B

Component: “ComputerizedRegistration of Pesticides” (CROP) proj-


Lead Story

ect, under the PPIN programme, isfacilitating online application filing forPesticides Registration and processingwhile Plant Quarantine InformationSystem (PQIS) under PPIN hasbrought more efficiency and effec-tiveness in the functioning of PlantQuarantine Stations by use ofInformation Technology Tools. It facil-itates online submission of applicationfor Import permit, Import ReleaseOrder and Phyto-Sanitary Certificate(PSC) by traders and processing ofthese applications online at PlantQuarantine Stations and Phyto-Sanitary Issuing Authorities.The AGMARKNET initiative,

launched in the year 2000, is the first e-governance project, which has spread toabout 3200 agricultural produce whole-sale markets, to strengthen agriculturalmarketing system in the country. Nowthe country is witnessing implementa-tion of National Animal DiseaseReporting System (NADRS) to monitor143 animal diseases through 7000 loca-tions at sub-district level in the country,

including remote areassuch as Andaman Islands,Car Nicobar Islands,Lakshadweep Islands, andMinicoy Islands. TheR e A L C R A F T(http://fishcraft.nic.in)project, under the fisheriesinformatics programme, isstrengthening the coastalsecurity and being utilizedby security agencies suchas Navy, Coast Guard,Marine Police, etc.Initiatives of NIC in the

agriculture sector, with the help ofMinistry of Agriculture and stateAgricultural Departments, has laid astrong foundation in the country, forushering in digital inclusion and sustain-able development of farming sector inan effective manner. It has been envis-aged to provide information delivery in22 constitutionally recognized Indianlanguages. The Agricultural InformaticsDivision has, in its blueprint, to developICT enabled supply-chains for 300 com-modities, pertaining to agricultural, live-stock and fisheries sectors through“Access Layer”, “Distribution Layer” and“Network Layer” and also focusing onestablishment of database on agro-cli-matic regional planning (ACRP) andstrengthening of “Digital Network ofFarmers (DNF)” to “reach the un-reached” and to “serve the un-served”.The next steps in the pipeline are

mobile based applications for automat-ing agricultural inflow system, in orderto e-bridge the farmers and other stakeholders and also to promote ICT undersmall area farm business, implementa-tion of Agriculture ResourceInformation System (AgRIS) and DIS-NIC-Plan Programme (http://disnic.gov.in) to establish grassrootslevel informatics of sustainable agricul-ture development through informationmodelling, is the need of the hour.The Agricultural Informatics Division,

during the 12th Five Year plan, willstrive to achieve design and develop-ment of Spatial Decision SupportSystem (DSS) on Agricultural

Production which requires informationon the following:- Information on physical featureto determine the land’s capability foragricultural developmentMaps depicting differences inphysical land characteristics etc.Areas of immediate growthpotential Areas of future growth potential Areas of low growth potential

To achieve this, it is required to havethe following maps in 1:4000 / 12000scale, with their interpretations, inGIS format:-Base map showing boundary, sub-watersheds, villages, roads, etc.Topographic map showing con-tours, elevations, land forms,streams, etc.

Soil map showing soil types andboundaries, depths and soil limitingproperties Climatic map showingmainly rainfall, but statistics mayinclude temperature, evapo-transpi-ration, etc.Geology map showing rock types,structures, displacement, morphol-ogy, etc.Slope map showing different slopeclasses or exposures/aspectsPresent land use map showingmajor land uses and cover typesLand capability or land suitabili-ty map showing different land capa-bility classes; or land suitability classesLand-use adjustment map show-ing land being over-used or under-used and adjustment needsErosion or sediment source mapsshowing sites of various types of ero-


sion and sediment potential areasHydro-meteorological networkmap showing the location of climaticand stream gauging stationsWater resource map showing sur-face and underground sourcesThe National Spatial Data Interchange

(NSDI) is expected to facilitate generat-ing Agricultural Sector Spatial DataInfrastructure (ASSDI) in 1:4000/12000scales. Will it happen? Databases andinformatics on Farm HealthManagement, Soil Health Management,Plant Health Management, LivestockHealth Management, Fisheries HealthManagement and Water QualityManagement, are of paramount impor-tance to enhance and sustain agricultur-al productivity in India. This is also thetop priority of Agricultural InformaticsDivision. The Approach paper for 12th Five

Year Plan (2012-17), which seeks toreach growth rate to 9% up from 8.2%estimated in the 11th Plan, desires to“stimulate for widespread developmentof ICT in the country to achieve inclusivegrowth”. The Agriculture InformaticsDivision, involved in design and devel-opment of various e-governance pro-grammes to strengthen “GoodGovernance”, is gearing up its initiativesto undertake the needed widespreaddevelopment of ICT in the Agricultural

sector in the country. It expects a decentmeasure of organisational promotionalaspect in this regard. India is among the fastest growing

economies in the world. The power of abillion plus people, all connected via theInternet, will definitely redefine the sys-tem of e-Governance. The factors thatmay drive growth include “National e-Governance Program (NeGP)” and“Internet on mobile”. Mobile phones arethe success story of bridging the ruraldigital-divide, bringing tangible eco-nomic benefits and acting as agents ofsocial mobilization through improvedcommunication. The AgriculturalInformatics Division, through itsinvolvement in implementation ofNeGP-A Mission Mode Project, envis-ages promoting “M-GovernmentServices” as follows:-

Agricultural news (e.g. new cultiva-tion products, machinery)Agricultural policy (e.g. laws and reg-ulations)Funding opportunities (e.g. for pur-chasing equipment)Weather forecastsAlerts (e.g. disease outbreak, extremeweather conditions)Market forecasts (e.g. product prices,supply and demand)Expert consulting (e.g. regarding cul-tivation techniques, marketing ofproducts, new production standards)Notifications (e.g. for deadlines,renewal of certificates, submission ofdocuments, new cultivation productsor techniques, verification of impor-tant dates, farmer union issues,events)Petitions (e.g. license renewal)Tele-diagnosis (e.g. plant and animaldiseases)Calculations (e.g. for subsidy orindemnification)Financial transactions (e.g. loan pay-ments)Employment market (e.g. job offerand demand in particular area)Search engine (e.g. for databases,locating agencies in the surroundingarea)Messages to public agencies (e.g. agri-

cultural accident reports, incidents,queries, complaints, comments,interventions, opinion stating). Intraand Inter State GovernmentAgricultural Developmental Schemesand their guidelines for implementa-tion and monitoringInput dealers (seed, fertilizers, pesti-cides, etc)National Agricultural ResearchSystem (NARS) – IACR & SAU -Research & Extension ServicesWTO Regulations of agriculturalcommodities.Agricultural Crop Insurance informa-tionPublic Grievances RedressalFile / Applications Tracking;Continuous and IntegratedAgricultural Drought MonitoringGovernment Initiatives (develop-ment schemes, etc)

Technical papers have been publishedand also presented in both national andinternational conferences on theachievements of these ICT initiatives inthe Agricultural Sector. The AgriculturalInformatics Division have receivedManthan Award, PCQuest Award, CSIAward, SKOCH Editor’s Choice,Stockholm Finalist, Microsoft Award –Project of National importance, eWorldForum 2011, eIndia 2011 andDAR&PG’s Innovation inAdministration. To strengthen mainstreaming ICT

projects as well as development ofAgricultural informatics development inthe Country in a coordinated manner,Agricultural Informatics Divisions havebeen established in all NIC StateCentres, through Office Memorandum.

Acknowledgement to the followingindividuals for their contribution incompiling this article:

Dr. A.K.Choubey, V.Rajeswari, SameenaMukhija, Dr. Kishore Kumar, K. Rajsekhar,R. Vardhan, Dr. Arjunan Mohan, G.Janardhan, Kasthuri Mohanan, SanjaySharma, Beena Menon, Balasundar andSajjad Akhtar.

Lead Story


E-Gov Products & Services

CCBS, an Integrated CoreBanking Application, isspecially designed to meetthe requirements of allState Co-operative Banks(SCBs), District Centre Co-operative Banks (DCCBs),and Primary AgriculturalCredit Societies (PACSs).The Common interface forall the category of banksprovides better integrationof information flow amongSCBs, DCCBs and PACSfacilitating bettermonitoring and planning.

Rural credit coopera-tives in India wereoriginally envisaged

as a mechanism for pooling theresources of people with small meansand providing them with access todifferent financial services. TheseCredit Co-operatives are the oldestRural Financial Institutions in ourcountry and the largest in the world.There are close to 5.5 lakhs creditand non-credit cooperative societieswith coverage of almost 100% vil-lages and 71% rural households ful-filling the need of providing financialservices in rural areas.

OBjECTIVES OfCOOpERATIVESTo raise capital for the purpose of giving loans and supporting theessential activities of the rural people.

To collect deposits from members

with the objective of improvingtheir savings habitTo supply agricultural inputs andservices to members at remunera-tive prices

pROBlEM fACED ByCOOpERATIVESDespite their wide network and closeproximity to its members, Creditcooperatives suffer from many prob-lems which not only hinder theirgrowth but also pose a threat to theirexistence. Major issues faced by cred-it co-operatives include:

Huge amount of accumulatedlossesPoor Recovery performanceHigh incidence of NPA's & poorDeposit MobilizationIneffective supervision & weakMIS

NEED fOR CORE BANkING Government of India implementsa large number of social sectorprograms for socio-economic

I.P.S SETHISenior Technical Director

NIC HQ [email protected]

A.K SINGHSenior Technical DirectorNIC [email protected]

NIC's Co-operative Core BankingSolution (NIC - CCBS)

Inauguration of CCBS for Meghalaya State Co-operative Bank on 20th October2011 by Hon'ble Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Dr. Mukul Sangma at Shillong



development in rural areas. Suchprograms involve disbursement offunds to the target beneficiaries interms of wages/payments. Thecooperative credit structure couldbe channelised to make such pay-ments. There is growing need forfinancial inclusion and direct pay-ments of funds to beneficiaries.Accounting system of PrimaryAgricultural Credit Societies (PACS)PACS is not well managed andneeds improvement through CAS(Common Accounting System).CAS can only be implementedeffectively through a Core BankingSolution.A Core Banking Solution (CBS) willreduce the time for preparing neces-sary reports, required by controllingauthorities.CCBS can help in implementingany Government Scheme throughPACS as Government can moni-tor these schemes, through theapplication.

NIC- CO-OpERATIVE COREBANkING SOluTION (CCBS)The main objective behind develop-ment of the Co-operative CoreBanking Solution (CCBS) by NIC isto serve the poorest of the poor inour country by furthering basicbanking facility in the rural areas ofthe country.

While the commercial banking systemis taking steps to extend its reach torural areas, there is a need to developinnovative solutions to provide accessto people in rural areas so as to help

them get efficient and reliable pay-ment and banking services closer totheir area of activity. CCBS will play avital role in financial inclusion, a pri-mary agenda of Government of Indiaand NABARD for the upliftment ofrural masses of India. CCBS isdesigned so as to enable theAgricultural Societies at the Villagelevel to disburse all the social sectorrelated Government fund distribution(MNREGA, Mid-day Meal scheme, OldAge Pension etc.) to the targeted bene-ficiaries at the doorstep. It would alsofacilitate easy monitoring of fund dis-bursement and day to day position offund distribution under these headsknown at the apex level.

CCBS DEVElOpED By NICCCBS has highly parameterized rolebased security levels. The applicationis developed with enormous care so tominimize the cost of application andbetter ROI. With the implementationof CCBS, banks do not have to investa large amount of money for creationof Data Centre, Disaster RecoveryCentre and purchase of high-endserver and its maintenance thereof.

jOuRNEy fROM COIN -TBA TOCCBS -COOpERATIVE COREBANkING SOluTION NIC started implementation of a TBAsolution for the Bihar State Co-opera-tive Bank Ltd. (BSCB) in 2003. TheCOIN software was successfully imple-mented and the bank earned a profitof Rs 114 cr after its implementation.In 2008-09, Sikkim State Co-operativeBank showed interest in implementa-tion of CBS and requested NIC to con-vert COIN to a full-fledged CBS. In2010, NIC/NICSI decided to develop aCBS with ASP model with its increas-ing demand amongst various state co-operative banks. Objective of develop-ment of CCBS was to provide a low costintegrated CBS for all three level ofCooperative sector (SCB, DCCB, PACS).

TARGET AuDIENCECCBS aims to provide a common inter-

face for all the category of banksenabling better integration of infor-mation flow from SCBs, DCCBs andPACSs. NABARD, RBI, StateCooperative departments could bebenefited through this system.

CCBS ARCHITECTuRELogical Architecture: An architec-ture overview diagram at an enter-prise level of the CCBS depicted inCCBS Architecture. These entitieslocated on the different geographicallocation will access the CCBS portalsystem using internet and/orintranet connectivity under securedenvironment. These subsystems arelogically separated without any vir-tualization of hardware systemexcept they are co-located at thesame Data Centre.There are four main components in

the architecture of CCBS:Users: The users of CBS portal are thecooperative bank employees who canaccess this application from theirrespective branch only. Delivery: The branch user can accessthe application through acomputer/Laptop.Serivices:

Registration & Profile ManagementAuthentication & AuthorizationApplication ServicesInformation ServicesIntegration ServicesMIS ReportsSLA monitoringAuditing Services

CCBS Architecture


Administrative Services

Resources:CBS Web PortalCBS Application & Data Base ServerSMS ServicesSSL Key Authorization & SLAManagement

TECHNICAl ARCHITECTuRETechnical Architecture of NIC’s CCBSThe application data flow for CCBS is asbelow:

The branch user will be connected tothe data center through the securedVPN connection.The user will be logged in into theCCBS portal through SSL securitylayer using authentication details.The proposed solution will haveForm based, Menu based, Role based Code based security.The business processes /objects willbe called based on user commandsthrough the common gateway chan-nel.The business processes/objectsinfract utilizes the respective servic-es and call the Data layer for thetransaction.

The CCBS application is hosted at theNIC’s Data Centre.

TECHNOlOGy uSED IN CCBSVB .Net 3.5 framework, WCF, SQLServer 2008, (SSRS). SQL Serverreporting service 2008

SpECIAl fEATuRES Of CCBSCentralised banking solution forSCB,DCCBs and PACSState of the art technology to fullysupport business needsFast & error free disposal of transac-tions

Timely & accurate preparation ofCash Book, Trial Balance and Profit& Loss AccountMore effective MIS and Audit TrailReports for decision supportEffective Security management andDisaster Recovery PlansHelping improve employee productivityHelps in FinancialInclusionTimely payments tobeneficiaries of socialsector schemesBetter and more accu-rate maintenance ofup-to-date data abouttransactions withrespect to an account,various books and ledgers Better monitoring of agriculturaland non-agricultural loans andadvances

MAIN MODulES Of CCBSSaving & Current Account, KYCNormsFixed /Reinvestment /RecurringDepositLoan & AdvancesCash Credit & AdvancesClearing inward & outwardsLockers, Share Browning &InvestmentRemittances, Statuary Reserve FundHO modules & Inter branch trans-actionsPACS Non-financial Activities Scroll, Vouchers & AdviceBalance Register ,Bill of CollectionReports

IMplEMENTATION STATuSThe CCBS is being implemented onpilot basis so far at following banks:

Meghalaya SCB (two branches)Sikkim State Cooperative Bank (twobranches)DCCBs in Uttrakhand (Dehradun-Astle Hall and Raipur branches,Nainital- Transport Nagar andMaldhanchor branches)Chhattisgarh District central coop-erative Bank (Raipur DCCB)

One PACS in Rajasthan (Hathoj) &two PACS in Orissa

THE fuRTHER IMplEMENTA-TION IS plANNED AT:

About 200 branches of DCCBs inUttachand. Government Orderalready issued by Government ofUttrakhand

14 branches in of District Centralcooperative Banks in Chatissgarh PACS under Rajiv Gandhi SewaKendras in Rajasthan 2528 PACSs in OrissaKerala and Karnataka have alsoshown interest in CCBS implemen-tation

WAy fORWARDCCBS is steadily moving towardsachieving success through multipleimplementations at various Co-oper-ative Banks. The solution has basicbanking functionalities. However, tostrengthen the product, a number ofadvanced modules like ATM integra-tion, RTGS, NEFT, ECS, HRMS,Treasury, Social Sector Payments arebeing developed. Also, people needto be trained, promotio n of the solu-tion needs to be done so as toenhance the product’s market valueand hence result in more number ofimplementations.

For further information

CCBS DIVISIONNIC 6th FloorA-Block, CGO ComplexLodhi Road New Delhi - 110 003Ph: [email protected]




e-District is a mission modeproject of Department ofInformation Technology,Government of India underNeGP. Kerala State ITMission (KSITM) is theState Designated Agency(SDA) for the projectimplementation in Kerala.The Government has chosenKannur & Palakkad districtsfor the pilot implementationof the project.

G.JAYAKUMARTechnical Director


e-District Project in Kannur & Palakkad Districts of Kerala (Phase I - Certificate Services)

Citizens queuing up at the Akshaya Centre in Taliparamba Municipality

The eDistrict consultant hasbrought-out As-is and To-bedocuments which were the

base documents for NIC, prior to sys-tem study and design. NIC has sub-mitted the project proposal afteranalysis of the backend computeriza-tion of participating departments.Necessary changes have been madein the to-be document based oninput from NIC during the systemstudy and based on the SRS wherev-er necessary. The to-be documenthas addressed necessary BPR.Government Order was issued tointroduce the digitally signed certifi-cates.

pROjECT MONITORINGCOMMITTEESGovernment has constituted a stateproject committee chaired by ChiefSecretary, State level technical com-

mittee chaired by Director KSITMand district level committees atKannur and Palakkad chaired byDistrict Collector.

ROlE Of NICNIC Official is a member of each ofthe above committees. Thus NIC isinvolved in the overall project vision-ing, guidance and monitoring.Additionally, NIC has the role of soft-ware developer. The application soft-ware for the project has beendesigned and developed by NICKerala State Centre.

SOfTWARE fEATuRES Common application form: Theproject allows people to apply andobtain the 23 certificates online fromany Common Service Centre(Akshaya Centres) in addition to theVillage / Taluk Offices. The applicantshould pay a fee of Rupees twenty outof which ` 10/- would go to theAkshaya entrepreneur and ` 10/-

Edited by R.Gayatri



would be remitted to the government. Digital authentication and signing:Digital Signature Certificates issued byNICCA have been allotted toVillage/Taluk Officers for secured loginand approving the certificates online. The pdf certificate is digitally signed.

The signed certificates can be printedand issued to the applicant from any-where. This way, the public could availthe services from Akshaya Centreswithout going to the Governmentoffice and beyond office hours.

Use of QR codes: All certificates aregenerated in PDF format with embed-ded QR code (2D bar code).

SMS integration: Applicant’s mobilenumber is captured during registra-tion process as part of general details.A system generated SMS is delivered tothe Applicant’s mobile based on thechange in application status. SMS willbe generated during status changeslike Application Processing,Application Return, ApplicationRejection, Application Approval andApplication Cancellation.

X-forms: e-forms have been devel-oped using X-forms technology foroffline filling up of application when-ever connectivity is not available.These forms can be saved separatelyand later uploaded to the databasewhen connectivity is available.

Database level verification:Database verification is being providedduring the application verificationprocess. The databases of respectivedepartment will be searched and infor-mation retrieved. The scanned attach-ments need not be submitted alongwith the application, rather the keyinformation need only to be entered.This feature is available with respect tofollowing databases-Driving licence,Ration card, Election ID, eDistrict.

Certificate Authenticity verifica-tion: The certificates issued througheDistrict can be verified from any-

where by the following means.

Through eDistrict web site byentering the certificate numberThrough mobile handset, by focus-ing on the QR code and retrievingdetails online.

BENEfITS TO CITIzENBy the implementation ofeDistrict, the citizens arethe first to be benefited.The major advantagesincludes

Availability of CSCs outof the offices hoursenables the citizen toapply and obtain cer-tificates at his own con-venience, without disturb-ing his routine working hours andwithout forfeiting his wages.

Single point of contact (CSCs) foravailing services. Before imple-menting eDistrict, to obtain a cer-tificate from the Tahsildar, the indi-vidual has to visit the village officeand get the verification report first.This has to be taken to theTahasildar to get the certificate. Hemay have to visit multiple times atthe Taluk and Village office. Oneach visit he has to forfeit one daywage as these offices function only10 AM to 5 PM.

The citizen has the facility to applyfor a certificate from any availableCSCs in the State. This enables himto visit a CSC near to his work place.

The citizen need not have to botherabout the availability of the Village/Taluk officer to get his certificates.Earlier the citizen often required tohave multiple visits to the Villageoffices as the officers may be busyor out of the office during the visit.The citizens get their certificates asper the citizen charter. The systemhelps to avoid unnecessary delays inissuing the certificates.

Only one common application isrequired to be submitted by the per-son for any type of certificate.

One time registration processenables, to retrieve past data andsaves time when applies for multi-ple certificates and repeatedrequests.

DEVElOpMENT &DEplOyMENTIt was decided to use open source tech-nology for the eDistrict softwaredevelopment in line with the policy ofGovernment. eDistrict application hasbeen developed in J2EE platform andhosted at the State Data Centre. Thehardware infrastructure includes twoWeb Servers on NLBS, three applica-tion servers (cluster) and two databaseservers configured as primary and sec-ondary which are replicated. As part ofthe project, all Village and Taluk officesof Kannur and Palakkad are providedwith necessary infrastructure includ-ing connectivity. Open source softwareis used in the client PCs in Villageoffices and Taluk offices. KSWAN con-nectivity is used wherever feasible andVPN over broadband made availablewherever KSWAN is not feasible.


DR. K. SANTHANA RAMANState Informatics OfficerNIC Kerala State unitCDAC Building,VellayambalamTrivandrum- 33Ph: [email protected]

Deployment Architecture



The Planning Department,Govt. of Manipur, isresponsible for theformulation of the Five YearPlans, Annual Plans and allallied matters in the Stateof Manipur. It is the nodaldepartment for monitoringall development activities inthe state. It is also the stateliaison department with thePlanning Commission, theMinistry of Development ofNorth Eastern Region(DoNER) and the NorthEastern Council (NEC).

The manual system of mon-itoring the plan schemesoperates with time lags

and do not give a clear picture offunds remaining unutilized in a fiscalyear. The absence of a system thatcould quickly provide consolidated orgranular information on projectretention, approval, fund utilization,financial and physical progressreports of projects, fund transfers orbalances across schemes etc. was felt.This necessitated the developmentof a robust and reliable system usingICT tools to address various issues inmonitoring the different planschemes. The four main stake hold-ers in the scheme are (a) DoNER (b)Planning Department, (c) FinanceDepartment and (d) LineDepartments.

INITIATIVES In Manipur there are more thanthousand Projects at any time involv-

ing more than Rs. 1000 crores peryear. Monitoring schemes of this sizeis a huge task in terms of time andcost overrun. This became more andmore difficult with the system run-ning on stand alone computers. Inorder to address the current issues,Planning Department initiated forweb enabled ICT based solutions tomonitor these projects in an inte-grated manner. It was decided toimplement the scheme with NLCPR(Non Lapsable Central Pool ofResources) scheme in May, 2010.The necessary funding for develop-ment of Software was provided byPlanning Department.

pROpOSED SOluTION After analyzing the present system,it was decided to develop a web basedS/W and host it at NIC Server andimplement it by making data entryby all the stake holders, exceptDoNER. Planning Department willmake data entry for all sanctions,approvals and release of funds madeby DoNER as well as submission of

Manipur: Web Enabled Monitoring ofPlan Schemes

pictorial presentation of Work flow of NlCpR

NIRISH WAHENGBAMTechnical Assistant BNIC [email protected]

L.SHARAT SINGHTechnical Assistant BNIC [email protected]

Edited by Prashant Belwariar



Utilization Certificate, QuarterlyProgress Report (UC/QPR) etc.Similarly it was envisaged that all theline departments would do data entryof their activities right from submis-sion of DPR, receipt of funds etc tosubmission of UC/QPR. In short, allthe required data will be made avail-able in the server. Various reports aregenerated from the system which arereferred by the administrative headsany time anywhere. On behalf ofDoNER, Planning Department willmake data entry whenever there isapproval or sanction of the schemes.

Security: Three layer securities havebeen proposed in the system. They are:

Layer-1: The S/W was designedwith Role based authorisation withthe provision of User ID andPassword for (a) Administrators, (b)Data Entry Operators withCAPTCHA. The S/W prevents offi-cials from one department to seethe data for other department. Layer-2: OS hardening was done atthe server side. SAN with ATL isalso deployed.Layer-3: Network is also madesecured with Fire Wall and IPS.

SOfTWARE DEVElOpMENTNIC-Manipur developed the web basedS/W which is hosted at NIC Server.The main activities of the departmentsare categorized in the table below :

Platform used for development of theS/W – The software has been devel-oped in Java /JEE (Spring Framework)as front and PostgreSQL databaseunder Linux OS and Apache Tomcatweb server.

MAjOR BENEfITS 24X7 availability of data relating toproject Approval, Fund Flow,Financial and Physical progress Timely submission of UC/QPRDept. to Planning Dept. and subse-quently to DoNER Improved data exchange amongststakeholdersEasy tracking of fund flow detailsRetrieval of uploaded documentswhen untraceable

Increased reporting functionsGreater transparency and accounta-bility Reduction of workload

The solution has been implementedin all the schemes of NLCPR inManipur. It did not required muchinvestment from the stake holdersas it utilizes the existing infrastruc-ture such as Manipur SecretariatLAN, SDC, SWAN, NICNET etc. ICTrequirements of the main stakeholders were minimal and wereorganized very easily. The mainchallenge faced was in the area ofavailability of data in the linedepartments and with the right kindof people making regular data entry.At present, the Government ofManipur has decided to fully imple-ment the software and has issued

Govt. Order to this effect. ThePlanning Department is also con-templating to roll out the s/w tocover all Plan Schemes such asSpecial Plan Assistance (SPA), NorthEastern Council (NEC) and BoarderArea Development Programme(BADP) in the coming year.


KH RAJEN SINGHSenior Technical DirectorNIC Manipur State UnitRoom-79, Ministrial Block, Imphal , Manipur- 795001Ph: [email protected]

Sh. DS poonia, Chief SecretaryManipur speaking at the workshopon “Monitoring State & Centralprojects in Districts” held on 29-07-2011at Manipur Secretariat

SIO, Manipur demonstrate Webbased Monitoring of NlCpRscheme during the Workshop-cum-Training held on 29-07-2011 atManipur Secretariat

Department Entry Fund Authorization DPR SubmissionDepartment Entry Fund Authorization DPR Submission

Retained Project List Entry Fund Release to Line Dept. Fund Receipt

DPR Approval Expenditure Sanction UC & QPR Submission

DoNER Sanction — —

DoNER Release — —

UC & QPR Submission to DoNER — —



Two years back thetreasuries were working onan archaic system whichinvolved stamping ‘PayOrder’ on the bills presentedat the treasury which wasthen returned to DDO to bepresented at the bank forpayment. This resulted inproblems like wrongpayments, unauthorizedalterations in amount, loss ofbills and vouchers in transit,delay in disbursements, delayat end of DDO in distributionof RTR/Drafts etc. This isnow shifted to an entirelynew concept i.e. ElectronicPayment System (EPS), forpassing of bills anddisbursement of payments.

Under EPS system, pay-ments of any kind arecredited directly in

bank accounts of payees, in anybranch anywhere in country. Withactive participation of Director,Treasury and Accounts, and officialsof State Bank of India, the softwarewas developed as part of the alreadyimplemented Online TreasuriesInformation System (OTIS) withTreasury EPS system (TEPS) runningin the banks. Awareness and trainingprogrammes for DDOs and officials oftreasuries/sub-treasuries and bankswas also organised. Successful pilotlaunch of system was done inPanchkula in September 2010 andthen all other district treasuries inApril 1, 2011.

pROCESS DESCRIpTION:Each payee furnishes details likeName, PAN number, GPF/PRANnumber and bank details like nameof bank, branch name, IFSC codeand account number. The detailsare entered in OTIS and after veri-fication by DDO a Unique Code forPayee (UCP) is generated. Onlinefacility for allotment of UCP hasalso now been made operational.DDO prepares the bill and submitsto the Treasury along with the listof payees for payment. TokenClerk receives the bill and entersthe details in the Token EntryModule of OTIS, generates aToken Number and issues a tokenreceipt. Bill Passing Clerk checks the billdetails, verifies Photo andSignatures of the DDO displayedon the screen with those on the bill

and if all the parameters are veri-fied and budget is available, bill ispassed and the budget data isupdated. Mode of paymentwhether EPS, Cheque or Cash pay-ment is then selected. Otherwiseobjections are recorded and listattached with the bill.Assistant Superintendent checksthe bill with the details displayedon the screen l which are then ver-ified with the physical bill.

Electronic Payment System inHaryana

J.L.MEHENDIRATTASenior Systems Analyst


DEEPAK BANSALTechnical Director NIC [email protected]

Edited by Vivek Verma

Sh. Harinder kumar, IRS

Director, Treasuries &

Accounts, Haryana

THE ElECTRONIC

pAyMENT SySTEM

DEVElOpED By NIC-

HARyANA HAS GIVEN A

quANTuM lEAp TO

THE pROCESS Of

fINANCIAl AppROVAl

BEING GIVEN By STATE

TREASuRIES AND

ElECTRIfIED THE

DISTRIBuTION

pROCEDuRE lEADING

TO HIGHER lEVEl Of

SATISfACTION AMONG

THE END uSERS AND

THE pAyEES.



After that the bill goes to Treasuryofficer (ATO in case of sub-treasury)for verification. In case of objectionthe bill can be sent back to TokenCounter or bill passing clerk. Afterupdation of payees’ data, the billagain comes to T.O. for verification.A verified bill goes to EPS generationsection and a Pay Order and twoinvoices are generated. There can bemultiple bills and payees in a singlepay order. A pay order is generatedfor all the pending bills of a DDO ina single Major head. The pay orderand one invoice are handed over tothe DDO and one invoice is kept inthe treasury for record purpose. Incase of Cheque, the bill goes toCheque generation section and aCheque is generated. The EPS pay order is printed on A4

size sheet and is valid for a period often days. A unique EPS number andlist of payees (with bank details) isalso printed on the pay order. Thepay order is signed by Treasury offi-cer and stamped and endorsed bythe DDO. Pay order can be for nor-mal EPS, consolidated EPS, for pen-sioners, for refund etc.For large number of payees in a bill,there is option to generate a consoli-dated EPS instead of a normal EPS.

DDO provides soft copy of the list tothe bank and there is instruction inthe pay order to make payment tothe payees. Data in encrypted form is sent by

mail to the treasury branch of bankwhere it is decrypted and importedin TEPS. An acknowledgement codeis displayed and mailed to the treas-ury. The code is to be acknowledgedby the Treasury officer in OTIS oth-erwise further generation of payorders is stopped after one hour ofEPS file generation.The pay order is presented in bank

by DDO/messenger and is verifiedin TEPS using the EPS number. Forthe purpose of verification of EPSpay order, the pay order number isentered on the basis of EPS payorder received physically. The detailsof the EPS pay order are displayedon screen. The same is matched withthe hard copy of the EPS pay orderand verified on the computer. For verified pay orders, three filesare generated, one containing trans-actions with the various branches ofthe treasury bank, one for NEFTcontaining transaction for otherbanks of amount upto Rs. 2 lakhsand one for RTGS containing trans-actions for other banks of amountabove Rs. 2 lakhs. The bank officialuploads these files onto their systemand specified amount is credited

directly in the bank account of pay-ees. In case of failure byNEFT/RTGS, a draft or RTR is madein favour of the payee and handedover to the DDO. Further in case offailure on account of wrong bankdetails of payee, the information isreceived back online from the bankand the related UCP is blocked untilthe details are corrected by DDO.After payment, payment verificationis done in TEPS using the EPS num-ber and for any unsuccessful trans-action then the Draft or RTR no. isentered.A scroll is also generated for the

payments done which is sent to thetreasury. Digital data is also sent bymail to the treasury. Verification ofbills is done using the digital dataand payment scroll and Vouchernumbers are generated for each bill. All the data of this transaction isuploaded to the central server at dayend and expenditure data for DDObudget is also updated in the centralserver.

BENEfITSIt has provided an efficient, transpar-ent and faster mode of payments clear-ances, saving people time, and reducingthe red tape involved in conductingtransactions with banks and stateauthorities. The biggest benefit to citi-zens/employees however is theimprovement in government andadministrative services. fuTuRE plANS Soon the system will be replicated inall the sub-treasuries of the state. EPSwill also allow digital endorsement bythe DDOs and then the physical copyof the EPO will not be required.


DEEPAK BANSALTechnical Director NIC Haryana, 9th FloorHaryana Civil SecretariatSector-1Chandigarh 160001Ph: [email protected]

Treasury payment to be processdiagram


Chandigarh, symbolic ofplanning urbanism, wascommissioned by Pt.Jawahar Lal Nehru, thecountry's first PrimeMinister, who ratherprophetically proclaimedthat Chandigarh would be“unfettered by thetraditions of the past, asymbol of the nation's faithin the future” and wasdeveloped by famed Frencharchitect Le Corbusier. It isa futuristic city with anirresistible mix of dynamismand elegance, which neverfails to delight. NIC Chandigarh UT

Unit was setup in1990 in the office of

Deputy Commissioner and currentlyhas its offices at 3 locations. In last 21years it has contributed significantlyin various ICT related activities. NIChas been instrumental is successfullyrunning various e-Governance proj-ects, Chandigarh SWAN was commis-sioned 2 years ago and departmentshave been able to reap the benefits ofconnectivity by way of using central-ized applications and informationinterchange, Network Data Centre isbeing looked after by NIC which ismanned 24*7 and has provided 99.9%uptime, e-mail, internet and VC serv-ices have been extended practically toeach and every individual which arebeing made full use of by them.

Well understanding the importanceof technology, need of the hour andthe expectations of the users, effortshave been made to keep pace with thetechnological advancements anddeliver standardized products.

Chandigarh Portal: The portalhttp://chandigarh.gov.in is a testa-ment of Administration’s focus ontransparency & proactive approachtowards taking it to the comforts ofthe homes of the citizens so as toreduce their legwork. The portal har-nesses content from across the vari-ous departments of ChandigarhAdministration. Although, the pri-mary driver for the development ofthis solution was the need to have asingle point of access for informationof Chandigarh Administration, thisportal has now become its face.GePNIC: eProcurement solution,https://etenders.chd.nic.in/, was suc-

Chandigarh : Participatory, Accessibleand Efficient Governance

VIVEK VERMARegional EditorNIC Chandigarh

[email protected]

AJAY RAMPALState InformaticsOfficerNIC [email protected]

Web portal of Chandigarh Administration

From the States/UTs

cessfully deployed for all departments ofChandigarh Administration wef April2010 for Tenders above 10 lakhs. It hasbeen widely acclaimed and is now imple-mented for tenders of all values.Efficient use of technology has beenshowcased in this application to ensuresafety and security. Non-discriminationamong bidders, access of tender docu-ments by any bidder & bid submissionfrom their place of convenience are thefactors for keen acceptance of the solu-tion. It has also promoted open compe-tition. NIC Chennai is rendering muchneeded support for its successful imple-mentation. In the current financial yearmore than 4100 tenders amounting toover 1000 crores have been processed.

NETWORk SuppORTNational Knowledge Network(NKN) Hub: NIC Chandigarh has pro-vided connectivity under NKN Projectto IIT Roop Nagar, IMTECHChandigarh, Panjab UniversityChandigarh, NDRI Karnal, CDACMohali. PGIMER Chandigarh, PECUniversity of Technology Chandigarh,Government Medical College & HospitalSector 32, NIT Jalandhar, CSIOChandigarh, NITTRE Chandigarh,CCET Chandigarh, IISER Mohali, NIPERMohali, NABI Mohali, PAU Ludhiana ,Dental College & SGTB Hospital &College Amritsar, DWRI Karnal andmany other institutes in the region are

in pipeline.

Regional Network Centre: In2003, Leased Line network wascommissioned connecting allNIC offices (Punjab, Haryana &Chandigarh) in Chandigarh,Punjab and Haryana HighCourt, Haryana Assembly, etc.Subsequently it has beenextended to Himachal Pradesh,Jammu, Mumbai, all districts ofPunjab and Haryana, PunjabRaj Bhawan and SPIC Centre. Inaddition to it, MLLN connectiv-ity to different central govern-ment offices - Passport Office,Census, NCRB, Department of

Post, DGFT, Environment and Forest,UID, ROC, CGHS etc is also through.The backbone bandwidth forNICNET/Internet access from this cen-tre to New Delhi has been significantlystrengthened with 2.5 Gbps link fromRailtel and 1 Gbps standby link fromPGCIL.

Chandigarh SWAN: NIC was assignedthe task of setting up Chandigarh StateWide Area Network (SWAN), a projectfunded by Department of InformationTechnology (Option II). All the majorbuildings and eSampark/ eJanSampark/GramSampark Centres are now con-nected. There are 7 PoPs namely UTSecretariat-SHQ, MunicipalCorporation, Deputy CommissionerOffice, Sub DivisionalMagistrate(South), Sub DivisionalMagistrate(East), Government MedicalCollege and Hospital Sector 32,Government Multi-Specialty HospitalSector 16 & Registration & LicensingAuthority identified under SWAN whichare connected to the Network DataCentre and are fully operational.Chandigarh Administration has extend-ed SWAN to many departments fromState Hqrs and POPs. Manpower formaintenance and support servicesunder the project has been deployed onall the PoPs and State Headquarters site.NIC is providing 24x7x365 services toall PoPs and SWAN sites.


Sh. V. k Singh, IAS

Secretary finance-cum-

Information Technology

Chandigarh Administration

It gives me immense

pleasure to know that NIC

is covering Chandigarh uT

in its forthcoming issue of

Informatics. NIC

Chandigarh uT unit has

contributed stupendously

in the various e-

Governance initiatives of

the Administration which

were aimed at improving

the life of a common man.

These initiatives have also

helped in ushering the city

to a new paradigm that

looks promising than ever

before. I congratulate the

NIC team for its

tremendous efforts in

putting together various

solutions which have

served as e-Governance

enabler and are of great

importance to

Administration. The

contribution has been in

terms of connectivity,

networking, technology

upgradation, delivery

systems for information

and services and an array

of software solutions. My

best wishes for the

ongoing initiatives and the

future endeavours.

participants at GfAS workshop for DDOs

From the States/UTs


From the States/UTs

It has facilitated the implementation ofeGovernance projects as the reach hasbeen widened. It has become equallyeasy to disseminate information acrossvarious offices and has resulted inadoption of standardized approach byall departments.

State Data Centre (SDC):Chandigarh Administration decided touse the existing NIC ChandigarhNetwork & Data Centre (NDC), estab-lished in 2004, as State Data Centre.The same site is being used as StateHeadquarter site under SWAN andNKN Project, thus all the major build-

ings/departments are connected toData Centre. The NDC is equipped with state of artinfrastructure to facilitate e-Governance initiatives of ChandigarhAdministration as well as to cater todiverse computing and networkingrequirements of the government. Astate of art high capacity (10 TB) stor-age area network (SAN) is also set up inNDC to provide consolidated storageinfrastructure for IntranetApplications, Citizens Services,eGovernance applications, Databases,E-mail and other internet services. TheNDC is operational on 24x7x365 basisand also remains manned by technicalpersons to respond to any kind ofrequirement. All the major buildings,Citizen centric centres (viz. eSampark,Jan Sampark and eGram Sampark) are

also connected to the NDC throughhigh speed channels to provide efficientservices. The applications are hosted onvaried platform having different back-end databases to give multiple hostingenvironments.

Intranet Portal of ChandigarhAdministration: A significant initia-tive was undertaken to have a one-stopaccess point for various G2G and G2Erelated services. SWAN, centralizedSDC and the IT vision of ChandigarhAdministration served as the drivingforce in successfully integrating the var-ious applications – common anddepartment specific.

Most of the departments/offices acrossthe city access the applications throughthe portal http://admser.chd.nic.in.in.User accounts of employees are main-tained in common database where it isauthenticated and access provided asper assigned roles. The access is alsolimited to valid domains. On successfullogin, the selected application is madeavailable to the user. Some of the appli-cations are –Common applications: GeneralFinancial Accounting System,Meeting Manager, Court CasesMonitoring System, File MonitoringSystem, Visitor's InformationSystem, Government Tenders andquotationsDepartment specific: PublicRelations, General FinancialAccounting System, Integrated

Scheme & Budget monitoring,Project Monitoring System,Grievances Monitoring System, NICUT Portal, Passport/Public WindowFile Updation.

eSampark, eJan Sampark andGram Sampark: The much acclaimedand successful eSampark project ofChandigarh Administration waslaunched in September 2004, as a“Multi Service Single Window conven-ience”, to bring various services underone window. Starting with 11 servicesfrom 3 centres it has emerged as a keyrevenue mop-up agent now. A footfallof over 2 lakh transactions is beingrecorded per month and it has account-ed for revenue collection of over 800crore in 2010-11. At present, 23 G2Cand 5 B2C services are being providedat 11 eSampark centers spread all overthe city. Replicating the success in UTvillages, as many as 13 Gram Samparkcenters have already been established.All eSampark services were being pro-vided at Gram Sampark centers free ofcost to the villagers. Residents have theconvenience to submit RTI applicationsand grievances at these centres and alsoseek appointments for GovernmentMedical College and Hospital andGovernment Multi Specialty Hospital.

Smart Card based PublicDistribution System (SCbPDS): In2008-09 budget, Finance Minister Sh.P. Chidambram announced Chandigarhas one of the pilots to implementSCbPDS to bring more transparency inthe distribution of ration and tostreamline procedures related to PDS toensure reach of benefits to the intendedgroup of citizens. An approval of Rs. 6Crores was granted by the Govt. ofIndia.The project was rolled out in June 2010and it takes care of all the ensuingprocesses right from allocation to thedisbursement of commodities at FPS. AKMS enabled Smart Ration Card withthe beneficiary and a PoS Terminalintegrated with weigh bridge and con-nected to central server through GPRS

Chandigarh State Wide Area Network layout


From the States/UTs

and with the FPS owner’s Smart Card atthe FPS makes the transaction happenand biometrics authentication ensuresthat the commodity is delivered to theintended beneficiary. At present datadigitization has been completed, bio-metrics capturing is nearing comple-tion and commodities are being issuedthrough this solution at 13 FPS and theremaining shall soon be covered. Someof the benefits accrued are Improvisedservice delivery, Transparency andeffectiveness in PDS, Proper allocationand distribution monitoring, Plug leak-ages in PDS, Remove bogus/multipleration card and Convenience & con-sumer contentment.Government Financial AccountingSystem (GFAS): GFAS, implementedon 1st April 2011, has resulted in inte-grating the Budget and the Treasuryoperations, which till now were run-ning in silos. Hosted on central serverin NIC NDC and accessible throughIntranet portal, it is used by alloffices/Boards and Corporations.Allocation of budget by Financedepartment, preparation of bill byDDO, presentation of bill to treasury,approval/rejection based on fundsavailable etc are some of the activitiescarried out using this system. It facili-tates making available the latest fig-ures at any given time. Online avail-ability of data helps in knowing aboutthe available funds, expenditure statusand the receipts. It also makes account, cheque and

vouchers reconciliation very easy. Arobust MIS supports variety of reportscatering to day to day requirements ofvarious offices. As a next step for-ward, facility of e-Payment has beeninitiated for crediting salary ofemployees and shall subsequentlycover all kind of transactions.SARATHI and VAHAN (TransportDepartment): Smart card based KeyManagement System (KMS) enabledDriving Licences and RegistrationCertificates (both Transport and NonTransport) are being provided to theresidents of Chandigarh. The test forLearner’s Licence is also computer

aided. Data consolidation to formState register and National registerhas also been accomplished. HighSecurity Registration Plate modulehas also been integrated in VAHAN torecord the details. The application isnow running from 4 locations (RLAoffice, SDM(S), SDM(E) and STA) overChandigarh SWAN thus bringing in lotof convenience to public and the staff.National Permits for goods vehiclesare being generated through thePermits portal. Industrial Tribunal & LabourCourt: A centralised solution devel-oped for the court to manage and keeptrack of the cases has become an inte-gral part of their day to day working. Allreports are generated through the sys-tem and queries regarding case status,case history, decided/disposed cases etcare easily responded. Manual interven-tion has been totally eliminated andaccess to information and retrieval isvery fast. Prevention of Food Adulteration(Food Licencing): The Food SafetyAct includes rules and regulations forthe registration and licensing of prem-ises used or proposed to be used for thepurposes of a food business. The appli-cation has been developed and imple-mented to streamline the food licens-ing process of the Administration.Workflow based application covers thecomplete process of food licensingwhich starts from accepting the licenseapplication with fee including penaltyand late fee, giving receipt to the appli-cant and ends at the delivery of thelicense to the applicant. An effectivemonitoring and reporting mechanismassists the enforcement staff. There are many other projects runningsuccessfully in various departments forthe last many years for which technicalsupport is being provided as and whenrequired eg. Chandigarh TransportUndertaking, Excise and Taxation,Property Registration, Education etc.

Services are rendered to variousNational Level Projects viz:Common Integrated Police Application

(CIPA), Counseling for admissions toengineering colleges, Immigration, Visaand Foreigner Registration Tracking,Online Scholarship ManagementSystem, Election MIS, Socio EconomicCaste Census, Mother and ChildTracking System, eGranthalaya, CON-FONET, AISESVideo Conferencing: A fully fledgedVC studio is established and regular VCsessions are conducted for the benefitof various departments of ChandigarhAdministration.Websites: More than 40 websites ofvarious departments of ChandigarhAdministration have been developed,hosted and are being maintained. Userdepartments are provided adequatetraining on the maintenance of thesites and also explained the importanceof a well maintained site. Internet & Email - it’s the basic serv-ice that is being availed by all depart-ments/offices who have been encour-aged to put it to maximum use. Moreand more offices are being providedofficial email accounts, thus facilitatingfaster and reliable communicationamongst each other. Internet servicesare efficiently monitored on 24x7x365basis to ensure uninterrupted services.Over last 5 years 99.9% uptime hasbeen ensured. Recognition –

National Golden Icon Award for e-Sampark.National Silver Icon Award for BestGovernment Website CSI-Nihilent Best e-GovernedState/UT Award.Continuously Ranked as a LEADER in “India: e-ReadinessAssessment Report”


AJAY RAMPALState Informatics OfficerNIC UT Unit#222, UT Secretariat,Sector 9-D, Chandigarh – 160017Ph. [email protected]


From The States/UTs

National Informatics Centre,Odisha is playing a catalyticrole in implementing e-Governance projects andestablishing a NetworkedGovernment for greatertransparency andaccountability in delivery ofpublic services to facilitatemoral & material progress ofall citizens.

Odisha aims at estab-lishing robust andfuturistic IT Enabled

Services in the State to bring aboutease & convenience in transactionsbetween Government and Citizens.A number of critical Core ICTProjects have been implemented inthe State to establish G2G, G2C &G2B transactions. Some of the Key Projects imple-

mented during 2010 & 2011 are as follows:

Web Based Counselling: NIC,Odisha had taken up the responsi-bility for web based counselling ofOdisha Joint EntranceExamination- 2011 (http://ojee.nic.in) and Diploma EntranceTest – 2011 (http://detorissa.nic.in)conducted by the Directorate ofTechnical Education & Training(DTET), Odisha under Departmentof Industry. The counselling forEngineering, Lateral Entry , MBA,MCA & Pharmacy Courses of OJEE and DiplomaEngineering andLateral Entry for more than 1 lakh stu-dents was conductedsuccessfully.

PRERANA- the e-Scholarship System:PRERANA, the portal(ht tp : / /or i .n i c . in/odishapms) for Post-Matric ScholarshipRegistration ReleaseAnd NetworkAutomation, is a web

based solution to provide onlineservice to the underprivileged ST,SC, OBC / SEBC and Minority stu-dents of Odisha, in terms of finan-cial assistance. More than one lakhstudents have registered within onemonth of time after inauguration byShri Naveen Pattanaik, Hon’ble ChiefMinister of Odisha. The PRERANA isgoing to facilitate easy access,speedy and timely disbursal of schol-arship to the needy students main-taining transparency, accountabilityand responsibility in implementa-tion & management of theschemes.

e-Abhijoga: It is an integrated webbased application, which primarilyaims at submission of grievancesfrom anywhere and anytime, instantand easy Data transmission betweenDepartments and the subordinateorganizations resulting in the speedyredressal of grievances. CentralizedPublic Grievance Redressal andMonitoring System (CPGRAMS) hasbeen designed and developed with aview to achieve a uniform and sys-tematic approach towards monitor-

Odisha - Establishing Greater Transparency andAccountability in Delivery of Public Services

A. K HOTATechnical Director

NIC Odisha [email protected]

S. K PANDAState InformaticsOfficerNIC [email protected]

A view of e-Counselling at VSS, Burla, SambalpurCentre

Edited by R.Gayatri


From the States/UTs

ing of procedures by adopting a com-prehensive classification and stan-dardization of grievances and redres-sal actions across the governmentorganizations. So far 11738 grievanceshave been redressed through the por-tal since its launch in 2011.

Standardisation of District Portal:A standardized district portal-http://ordistricts.nic.in , frameworkhas been put in place, which is basedon the content architecture of theNational Portal of India(http://india.gov.in) under NeGP. Thecontents and formats of the portalinclude; profile, geography, adminis-trative setup, directory, peoples’ repre-sentatives etc. Citizen Services such asacts & rules, e-forms, policies,enquiries, guidelines to get caste anddomicile certificate, registration ofdocuments, ration card, land records,Right to Information etc. are included.The content is contributed to thePortal using a user-friendly web-basedContent Management System (CMS).The site has been developed under theenvironment of LAMP – “Linux,Apache, My Sql and PHP”.

Chief Minister Relief Fund online(e-CMRF) is meant to be an e-Governance oriented Web Portal cater-ing to G2G and G2C domain. It isintended for timely, accurate deliveryof assistance and to bring transparen-cy & accountability at every level ofManagement. The whole application isdivided into three important modulesi.e. Receipts of Fund in the form of

donation /budgetary allocation,Remittance of assistance to the familyof deceased person of the state, FundManagement etc. Within last 5months of implementation 1040applications were processed over theportal & more than 2 Crores have beendistributed. The project is being moni-tored by Hon’ble C.M’s Secretariatthrough General Administration(CMRF) cell.

GePNIC: Odisha being the leadingstate for implementation of NIC’seProcurement solution for theGovernment (GePNIC) has hostedmore than 35000 tenders worth52000 crores over http://tendersoris-sa.gov.in. GePNIC has also been suc-cessfully implemented in MahanadiCoalfields Limited, Sambalpur, anabaratna PSU under Ministry of Coal.eProcurement team of NIC Odisha isactively involved in the national roll-out of GePNIC under MMP. Odishahas been instrumental in rollout atVisakhapatnam Port Trust,Visakhapatnam. Several other DefenceMinistry PSUs like Mishra DhatuNigam Limited, Hindustan ShipyardLimited & Goa Shipyard Limited are inthe pipeline to adopt GePNIC whichhas received national and internation-al laurels like eIndia 2009 & 2010,Skoch, eWorld, CIL etc.

Study of Pre & Post tenderingModules : In order to make GePNICa complete e-procurement solutionit is necessary to develop and inte-grate pre tendering modules likeIndent Generation, DemandAggregation and post tenderingmodules like ContractorRegistration and ContractorDatabase, On line TechnicalEvaluation, Post Contract WorksMonitoring & Payment toContractors. On request from Govtof Odisha & pro-active initiative ofNIC, an expert team of engineers hasbeen formed by the Government fordomain input to the NIC study teamand the study report is going to be

submitted latest by March 2012. Registration Authority Office:Registration Authority (RA)Bhubaneswar came into existence asthe 2nd RA Office of NIC CertifyingAuthority after RA Bangalore in Oct2008. This facility is catering to DigitalSignature Certificate (DSC) require-ments of Odisha and neighbouringstates like Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand& West Bengal. Central Governmentdepartments like CPWD, East CoastRailways, CRPF, Indian Army, IndianNavy etc and central PSUs like MCL,HAL, VPT etc are important users ofRA Odisha for their DSC needs. Morethan 3500 DSCs have been issuedfrom this facility as on November2011.

e-Advertisement: Digital delivery ofadvertisement to the newspaper agen-cies (NPAs) to publish in the newspa-pers and periodicals by Information &Public Relations (I&PR) Departmenthas been implemented. The softwarefacilitates stakeholders to send onlinerequest for advertisements.Advertisement wing in I&PR depart-ment accepts the requests and process-es for the cost estimation. Accordinglyrelease order (RO) is issued to therespective newspaper / periodicals.SMS / e-mail alerts have also beenintegrated at strategic levels.

e-BHABISYANIDHI: e-Bhabisyanid-hi, deals with provident fund of morethan 2 lakh teachers under all theAided Educational Institutions ofGovt. of Odisha. Subscribers are able

Hon'ble CM inaugurating preranaeScholarship project

Hon’ble Minister Sh. prafulla Samalinaugurating e-Advertisement


From the States/UTs

to obtain their GPF statement, pen-sion and other retirement relatedinformation etc. The grievance inter-face helps the present and retiredemployees to interact with the system.

Online GPF tracking for BSNLemployees under controller ofcommunication accounts,Bhubaneswar disseminate informa-tion on GPF status of employeesworking under Controller ofCommunication Accounts,Bhubaneswar

Mother & Child Tracking System(MCTS) - MCTS, a Mission ModeProject under the NeGP, the name-based pregnant mother and childtracking system, has been implement-ed in 6688 Sub-Centres in Odisha. Tilldate 623342 mothers and 411041children have been Registered inMCTS portal, along with 8286 ANM &40899 Asha workers.

Odisha Health Workforce informa-tion System (OHWiS): OHWiS theweb-based system monitors and man-ages the Human Resource of theDepartment of Health and FamilyWelfare, Govt. of Odisha. 3100Doctors profile have been created &managed over the portal.

Web-GIS for OdishaState - GIS applica-tions have been suc-cessfully developedand implemented atGrass-root level usingopen source for ninedistricts of Odisha.Using this application,user can access differ-ent GIS data and itsinformation usingBrowse mode, gener-ate query based mapsand reports and pre-pare thematic mapsover net as and when

required.

Integrated Three-TierComputerization of Public HealthEngineering Organisation: Theapplication portal is operational in themajor cities of Odisha viz,Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Khurda,Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkelacovering Four PH circles, Eight PHdivisions, 21 PH Subdivisions and 87PH sections catering to more than 2lakhs of consumers. Water tariffBilling and Payment application hassignificantly contributed towards pub-lic awareness hence resulting in amajor increase in water tariff revenue.A State Complaint Call centre has beenmade operational for more than Twoyears with facilities of Lodging com-plaints by public through a Toll freenumber and checking the status byWeb Portal. Complaints system hasreceived a wide range of good publicresponse and till now thousands ofcomplaints have been redressedthrough the State Complaint CallCentre.

e-Payment system for JagannathTemple: With the objective of offeringdevotees the opportunity to serve theLORD by contributing generouslytowards expenses for the RAJ-BHOGA(KOTHA-BHOGA) offered daily beforethe LORD in the "Sanctum-Sanctorum" and at the same time cre-

ating a permanent and adequatefinancial base for Shri JagannathTemple (Puri) the online payment sys-tem (http://jagannath.nic.in) throughCredit as well as Debit card is in place.

Credit Card : The application is inte-grated with Credit Card PaymentGateway through the Store FrontAdapter (SFA) API. Data interchange isdone through encrypted Secure SocketLayer (SSL) transmission over HTTPSprotocol as POST request. Credit Cardtransaction is in accordance withPayment Card Industry (PCI) guide-lines verified by Master & VISA card.Parameters shared by NIC applicationwith Payment Gateway are as PRNNo., Amount, Bhoga Type.

Direct Debit : The application is inte-grated with the payment gateway ornet-baking of the participating Banksthrough URL based POST Request andpassing of certain mutually agreedparameters.

AGRICulTuRE SECTORFARM MECHANISATION modulemonitors the targets and achieve-ments of farm implements andmachinery distributed to the benefici-aries. BIO-FERTILISER/ORGANICINPUT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM pro-vides the users of district level andDirectorate level as well as the produc-tion unit to know the usable status oftotal consumption and balance of biofertilizer and organic manure.Fertilizer Registration Certificate sys-tem, monitors existing & new license

OHWis interface

SIO, Odisha being felicitated forGepNIC implementation at MCl


From the States/UTs

holders and their details regardingprofile, sale & storage address, fertiliz-ers details, renew details and paymentdetails etc. Online FertilizerManagement system keeps the recordof fertilizer flow from manufacturingcompany to retailer. The system cap-tures receipt and distribution of fer-tilizer data for companies, wholesalersand retailers. Subsidy report is gener-ated for manufacturing companies.Other modules developed & imple-mented in Odisha include PesticideLicensing System, Commercial PestControl Licensing System, Farm PondRegistration, Pest monitoring system,Weather information system etc.

AuTOMATION Of lOCAl fuNDAuDIT (AlfA)Local Fund Audit Organisation is theinternal Audit Organisation of Govt.of Odisha functioning under theadministrative control of FinanceDepartment. The application has beenrolled out to cover the development ofintra LFA portal, standardization ofaudit workflow, monitoring daily diary& tour programmes, preservation ofaudit report and better access, devel-opment of MIS on Institutional Audit,automation of surcharge processingand development of online Intra LFAmessaging and communication etc.

ONlINE STATE BuDGETThe role based e-Budget system hasbeen implemented with mapping ofvarious functionalities. AllAdministrative Departments of Govt.of Odisha have been enabled to submittheir budget proposals, monitor &retrieve desired information etc.through the portal.

OTHER MAjOR pROjECTS: Online Rice Mill Registration, PaddyProcurement, Road Movement ofCMR, Performance AppraisalReport(PAR) Maintenance &Monitoring System , Property ReturnStatement of State Govt. Officers, Mid–Day-Meal monitoring system for theWCD Department, Bhulekh- consist-

ing of the (i)Tehsil module for file gen-eration, encryption & transmission,(ii)State portal module for decryption,data updation & status monitoring,and (iii) Web service for providinginterface to the online RoR data etc.have been successfully implemented inthe state.

e-Governance in Panchayati Rajsector bagged “ePanchayatPuraskar-2011” Odisha bagged the “ePanchayatPuraskar-2011” - a national award,instituted by Ministry of PanchayatiRaj, Government of India, in order toappreciate the excellent achievementfor implementation of ModelAccounting system for Panchayats (MAS) and PRIASoft. Sh. S. N.

Tripathy, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Panchayati Raj Department,Govt. of Odisha, received the Trophy &Certificate along with Rs. 50 lakhscash prize from Sh. VilasraoDeshmukh, Union MinisterPanchayati Raj & Rural Development,in presence of Sh.Mani Shankar Aiyar,former Union Minister Panchayati Raj,and Shri Prafulla Samal, Minister,Panchayati Raj, Odisha.


S.K PANDAState Informatics CentreNIC OrissaUnit-IV, Sachivalaya MargBhubaneswar-751001Ph: [email protected]

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS DuRING 2010 & 2011

SUBIDHA – StateUrban Local BodiesIntegrated dataHandling & AccessNagar BandhuSamman-2010 byHon’ble C.M, Odisha GePNIC – e-Procurement systeme-World – 2011 (1stPublic Choice awardfor G2B initiative)Standardisation ofDistrict Portal withweb CMSe-World-2011 (2ndPublic Choice Award for Best Portal)SKOCH DIGITAL INCLUSION AWARD 2011 (Certificate of Merit asbest hundred projects in India)Online Passport Verification, Missing Persons & Complaint MonitoringSystem (at Jharsuguda District)e-World-2011- (1st Public Choice award for Electronic Delivery ofServices Initiative)BEDP-DSS (Block Economic Development & Planning Decision SupportSystem) (At Khurda District)SKOCH DIGITAL INCLUSION AWARD 2011 (Certificate of Merit asbest hundred projects in India) e-Abhijoga- Online GrievanceMonitoring Redressal system for Chief Minister of OdishaSKOCH DIGITAL INCLUSION AWARD 2011 (Certificate of Merit asbest hundred projects in India)

Hon’ble CM felicitating SIO, Odisha for con-tribution of ICT in urban Sector


Guest Column

Sir, we express our sincere thanksto you for providing your valu-able time and the opportunityof this valuable interactionwith you. We would like tohear from you about therecent achievements of MCL.

CMD- It is a fact that MCL being theyoungest company among all sub-sidiary companies of Coal IndiaLimited established only in 1992has now become the secondlargest Coal Producer of Indiaproducing more than 100 MillionTonne of Coal per year and is thehighest profit making subsidiarycompany of CIL. It has been theconstant endeavor of MCL tobring about innovation in differ-ent fields and to strive for excel-lence. MCL has been fairly suc-cessful not only in adopting inno-vative methods of production ofcoal but also in CorporateGovernance and as well as pro-curement system adopted forgoods and services. The success ofMCL in implementingeProcurement system is exempla-ry to other organisations.

Can you please elaborate littlemore on eProcurement?

CMD-We are a Mini Ratna PublicSector Company of Govt. of Indiaand we believe in extensive use ofICT in Corporate Governance.eProcurement is a G2B(Government to Business) appli-cation. For the success of theorganization it is absolutelyessential to finalize the Tendersquickly without compromisingthe quality of decision makingand transparency of tenderingprocess. Earlier in case of manual

tendering system we wereobtaining offer consisting of doc-uments containing informationabout the bid. During evaluationof tenders we were extracting therelevant information from thesubmitted documents and usingthose information with subjec-tive interpretations. Now withthe advent of e-Procurement therelevant information is obtainedfrom the Bidders in a highlystructured objective formatwhich are evaluated by portalsoftware. This has made the eval-uation of bids very fast and high-ly transparent. There are manyadvantages of eProcurement,particularly for a PSU and hencewe are committed towards itsimplementation and constantimprovements in the system.

How this journey was started?CMD-MCL’s eProcurement journey

was started in the year 2007-2008; however the project got animpetus in 2009 with introduc-tion of GePNIC (Government

eProcurement Application ofNIC). It is on 15th August 2009when MCL started this system byfloating pilot tenders.

But how did this project was help-ful to MCL?

CMD-This project is very helpful tous because of its direct link withthe main Business of ourCompany, which is CoalProduction. As you know tender-ing is a cumbersome process andhas many inherent stumblingblocks. For the smooth function-ing of any corporate it isabsolutely essential to finalizethe procurement of goods, worksand services in a quick and trans-parent manner. With the help ofeProcurement we have been ableto reduce our procurement timesignificantly with added conven-ience and better transparency.

How these uneasy processes wereeliminated as far asProcurement is concerned?

CMD-We made a systematic study ofthe existing process and re-engi-neered our system to meet therequirement of automatic evalu-ation of bids by the e-Procurement portal software.Now this web based applicationtakes care of our tendering needlike Publication of Tenders, Bidsubmission, Online Evaluationof Tender and finally Award ofContract. We have recently intro-duced online payment of EMDand Tender fee thus enhancingtransparency and convenience tothe Bidders.

This is quite interesting and what

Unique eProcurement initiative ofMahanadi Coalfields LimitedA close interaction with Sh. A.N Sahay, Chairman-cum-MD, MCL….

Guest Column

is so unique to this imple-mentation?

CMD-Yes, this is a question I love toanswer. MCL is the only compa-ny, which has gone forAutomatic Technical Evaluationof bids by customizing theGePNIC application software.What we have done is that, therequirements of a tender havebeen parameterized and accord-ingly the information isobtained from the bidder in astructured objective format.The system facilitates the AutoTechnical Evaluation and bythis process the subjective deci-sions are eliminated. This hasresulted in elimination offavoritisms, discrimination etc.which usually are the practice ofany Tendering process. I amhappy that to a great extentthat we have done away withsuch practices and that is ourbiggest accomplishment bybecoming a catalyst for bring-ing transparency.

From your prominence, we couldguess that your Organizationhas been greatly benefitedwith introduction of this proj-ect.

CMD-Yes and we have experiencedboth immense Tangible andIntangible benefits. Our tender-ing cycle has been reduced fromwhopping 150 days to 70 days.The blocking period of huge sumof EMD of the bidders has beenreduced along with the bid validi-ty period. All other Tender relatedissues have been removed thusfacilitating the bidders to quoterealistic price. The increase in bid-ders base and convenience in ten-der participation has led to bettercompetition and better price forus. These are few benefits tomention and the list is endless.

What has amused you in this project?

CMD-This project is of great impor-tance to my company. The proj-ect focuses both on a uniqueprocess as well as the system.Ingrained with high technologywith features of transparency ofthe process, non-discriminationof bidders, equality of access &participation, open competition,accountability, probity and secu-rity features the GePNIC applica-tion has been adopted by manyState Govts and reputed PSUs.As I have been given to under-stand this system has beenreviewed and accepted byInternational Agencies like AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB). Thesystem meets our requirementsand there is constant improve-ment in the system that is whywe have imposed deep faith onthis software project.

How have your partnered with NICin this project?

CMD-We are extremely happy thatNIC is our partner in this project.The journey with NIC sinceDecember 2008 has beenextremely cordial and reciprocal.Both in Domain and TechnologyNIC has proved its competence.The project planning, executionand maintenance has been donein a highly professional mannerand I am sure it would create itsown precedence in this area. Thisproject has been able to attractmore and more users.

Do you know that the Project hasbeen decided to be imple-mented as National MissionMode project across theCountry?

CMD- I had no doubt that this projectwould go even much higher withmore applauds. The project hasbeen conceived keeping genericityin mind and its execution hasbeen very systematic so far, whichare key areas for success of theproject. Its ease of use, the look

and feel attracts its user. I mustshare with you that the recenteWorld 2011 award for this proj-ect for MCL has boosted up theconfidence of our Organization asa whole. This project had receivedeIndia 2010 award and CII awardlast year. I am proud of my teamfor successful implementation ofthis. The NIC model of e-Procurement is very easy and con-venient for implementation byany organization.

Any other thing you would like toshare with us?

CMD- I would like to thank Dr. B.KGairola, Director General NIC,and Dr. Y.K Sharma, DDG alongwith Sh. A. Mohan, DDG for theirvision of ICT implementation forthis country and supporting MCLin its endeavor. I would like toappreciate the effort made by myTeam Sh. O.P. Mishra, Sh. S.KShrivastava and Sh. B.Patnaikwith the guidance of Sh. S.KBhanja to enhance the functional-ity and features of this uniqueproject.

It is an opportunity and Iwould attribute successfulGePNIC implementation at MCLto all the members who have con-tributed significantly in this proj-ect namely Sh. K.S Raghavan andSh. M Manivannan, Sr. TechnicalDirectors from NIC, Chennai, Sh.S.K Panda, SIO, Orissa, Sh. A.K.Hota, Sh. T.P Ray and Sh. NiharRanjan Biswal from NIC,Bhubaneswar.

I can foresee a lot of change to happen through this project and my sincere wish to all of them.

Interviewed by: Sh. A.K Hota,Technical Director, NIC,

Bhubaneswar



Technology Update

Information andCommunicationsTechnologies (ICTs) areplaying an increasingly vitalrole in the daily activities ofGovernment departments,revolutionizing workculture, promising toenhance the delivery ofgood, essential services tocitizens by improving theprocess and management ofGovernment. Importance ofGIS and its potential arealso being realized acrossGovernment departments.

MAHALAKSHMINARAYANAN

Principal SystemsAnalyst

NIC Tamil [email protected]

Bringing GIS to Mainstream ITthrough Service Oriented GIS

The restrictions beingimposed on map data arenot so encouraging

because the GIS datasets cannot bedistributed across easily for variousreasons. Further, the software cost,technology related issues and dedi-cated GIS resources and time in eachand every department for imple-menting the technology are the chal-lenges blocking the growth of theGIS community. By conventional method, to

depict tabular data in a map form,the typical requirements would be aGIS server, GIS database with appro-priate data loaded in each applica-tion’s database server, apart from theattribute data itself and necessaryscripts that could interact with allthese components to generate mapson the fly. However, by adoptingopen standards and services basedarchitecture, GIS databases could bedistributed geographically, butopened and federated through GISservices while applications them-selves could be run geographicallyanywhere else, in any platform, usingany technology.Individual applications could con-

sume these services, query, filter andapply styles appropriately for depic-tion locally, based on their applica-tion data and make the integrationhappen seamlessly.

StandardS SpecificationSfor GiS Web ServiceS /openGiS StandardS Open standards promote interoper-ability of systems, and OpenGeospatial Consortium (OGC) is thegroup that specifies the development

and implementation of open stan-dards for geospatial content andservices, GIS data processing anddata sharing. The specifications forGIS based services are laid out byOGC and adhered by different ven-dors including open source develop-ers.The Web Map Server (WMS) is

the most promising services foramalgamation of GIS into IT servic-es. WMS renders the map as a stan-dard image format (PNG, GIF, JPG,SVG, etc.) to the client, by adoptingthe default style or any applicationsupplied style. Through WMS,Service level metadata, map - whosegeographic dimensional parametersare well defined and informationabout particular features could bereturned.The styling of WMS map presen-

tation is defined by an XML docu-ment called the Styled LayerDescriptor (SLD) and fed throughURL. Any application could createSLD on the fly, based on its owndatabase, stream it to the WMSServer and thus could control thevisual portrayal of any geospatialdata.

USaGe of theSe openGiSStandardS WoUld enSUrethe folloWinG advan-taGeS: The client could be any desktopGIS software or any browserbased applicationCan consume / overlay local layersor geospatial data from one ormore servers and visualize / query/ analyseQuery these data with referenceto the spatial or attribute dataEnsure interoperability amongsoftware / application / tools, by

Edited by R.Gayatri


Technology Update

adopting open standards.

SoftWareAlmost all major vendors dealing withproprietary software provide OGCservices support. The following listsserver and client software in the opensource arena with various levels ofimplementation:Servers:UMN MapServer Deegree GeoServerMapGuide Open Source

Clients:Desktop GIS tools like GRASS,uDig, QGIS, OpenJump, gvSig, etc.OpenLayers (Simple JavaScriptinterface for Web applications)

USe of Sld for theMaticMappinG throUGh aGeneric SySteMSLD could be used to draw simplechoropleth maps, for example: colourall the roads (line) features as 4 pixelline in red for National Highways, 3pixel line in blue for State Highways,and other roads in green; Colour alldistricts (polygons) red which are hav-ing sex ratio less than 800, orange forthose between 800 and 1000 andgreen for others, etc. ProportionalSymbols / graduated symbol mapscould be generated for point featureswhere the individual symbol’s size andcolours could be applied dependingupon the value of attribute. Symbolsthemselves could be a dynamic image

retrievable through a valid URL.Bivariate symbols with a mix of the fillcolour and varied symbol size couldalso be generated.A generic interface has been

designed and developed by NICChennai using completely open sourcesoftware stack, to create dynamic the-matic / choropleth maps for use in anyplatform, from any technology. Byreading the XML data generated byindividual applications on the fly,using any technology, SLD is generat-ed dynamically and the map renderedusing the WMS layer.

architectUre USed forthe Generic GiS interfaceThis service oriented application givesus the freedom of platform independ-ent deployment and the advantage ofdistributed environment. The attrib-ute and spatial components collabo-rate over XML technologies from dif-ferent servers.

The set of processes for genericGIS interface has been planned asgiven below:At the application server side, indi-vidual applications generate attrib-ute XML for thematic representa-tion using any technology; Dynamic SLD generation usingPHP technology and The WMS server that hosts the spa-tial datasets interprets the SLD andrenders map images.

Here, the last twoprocess could proba-bly be out of the sameserver or be distrib-uted too. The processflow is given in fig. 2.Application Server:

The Application serv-er has to create theXML Attribute file forthe attributes to bethematically repre-sented in the maps,

in a pre-designed for-mat, and this could be

using any technology viz. ASP,ASP.NET, PHP, JSP, etc. This couldalso initiate a map request throughthis Attribute XML file whose URLis passed onto SLD generationprocess server.

The attribute XML is required to be ina specific format that provides the

following parameters: which layer isto be displayed, column to link inWMS (that is, linking columnbetween spatial and attribute), col-umn to use for labeling maps, sym-bology type (default - Equal inter-val), range (default - 5), filters toapply, if any (both the column nameand value pair for filter) and title.Also, the code-value pairs for theadministrative units / features cho-sen are to be provided in the XMLfile. The administrative / featurecodes need to be unique. It is alsopossible to provide a drill downeffect on the thematic map to tra-verse down to the hierarchicallynext level maps. For this, necessaryparameter could be set to appropri-ate URL of the XML file that wouldgenerate thematic map at therequired map level.

fig. 1: interactions of different components of thegeneric system

fig. 2: process flow on gettingXMl request from application


Technology Update

SLD generation: The SLD genera-tion / GIS Server reads the attributeXML file on the fly, for the parame-ters necessary and the code-valuepairs and generates Styled LayerDescriptor (SLD), through PHPscripting.Based on the request, the attributeXML data is classified (equal inter-val, equal count and custom rangesare currently possible) for the code-value pairs in the XML data. SLDfile identifies the correct symbolizerto use, for the selected layer, toapply different styles / colours overdifferent features. This SLD file getsstored temporarily on the Server.The layer request to the WMS serverhas this SLD file link as one of theparameters in the URL. Passing theSLD file link as a URL makes it possi-ble to separate the SLD generationserver and the actual WMS serverthat applies the style and renders theimage on the client as an image viz.jpeg, gif or png.WMS Server: WMS Server hoststhe spatial data as geospatial servic-es. The SLD=http://someserver/sld.xml parameter in the requestURL applies the styles on the fly.

adMiniStrative codeS /featUre codeSGenerally, Census 2001 codes havebeen used in the administrative layers.It is possible to link the layers withother codes also. For this, necessarycodes need to be added in the GIS layerfirst. For example, if Revenue codesneed to be used for Tamil NaduDistrict layer, these codes need to beincluded in the layer and then thenewly added column could be used forlinking spatial and the attributes.Salient Features in the generic inter-face.l Customizable for layer selection,linkable column selection, filtering fora column name-value pair and labelcolumn selection.l User selectable Number of ranges,classification type like Equal Interval /Equal Count / custom ranges, colours

and title through parameters. The the-matic parameter could be either inte-ger or floating values.l Drill down map hierarchically byenabling clickable map through appro-priate URL in the XML parameters.l Has RIA interface includingAccordion interface that could bedocked / expanded for Data, Legend,Query Builder and Symbology selec-tionl Map panel with Ajax based Zoom in/ out, pan, information query, previous/ next extents, label on / off, distanceand area calculations in the map, etc.l Built completely on Open Sourcesoftware stack

iMpleMentationThe generic model has been imple-mented for thematic representationsin the following department websitesin Tamil Nadu State:Industries Department – Numberof Micro, Small and MediumEntrepreneurs applications appliedonline in Tamil Nadu (PHP)Revenue Department - Daily /Weekly / Monthly Rainfall Map (ASP)Rural Development Department -Financial Progress and PhysicalProgress of Schemes for RuralDevelopment (PHP)Civil Supplies & ConsumerProtection Department - Daily /Weekly / Monthly price of commodi-ties for (JSP)

advantaGeSThis architecture overcomes the fol-lowing drawbacks over usage of GISinterfaces across multiple applications:l Sharing the spatial data across theorganization / websites for varioussecurity reasons by retaining sourcedata at the source itself leading tosavings on costs incurred forprocuring spatial data.

l Enables easy administration of maps(as the changes on maps would berequired less frequently but to becarried out in only one database)

l Since the map rendering is Serviceoriented, the backend technologies do

not matter. Interoperability isachieved using XML technologies.l Fully compliant with the OpenGeospatial Consortium Standardsbeing proposed by the OGC

l Supports a distributed architecture

advancinG toWardSfUtUre GiS This acts as a proof of concept onhow a common unified GIS servercan provide simple thematic serv-ices to n-number of applications,independent of platform andtechnologies, to start with.

Distributed architecture based onServices would have much widerscope or reach than any regular /conventional GIS website coulddeliver. This concept could beenhanced to draw graduated sym-bol maps, charts, etc. WFS or Web Feature service

allows requests for geographicalfeatures (and not images) overthe web using platform-independ-ent calls. Actual geospatialobjects are returned as GML tothe client. Creation / Updation /Deletion of features a nd get /query features based on spatialand attribute data could be per-formed. The OGC Web ProcessingService (WPS) Interface Standardprovides rules for standardizinghow the requests and responsesshould be, for invoking geospatialprocessing services, such as creat-ing a buffer around any feature,intersection, union, overlay ofspatial entities, etc., through theweb service.


In this era of Informationtechnology, we all havemultiple accounts and usemultiple passwords on hostof computers and Web sitesfor checking e-Mail,managing bank accounts,online transactions etc.Maintaining and managingaccess while protectingboth the user's identity andthe computer's data andsystems has becomeincreasingly difficult.Central to all security is theconcept of authentication -verifying that the user iswho he claims to be.

Broadly speaking, indigital world we canauthenticate and iden-

tity a person in three ways - by some-thing the user knows (such as a pass-word or personal identification num-ber), something the user has (a secu-rity token or smart card) or some-thing the user is (a physical charac-teristic, such as a fingerprint, called abiometric). Password, tokens andsmart cards are perhaps the mostcommonly used techniques today.But all these methods are based onproperties that can be forgotten,shared, lost or stolen. Biometricmethods of verification, on the otherhand, are based on distinctiveanatomical and behavioral character-istics or identifiers such as (finger-prints, face, iris, voice palm geome-try etc.) that cannot be easily mis-placed forged or shared. Even historically, finger prints

(thumb impression) were taken onlegal documents using the ‘ink tech-nique’ where black ink was smearedon the thumb and pressed on thepaper to authenticate and identifythe subject. Biometric authentica-tion has been widely regarded as themost foolproof system.

What iS bioMetricS?Biometrics is an automated methodof identity verification or identifica-tion based on the principle of meas-urable biological characteristics of aperson such as a fingerprint, an irispattern or a voice sample. Biometriccharacteristics are permanent,unique and not duplicable or trans-ferable. The Biometric characteristicsare classified into two major groups -

physiological and behavioral. Physiological Biometric datarelates to the physical aspects of aperson's body such as finger-prints, iris scan, face scan and alsoDNA test. Behavioral Biometric data relatesto the behavior of a person such ashand writing matching, voicerecognition, signature analysis.

advantaGeS ofbioMetricS: Biometric identification can pro-vide extremely accurate, securedaccess to information; finger-prints, retinal and iris scans pro-duce absolutely unique data setswhen done properly Current methods like passwordverification have many problems(people write them down, theyforget them, they make up easy-to-hack passwords) Automated biometric identifica-tion can be done very rapidly anduniformly, with a minimum oftraining Your identity can be verified with-out resort to documents that maybe stolen, lost or altered.

typeS of bioMetricSThere are number of methods of bio-metric data gathering and readingworldwide. Some are less invasive,some can be done without theknowledge of the subject, and someare very difficult to fake. However,the selection of technology for prop-er identification depends upon num-ber of factors like: Universal: All Persons must pos-sessUnique: guarantee to identity PermanentInexpensive

Biometric Authentication: IRIS imageCapture, Storage and Processing

MUKUL SAXENA District Informatics Officer


Edited by Anshu Rohatgi

Technology Update


Technology Update

Ease of Collection AnalysisTechnologyLegalSocially acceptedBased on these parameters some ofthe frequently used biometric tech-nologies areFace Recognition: Face recogni-tion system uses distinctive facialfeatures, including upper outlinesof eye sockets, areas around cheek-bones, the sides of the mouth andthe location of the nose and eyes.These numerical quantities are thencombined in a single code thatuniquely identifies each person. Fingerprint Identification:Fingerprints remain constantthroughout life. Iit has been foundthat no two fingerprints are alike,not even those of identical twins.Fingerprint identification involvescomparing the pattern of ridges andfurrows on the fingertips, as well asthe minutiae points (ridge charac-teristics that occur when a ridgesplits into two, or ends).Hand or Palm Geometry: It usesthe entire hand as an individualidentifier. This method relies ondevices that measure the length andangles of individual fingers.Retina Scan: Retina Scan uses thepattern of the blood vessels at theback of the eye, which is unique andstays the same for a lifetime.However, it requires about 15 sec-onds of careful concentration totake a good scan. Signature Dynamics: Signaturedynamics is based on individual’ssignature. The biometric data iseasy to gather and is not physicallyintrusive. Digitized signatures aresometimes used, but usually haveinsufficient resolution to ensureauthentication. Voice Recognition: Like facerecognition, voice biometrics pro-vides a way to authenticate identitywithout the subject's knowledge. Itis to verify the individual speakeragainst a stored voice pattern, not

to understand what is being said. Iris Scanning: IRIS is the coloredring of tissue that surrounds thepupil of the human eye. The irisscan provides unique biometricdata that is very difficult to dupli-cate as researches have shown thatthe possibility of having two similariris patterns is very remote. Iris alsoremains the same for a lifetime ofthe person provided there is nophysical injury and even the use ofglasses or contact lens does nothamper the iris recognition. Thetechnology is not sight dependentand can be used for blind personsalso.Iris scanning is considered to beleast intrusive of the eye-relatedbiometrics, no bright light or lasersor contacts are used in order to pro-tect the eyes from any harm or dis-comfort. The iris scanner mathe-matically analyses the random pat-tern visible within an eye fromsome distance and uses the tech-nique of pattern recognition usingcomputer vision and optics. In addi-tion, iris scan has the potential forhigher than average template-matching performance. IRIS Images: Iris scans create high-resolution images of the irides of theeye; IR illumination is used toreduce specular reflection from thecornea. Both iris images (left andright) are taken into consideration.To maintain the interoperabilityamong the various e-governanceapplications it is necessary thatstandardized format is used for stor-ing and transmitting the iris images.

iMaGe StoraGe forMat of iriSISO and ANSI have defined severalfile formats for storing iris images.ISO 19794-6:2005(E) standard iswidely accepted by Government ofIndia.Standard: CBEFF (CommonBiometric Exchange FormatsFramework) defined in ISO/ IEC19794-6. The image can be of type

PNG or jpeg200.Standard Biometric Header (SBH)as defined in ISO/ IEC 19794-1Biometric Data Block (BDB) for rec-tilinear iris image as defined in ISO/IEC 19794-6.Image Data (Compressed/Uncompressed)

iMaGe typeS There are two types of iris images – Rectilinear - No Preprocessing ofthe image is done; 12-15 K space isrequired for storage.Polar - Image is preprocessed beforestorage and iris portion is convert-ed to polar coordinates, very lessspace is required (2K).

iriS recoGnitionIt is the biometric identificationtechnique which applies complexmathematical pattern recognitiontechniques on the video images ofthe iris of an individual's eyes. Thecomplex random patterns inside theeyes are unique. The core algorithmsfor iris recognition were developed byProfessor John Daugman (Universityof Cambridge) in 1990. Daugman'salgorithms were the basis of all thecommercially deployed iris recogni-tion systems till 2008. Later somealternative algorithms were alsostudied upon and developed.The majority of iris recognition

cameras use Near Infra Red (NIR) byemitting 750 nm low power light.Most of the human eyes reveal richpatterns in the Infra Red light butmuch less in the visible band. Otherreason for using this narrow band isthat it reduces the effect of ambiancethat bright light reflections may pro-duce. But the infra red light is not sen-sitive to melanin (chromophore) pres-ent in the eyes and as result they donot appear in the captured image. Sothe alternative approach of iris scan-ning includes the fusion of the two.

advantaGeS of iriS Scanidentification Iris structure is stable throughout the


Technology Update

life after one year of age. It begins toform from the 3rd month of gestation.The structure is complete by eightmonths. The color and pigmentationcompletes in first year itself. Someadvantages of iris include - Unique structure consisting of sev-eral layers. Protected (inner part of body).Taking iris image is easy like takinga photograph from some distance.Strong Algorithm.Iris has a very fine texture thatremains stable for decades.In Indian context it is difficult toidentify the poor people and peoplefrom rural background from finger-prints only because extensive phys-ical labor always affects the qualityof finger prints.

liMitationSDaughman's algorithm does notdescribe any tool for adjusting thefocus. Some other image grabber soft-ware may be used to judge the focusquality by examining the successiveimages. It becomes more relevant if wedo not have very much trained personsfor grabbing the iris image. So thequality of the image depends on theinstrument and the software.

databaSeAn iris recognition database does notconsist of actual images captured butthe processed iris is stored. It is notpossible to compress these iris tem-plates as it may result in impropermatching during identificationprocess. Original images can be com-pressed. JPEG images can be effective-ly compressed using JPEG2000 com-pression techniques.

coMpreSSionCompression reduces the spacerequirement for storing the imagesand bandwidth requirement for trans-mitting the images.Two commonly used compression

techniques are –Set Partitioning In HierarchicalTree (SPIHT): It can be used for all

bitmap images including png. Joint Photographic Experts Group(JPEG2000): It is new and moreadvanced image compression stan-dard.

effect of coMpreSSion on

iriS recoGnitionEffect on comparison of iris imagesusing SPIHT based compression soft-ware were analyzed, it has beenobserved that possibility of acceptingthe invalid iris image is very low, evenif compression of the image is veryhigh. Iris scan technology can be used for

identification and de-duplication inany project that involves identifica-tion. Possibility of accepting duplicateiris is lesser than any other biometrics.The fusion of iris and fingerprint scan-ning or iris scanning with face scanmay result in more cost effective tech-niques. Even in the UniqueIdentification (UID) project ofGovernment of India Finger scanning& iris technologies have been used inconjunction as unique identifier foreach citizen of the country.

False Rejection -Acceptance of the image compressed by SPIHT

NIC Purulia Districtcentre has played amajor role in pro-

viding e-Governance services to gov-ernment departments in the district.The centre is equipped with state ofthe art infrastructure which includesa dedicated 34mbps leased line con-nectivity and ‘Video Conferencing‘facility. It has provided ICT supportto all major departments and con-tributed towards citizen centric proj-ect development and their imple-mentation. On 11th November, 2011 a

Comprehensive Public GrievanceRedressal System was launched byHon’ble Chief Minister of WestBengal. It’s an ICT enabled singlewindow system project named -SAMADHAN to register & monitorpublic grievances and their redressal.

SaMadhan: pUblicGrievance redreSSalSySteMThe ‘Public Grievance Cell’ at the dis-trict received complaints, which were

forwarded to the concerned depart-ment for redressal but there was nomechanism to monitor pending com-plaints or to verify the satisfactionlevel of complainant regarding theirredressal. It was also not possible toassess the performance of depart-ments with respect to public griev-ances redressal efficiency. Hence theneed to improve service delivery tocommon citizens and bringing govern-ment closer to common man was felt. SAMADHAN - an ICT enabled singlewindow system, www.samadhan.net.in/govpurulia, to register &monitor public grievances, is a toolfor the district administration andother departments for monitoring &improving efficiency of service deliv-ery mechanism up-to satisfaction ofthe common citizen.A help line number has been

widely publicized to register com-plaints at the SAMADHAN ControlRoom (PG cell). Details of com-plainant and complaints are noteddown and simultaneously recordedin voice recording system. The detailsare entered into the online SAMAD-HAN portal for registration. As soonas registration is done, an auto gen-


District Informatics

Purulia – The westernmostdistrict of West Bengal statehas all-India significancebecause of its tropicallocation, its shape as well asfunction like a funnel. Itfunnels not only the tropicalmonsoon current from theBay to the subtropical partsof north-west India, but alsoacts as a gateway betweenthe developed industrialbelts of West Bengal andthe hinterlands in Orissa,Jharkhand, Madhya Pradeshand Uttar Pradesh.

Purulia – Using ICT for CitizenCentric Services

SK MOTIUR RAHMAN, Informatics

CorrespondentNIC WB

[email protected]

BHASKAR RAY, District InformaticsOfficer NIC Purulia [email protected]

hon’ble chief Minister Ms. Mamata banerjee inaugurating the SaMadhan portal.

Edited by Prashant Belwariar

erated complaint number and redressaltime limit is sent to the complainantthrough an auto generated SMS usingSMS gateway and the same is also sentto the concerned government officialsat different level in departmental hier-archy for necessary redressal. The concerned officer can also check

SAMADHAN website for pending com-plaints and for updating status of com-plaints. He/She can also interact withPG Cell or with the complainant througha complaint specific dialogue box. Therecorded audio files are uploaded by theoperators against the concerned refer-ence ID of the complainant at theSAMADHAN website. The DistrictMagistrate can also monitor / generatereports status-wise, geographical unit-wise (Village/GP/Block), and depart-ment-wise for registered complaints.Complainants can also check theprogress / status of complaints eitherthrough website or by calling the controlroom. Complaint is closed only after ver-ification and quality of service providedto the complainant over phone bySAMADHAN control room.

other e-Governance initia-tiveSElection Call Centre (ECC): A soft-ware was developed to manage the Pollrelated communication betweenDistrict Magistrate and other officialsincluding presiding officers to maintainlaw and order and control the entiredistrict election work from a centralpoint. The software was fully tested atthe recently concluded ‘GeneralAssembly Election 2011’ in the state. Itwas implemented at the District PoliceOffice also for controlling the forcemovement and later replicated in otherdistricts during next phase election.This software facilitates Blue toothconnection and mobile phone device.An operator can call / connect officials,whose contact number has been cap-tured in database, directly from the sys-tem without dialing any number frommobile. Online File and Letter MonitoringSystem (OLFTS): NIC Purulia has

developed a web based online system tomonitor letter received from differentsources and also monitor the move-ments of files from District Magistrateoffice to different line departments.The software helps to speed up Filesmovement between the departmentsand allows quick view of action taken.Each department can log into the sys-tem and can find out their files status.Transport Computerization(VAHAN & SARATHI): The VAHAN& SARATHI software for vehicle regis-tration and driving license respectivelyhas been implemented successfully inPurulia District. Apart fromRegistration and Licensing process thecaptured data is regularly transmittedto state centre through VPN overBroadband connectivity.E-Court Project (CIS): The featuresof Case Information System are judge-ship module along with Master,Centralized filling, daily proceeding,allocation/registration, case scrutinyand queries. E-Registration (CORD):Computerization of Registration ofDocuments (CORD) is an applicationpackage developed by NIC, West BengalState Centre to automate theRegistration Offices. All the sevenRegistration Offices in the district haveimplemented the CORD system. Tillnow about 65,000 deeds are registeredcomprising all offices. E-Salary (COSA): As per requirementof different offices of the district, newCOSA (Computerization of SalaryAccounts) application has been imple-mented and necessary trainings wereprovided to the staff. The COSA soft-ware is running in almost 150 DDOoffices of the district.

ict SUpport in other areaSinclUde e- Registration for Death and BirthCertificate, RSBY database preparationand monitoring, Election - polling party formation,EVM randomization, counting partyrandomization etc, MGNREGA, AGMARKNET, CCTNS



Shri avanindra SinGh, iaS

district Magistrate and

collector. purulia

to promote e-Governance and

improve delivery of various

citizen services using ict,

district administration with

the technical support of nic

district unit has taken several

initiatives including recently

launched “SaMadhan : an

ict enabled public Grievance

redressal System” in socio-

economically backward

purulia district. it gives me

immense pleasure to inform

that national informatics

centre, purulia plays a vital

role for spreading informatics

culture in purulia district by

designing, developing and

implementing various e-

Governance projects to make

the administration citizen

centric. i appreciate the active

support of Shri bhaskar ray,

dio and Shri Siddhartha Sen,

ex-dio, who has been recently

transferred from purulia to

nic WbSc Kolkata. i hope for

continued motivated

performance of nic team in

the future.


BHASKAR RAYDistrict Informatics OfficerNational Informatics CentreCollectorate BuildingPurulia DistrictWest BengalPh: [email protected]



Day-in and day-out,NIC team at Bareillyfaced a daunting task

of managing more than 40 desktops,located in different rooms aroundthe Collectorate campus. The prob-lems reported were more or less thesame “my PC is not working”, “thenetwork is not working”, “my backupwas lost” etc. etc. On analyzing theseproblems it was found that majorityof them were sim-ple “virus prob-lems” whichresulted in net-work choking,data loss andunavailability ofcomputers. A lotof precious timewas wasted inremoving theseviruses, rein-stalling the sys-tems and therewas a tremen-dous pressure tosave the impor-tant data as well.NIC Bareilly and dis-

trict administration led by the thendistrict magistrate Sh. Ashish GoelIAS, studied various technologies toresolve the problem and finallydecided to have a thin client basedcollectorate, which is based on thefundamental concept that instead ofrunning all applications locally onPCs with associated challenges andcosts, applications should run cen-trally and simply deliver screenupdates and inputs to the clients. Itwas found that the thin client com-puting not only reduces the deploy-

ment cost by 40-50%, but also cutsdown on requirement of supportstaff leading to higher utilization lev-els. In thin client environment the

data and software look and feel thesame as on a PC for any user on thenetwork. The data files are storedon the server which makes it easierfor users to work from multiplelocations. The thin clients only runthe operating system softwarelocally, and have no hard drives orfloppy drives. However, they per-

mits local printing, audio and seri-al device support, web browsing,terminal emulation and can com-bine local processing with networkcomputing.

Advantage of Thin Clients areReduced Capital Expenditure,Reduced Power, Consumption about20% of normal PC, No repeateddesktop configuration, No need toredesign and integrate e-mail archi-tectures, Minimal chances of Dataloss and Scope for introducing virus-es is greatly reduced

Bareilly is a prominent cityin the northern state ofUttar Pradesh spread across6 tehsils, 15 developmentblocks and having apopulation of about 44lakhs (as per the 2011census). The city has beenfamous for various reasonsright from days ofMahabharat as birth placeof Draupadi to a verypopular song in IndianCinema. However, thepresent day Bareilly will beremembered as one of thefirst districts to adoptInformation Technology andbe one of the pioneers tohave a thin-client basednetworked Collectorate.

Bareilly – Adapting Technology to Innovate

MANOJ KUMAR SHARMASenior Systems Analyst


KAMAL KUMAR SHARMADistrict Informatics Officer NIC Bareilly kamal.sharma.nic.in

nic officials explaining thin client concept to Sh. Majid aliiaS & commissioner and Sh. ashish Goel, iaS & districtMagistrate, bareilly

Edited by Anshu Rohatgi



After installing thin client systemin Bareilly Collectorate the number ofcomplaints has reduced considerably.Services are being delivered 24 by 7and Internet has been extended to allthe 40+ nodes in the Collectorate. Theemployees can now work on manyonline projects of the government andthey can work from any thin client inthe Collectorate. Still, thin client is nota one-size-fits-all solution. Users willgenerally not have access to USB andCD drives, nor will they be able toinstall applications. Server securityand resilience is also very importantand critical. As such proper planning,power backups etc is must to ensureserver availability at all times.Adequate emphasis has to be given todata backup also as all the files arestored centrally.Apart from this, NIC, Bareilly has

been constantly providing support tothe district administration in areas ofoffice automation, scheme computeri-zation, training, Internet & web serv-ices and in their endeavor to use IT toprovide services to the citizens in asimple & friendly manner. Many state and central govern-

ment IT projects are being imple-mented across the district some ofwhich include - Information KIOSK: InformationKIOSKs have been established at theCollectorate and Tehsil Sadar to facili-tate the citizens to know the status ofvarious schemes being implementedby the government and retrieve infor-mation related to land records,salaries, pensions etc.Single Window System: Single win-dow systems have been implementedin all the tehsils of the district whichprovide the citizens with caste,income, domicile certificates andother host of other services.National Rural EmploymentGurantee Act: Many workshops andtraining programs were organized atBareilly for block staff, district levelofficials and data entry agency stafffor smooth functioning of the project.Currently online data entry is going

on in all the blocks.State Wide Area Network: Bareillywas one of the first few districts toconnect all the tehsil & block PoPs(Point of Presence) under theUPSWAN project, that provides thebasic functionality of network for thetransactional aspects of e-Governanceapplications. In all there are 18 PoPsin Bareilly, one at district level,6 attehsil level and 11 at block level whichare providing horizontal connectivityto field offices of various departmentssuch as commercial tax, transport,passport, post and telegraph etc.Online Counselling: With a view toensure transparency in admissionprocedure in different EngineeringColleges affiliated to Uttar PradeshTechnical University, Lucknow and forthe convenience of residents living indifferent parts of the state NIC con-ducts online counseling for admissionto B.Tech, BBA, MBA, MCA B.Ed,Medical etc. courses offered by differ-ent Institutes across the state everyyear. Bareilly has been selected as oneof the counseling centre for theseadmissions for both the off campusand online counseling.

nic bareilly iS alSo pro-vidinG SUpport toPrerna: The property registrationsystem implemented at sub regis-trars office.Treasury computerization con-necting about 100 departmentsBhulekh : technical support and

management of all the six tehsilscomputer centres issuing comput-erised Record of Right (RoR orKhatauni)Birth and Death Registration sys-tem at Nagar Nigam BareillyTransport Computerisation atoffice of RTOBelow Poverty Line: softwaredeveloped & implemented atDRDARight to Information. All the proac-tive disclosures of many depart-ments have been put on the officialwebsite of district (http://bareil-ly.nic.in )

NIC Bareilly has been working in closeassociation with the district adminis-tration to extend the IT enabled serv-ices across the district and influencethe life of people living in far andremote areas using the tools providedby Information Technology. It’s acommitment to the district adminis-tration that from now on Bareilly willbe known more for its achievementsin IT than anything else.


KAMAL KUMAR SHARMADistrict Informatics OfficerNational Informatics CenreDistrict Informatics CentreDM Meeting Hall1st. Floor, CollectorateBareilly- 243001Ph: 0581 – [email protected]

district administration officials working on thin client



Sun city - Jodhpur inRajasthan is also known as theBlue City, an apt name as mosthouses in the old city are inshades of blue belonging tothe Pushkarna brahmins. Seton the eastern fringe of theThar Desert, the royal cityechoes with tales of antiquityin the emptiness of the desert.Once the capital of the Marwarstate, it was the home of the'Ran Banka Rathores'. Thehustle and bustle, closed knitculture, temples and havelis,vibrant traditions, politehospitality, spices and fabrics,colour and texture, a boominghandicrafts industry, all add upto make Jodhpur a wonderfulsojourn and a shopper'sparadise.

NIC District Centerwas set up in 1988,and since beginning

has played a vital role in promotingICT culture. It regularly supports theDistrict administration, RajasthanHigh Court, District Court and otherGovernment department in betterplanning and decision support andhas developed and implementedmany e-Governance projects. Jodhpur Website: Launched byHon’ble CM Sh. Ashok Gehlot, thiscomprehensive website, http://jodh-pur.nic.in , which has been designed,developed and hosted by NIC andcovers all aspects of informationwhich could be of interest to a com-mon man.

Key ict initiativeSSUGAM Single Window System:This system which initially startedwith two services viz. domicile andcaste certificate, in 2002 at JodhpurCollectorate is now delivering 40services. Various administrativereports and other registers are alsogenerated. Certificates are generatedon pre-printed stationery in Hindi.Minority, Solvency, Income,Permission letter for Birth/Death,Mutation, Copy of Record, ArmLicense Renewal, Pension, NOC, RTI& Miscellaneous Application, SC-ST,OBC, SBC Certificates are beingdelivered through this software.Citizens can inquire status of theirapplication from the website. The project has now been rolled

out in 289 locations - all 33 DistrictsHQ, 247 Tehsils HQ and 9 SubTehsils overall 289 locations.

Sidharth Mahajan, IASCollector and District MagistrateI am happy to note that the e-Governance projects of JodhpurDistrict will be published inInformatics, the quarterlyNewsletter of NIC. Since the incep-tion NIC has been closely associatedwith the district administration onits various e-Governance projects.NIC Jodhpur District Unit hasalways played a pivotal role forspreading informatics culture inJodhpur District. The efforts beingput in by NIC, Jodhpur to improvethe service being provided to thepeople are truly appreciable. I am cer-tain that this drive will continue andwish to convey my sincere thanks forimplementation of SUGAM SingleWindow System, SUGAM RPG,IFMS, LRC, e-Gram etc. I am confi-dent that the district administrationin coordination and support fromNIC will bridge the digital divide andwill complete the e-Governanceactivity up to grass root level. SUGAM Redressal PublicGrievances: It is a web based sys-tem, http://sugamrpg.raj.nic.in , toprovide an effective grievance redres-sal mechanism for the citizens and isbeing monitored regularly by DistrictAdministration. Land Record Computerisation(APNAKHATA): Data entry and ver-

JODHPUR - ICT Shines Over The Sun City

RAVI MATHURDistrict Informatics

AssociateNIC Jodhpur

[email protected]

HANUMAN SINGHGEHLOTTechnical DirectorNIC [email protected]

Jodhpur website

Edited by Vivek Verma



ification of data of all Seven tehsils hasbeen completed and tehsil level cen-ters ‘Khata Kendras’, have been madeoperational where Nakal ofKhata(ROR) are being issued to citi-zens. A Touch Screen kiosk has beeninstalled at DC Office from which anycitizen can take latest information ofLand Record and various schemes ofGovernment. General Elections: Support provid-ed in successful conduct of the elec-tions for Lok Shabha, Assembly, NagarPalika, Panchyat Raj and Krishi UpejMandi Samiti process by undertakingvarious polling activities, result trans-missions and online counting softwarehas been developed and implementedfor local display. Integrated Financial ManagementSystem (IFMS): It is a web based sys-tem for complete government finan-cial accounting. It includes budgetplanning, estimates preparation, dis-tribution / allocation, fund manage-ment, treasury functions etc. It even-tually improves the government serv-ices and expedites government opera-tions making the budget process moretransparent. IFMS has been initiatedwith the concept of ‘Any-Where-Treasury’ and it’s a centralized webbased solution. Treasury Computerisation System(TCS): Implemented at all treasiries, itcovers – compilation of accounts, Civil& Old Age Pension payments, stamps

inventory, Accounting of PersonalDeposit and bill passing Process. Itproduces Schedule of Payment &Receipts, List of Payments, CashBooks, BT Register and varioususeful MIS reports. The dailyaccount is prepared, reconciledand transferred to district serverfrom Sub Treasuries.Data Depository System: It cov-ers all the 950 DDO’s of District.Salary of all the state governmentemployees of the district is main-tained centrally.Online Counseling: Since 2008,Jai Narain Vyas University con-ducted Online counseling for

Rajasthan Pre Teacher Education Testfor admission to one year B.Ed. Coursein collaboration with NIC. District Network: A well structuredLAN has been established in DistrictCollectorate, having a number ofservers & clients which are being usedfor various software applications. E-Mail & Internet connectivity has alsobeen provided. District center is con-nected to State HQ through 34mbpscircuit. Network connectivity extend-ed to Rajasthan High Court, DesertMedicine Research Center and 4 PostOffice through 2mbps Lease Line. National Knowledge Network(NKN): Technical support has beenextended to IIT Rajasthan, CAZRI,AFRI and Regional Remote SensingCenter (ISRO) for NKN connectivity.e-Peshi: Videoconferencing systembetween Central Jail and DistrictCourt was installed and this facility isbeing used regularly for under trialprisoners. Central Jail Project: Two successful-ly running modules are “PrisonManagement System” for Prisonersinformation and “VisitorsManagement System” for visitor’sinformation.Pension Monitoring System:Implemented at Joint DirectorPension’s office successfully since1994 monitors and generates all typesof pension cases.Pre-88 pension revi-sion cases are also being monitored.

Other projects implemented and run-ning successfully are: CM Cell PublicGrievances, e-Gram MonitoringSystem, MIS for MG-NREGS, ArmsLicenses Monitoring System andVideo Conferencing System.

national level proJectS Some of the projects running suc-cessfully are AGRICULTURE MARKETINGPRICE MONITORING has beenimplemented for daily Monitoringof commodity prices at 7 KrishiUpaj Mandi Samiti. This data isbeing uploaded at National LevelPortal http://agmarknet.nic.in . National Social AssistanceProgramme programme aims atensuring minimum national stan-dard for social assistance in addi-tion to the benefits that states arecurrently providing or might pro-vide in future. NICNET MEDLARS SERVICEShttp://indmed.nic.in To dissemi-nate information from NLM’sMedical Literature Analysis andRetrieval System (MEDLRAS) tostudents and research scholars.

Training: Regular training impartedto employees of different governmentdepartments to enable them to cleartheir basic concepts and use ICT toolsefficiently has proved to be beneficialin executing many ICT activities andProjects.

accoladeS - CSI Nihilent e-Governance Award2008-09e-World Public Choice Award 2011SKOCH Digital Inclusion Award 2011

hon’ble cM Sh. ashok Gehlot inauguratingthe vc facility


HANUMAN SINGH GEHLOT District Informatics OfficerDistrict Informatics OfficerNIC Jodhpur, CollectorateRajasthan PIN: 342006Ph: [email protected]

International e-Gov Update

With the increase of dengue cases in Singapore in recentyears, National Environment Agency (NEA) is addressingthese concerns by collaborating with Smart Communitiesin a public service project to raise awareness of dengueclusters, health risks and prevention through SMS andemail alerts. It is part of a new initiative by NEA to equipthe public with timely information so that they can takeimmediate steps to keep themselves dengue free. The x-Dengue initiative is part of NEA’s efforts to enhance pub-lic outreach efforts on dengue by providing useful, timelyand relevant alerts and customized information ondengue clusters.

People can now get free SMS alerts on new dengue clus-ters in areas they frequent, such as neighborhoods andworkplaces. They will also receive alerts on the severity ofa dengue cluster and its closure. Previously, the public hadto check the official NEA website regularly to receive theseupdates. The information, which is refreshed daily,reflects a dengue cluster that is within 150 metres of aspecific location.Under one user's account, up to eight places and five

other users' telephone numbers can be registered. Alertsare also sent if the dengue cluster grows beyond 10 cases -for every five new cases. In addition, text messages providea link to website for more tips on dengue prevention. Users can view information about a specific location by

keying in the postal code and even request for SMS alertsfor that particular location. Subscription to this service isfree as the SMS costs are borne by private telecommunica-tion companies as part of their Corporate SocialResponsibility efforts.

For information: http://www.x-dengue.com

Dubai offers BusinessLicensing Online The strong demand for the use of eServices and promot-ing eGovernment initiatives, driving the evolution of aknowledge-based economy, Dubai Department ofEconomic Development (DED) introduced an online busi-ness licensing service for new and existing business. Theinitiative attracts even the potential investors.The service is a key initiative, expected to be a great value

addition to businesses as it facilitates more convenientbusiness registration enhancing ease of transactions. Therange of eServices offered by DED include reserving andrenewal of trade name, renewal of licenses, initial approvalof licenses permits for most activities, and updating tradelicense data.The eServices also include Transaction Status whereby

customers can check the status of the transaction by usinga transaction number, license number or initial approvalnumber; Search Trade Names enables users to reserve tradenames or find out if the desired name is already taken; andCompany Lookup helps to search for existing companiesoperating in Dubai and gain information on their contactdetails and business activities.

Business owners must present a sealed lease contractauthenticated by Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Authority toissue, renew or transfer the location of business licences,according to DED. It will ensure the validity of commercialcontracts, as well as strengthen the relationship betweeninvestors and tenants.For information: http://www.dubaided.gov.ae

Singapore alerts Citizens onDengue Clusters on Mobile


International e-Gov Update

The Ministry of Public Administration & Security ofKorea has opened a new website to provide onlinevideo chat to multicultural families to aid communica-tion with family members living in overseas. The min-istry is also providing monitors and web cameras to365 multicultural centers to allow people withouthome computers a place to access the service. Theyhave also published a guide book on how to use thechat program.This web-based video chatting systems is dedicated

to video reunions is built in Information NetworkVillages in the country, equipped with LCD TVs, speak-ers, and webcams, in order to allow immigrants tovideo chat at all times from the nearest locations.

The Information Network Village project is designedto reduce the digital divide between rural and urbanareas of Korea by enabling villagers to access rich con-tent in areas such as education, medicine, commerce,and government and to buy and sell local products overthe Internet.The method to use the services is explained in multi-

ple languages and thus visitors can use the serviceswithout any misunderstanding. The service is availablein Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Cambodian(Khmer), Mongolian and English language.

For information: http://en.invil.org/

Malaysia launches MobileClearance System forForeignersThe State Immigration Department has recently launchedmobile counters for foreigners to register for the MalaysiaAutomated Clearance System (MACS), which will result inswifter processing at checkpoints into the country. In order tosupport the economic development of Iskandar Region, MACSis developed to cater fast-track immigration clearance for nonMalaysia investors, business persons and professionals.The scope of MACS facility is expanded to frequent travelers

e.g. Citizens and Permanent Residents of Singapore and alsofor those who have been issued with the relevant long termimmigration pass and frequently travel within Malaysia andSingapore for the purpose of working, studying and staying inMalaysia.Hence, MACS holders can benefit faster immigration pro-

cessing via access to dedicated entry and exit MACS lanes atBangunan Sultan Iskandar, Johor Bahru and Kompleks SultanAbu Bakar, Tanjung Kupang, Johor.MACS holders will also be excluded from the requirement of

completing the immigration arrival card. Consequently, entry

and exit to/from Malaysia records shall be made online andthe usage of passport pages for stamping will be minimized.Spouses and dependents (children) of MACS holders are

also entitled to apply this facility with the condition that theyhave been issued with the relevant immigration pass.

For information:https://eservices.imi.gov.my/myimms/mac?type=16&lang=en

Korea provides Video Chat Service for Multicultural Families



National Portal Update

Ever since its inception in 2005,National Portal of India (NPI),http://india.gov.in has been

constantly endeavoring in fulfillingcitizens’ search on various informa-tion and services provided by theGovernment of India. The broadscope of this portal is to establish asingle-window access to informationand services being delivered by anyGovernment of Indian constituent,enhancing interaction between gov-ernment and citizen (G2C), govern-ment and business (G2B), govern-ment and employee (G2E) and gov-ernment departments, and to act asan integral part of the overall missiontowards ‘good governance’.As of today, when NPI is celebrat-

ing its 7th year of existence on thecyber world, it is playing a pivotalrole in delivering impeccable servicein accessing over 7000 existingIndian Government Websites andPortals and the number is increasingconstantly. Besides, it has curved a

niche in helping a citizen to accessthe information and services fromthese websites in the most userfriendly manner. Therefore,india.gov.in, a Mission Mode Projectunder National e-Governance Plan(NeGP), has emerged as a tool to pro-vide the much needed single windowaccess to all government informationand services.Recently the website added anoth-

er feather to its cap, when it receivedthe prestigious CSI Nihilent award for2010-2011. The portal was conferredthe ‘Special Recognition award ofNational Initiatives.

In its endeavor to cater to most ofthe citizens’ needs, the NPI plays hostto over 1900 services from variousstates/ministries/departments whichare all packaged under the ‘HOW DO I’section of the portal. It is also a cen-tral repository for numerousGovernment Forms, Documents,Acts, Rules, Schemes and Policies.The portal receives overwhelming

feedback on a daily basis through itsvarious sections, which actively solicitsuggestions, complaints and com-ments from users. The aestheticappeal, thoughtful, informative anduser friendly content made the Portalmost favorite bookmarked site, asnumerous hits poured in from all cor-ners of the world.Furthermore; theAccessibility Statement strengthensthe commitment of accessibility to allits users irrespective of device in use,technology or ability.Now in its seventh year of exis-

tence, the portal can be aptly termedas the cyber factes of the IndianGovernment which is complete in allaspects. In a nutshell, this bilingualPortal-English and Hindi, whichendorses G2A (Government to All)interface is built and designed, keep-ing in mind the citizens in common.

Contributed by:Alk Mishra, NIC HQD.P Misra, NIC HQ

National Portal of India bags thecoveted CSI-Nihilent award 2010-2011

Sh. d.p Misra,pSa nic hQ receiving on behalf of npi team


Cyber Governance

Mid Day Meal Scheme (http://mdm.nic.in/ )

The Mid Day Meal is the world’s largest school feeding pro-gramme reaching out to about 12 crore children in over

12.65 lakh schools/EGS centres across the country. With theview of bringing in accountability, transparency, responsive-ness, effectiveness, efficiency and improve the quality of workamongst the work force, the department of Ministry of HumanResource Development, Government of India has recentlylaunched their MDM official website. The content rich websitehas incorporated many useful information and features per-taining to the MDM project like Union Budgetary Allocation,Central Assistance Released, Foodgrain Allocation, FCIPayment, Physical Progress etc. Apart from it, the website alsohelps in management, monitoring, evaluation of the projectwhich is simultaneously improving nutritional levels amongchildren. All the updated information of the Department, infor-mation RTI and useful forms have been uploaded.

National Mission for Empowerment of Women (http://nmew.gov.in )

The National Mission for Empowerment of Women ensuresempowerment of women in all spheres viz. economic, social,

political and legal. The content rich website of the mission is aneffort to achieve these goals and to promote all round develop-ment of women through Co-ordination and Convergence ofSchemes, Programmes of participating Ministries orDepartment. The homepage of the site discusses on variousdomain areas towards which the mission aims at. One importantfeature of this website is its accessibility option which enables oneto increase or decrease the font size, increase the text spacingand/or change color scheme of this website according to his/herpreferences. Well structured information architecture and easynavigation housed in a clean interface provide an excellent userexperience to everyone visiting this new website of NMEW

Water Resources Department, Jharkhand (http://wrdjharkhand.nic.in/ )

Water Resources Department (WRD), Government ofJharkahnd, is responsible for protecting the rights of

the state in sharing water of Inter State Rivers and basins. Thenewly launched website of the department details about thevarious field of Operations of the WRD, pertaining to con-struction, maintenance and regulation of major , medium andminor irrigation projects, Flood Control and Drainage works.The MIS facilitates monitoring of real time progress of proj-ects at various locations through ‘Google Maps’ using latitude& longitude. Apart from this, regular features like photogallery, allotment orders, notifications & departmental circu-lars are updated regularly. The site is in compliance withGuidelines for Indian Government Websites ( GIGW) and iseasily accessible to differently abled.

Contributed by: Lokesh Joshi


nic pali receiving the award

Recently the Hon’ble Chief Minister ofChhattisgarh Dr. Raman Singh has inaugurated

the ‘ONLINE MISSAL BANDOBAST RECORDSYSTEM’ of Raipur District and distributed Castecertificates to students on. The link to theserecords (Raipur Record Room Online) is availableat http://raipur.gov.in . Around 20 lakh ban-dobast record pages pertaining to 2119 villages of15 tehsils have been scanned in one year beforemaking them online. With this the people of thedistrict can now besides accessing their age oldland record documents print them for various pur-poses. This facility is a leap forward in the State’se-Governance initiatives. Online availability ofrecords to a great extent eased preparation ofCaste and Domicile certificates of students whichhitherto used to be a lengthy, cumbersome andtime consuming process. The system facilitatesavailability of documents viz. Missal bandobastrecords of 1928-29, Chakbandi missal records of1936, Record of Rights of 1954-55 in a very userfriendly manner.These records are used as reference in many

cases including matters related to land disputesetc. In order to ensure security the scannedrecords are kept in NIC State server as well as in

Treasury.The Chief Minister in his message said that

obtaining copies of land records and preparation ofcaste and domicile certificates have been consid-ered by all to be very difficult tasks but a simplesolution has been provided to this problem withthe use of Information Technology which is a com-mendable effort. He congratulated the collector Dr.Rohit Yadav and NIC for this achievement.

Y.V.Shreenivas Rao , CHHATTISGARH

It was yet another feather in the cap ofNIC Rajasthan as NIC District Centre Pali,was selected for this year’s prestigious CSI-Nihilent e-Governance Awards 2010-11,Award of Appreciation under the DistrictCategory. The award was presented at a glit-tering function held on the 2nd Dec 2011 aspart of the Computer Society of India’s 46thAnnual Convention in Ahmedabad. Theaward was presented by Sh. SurendraKapoor, Convener, Sh. M.D. Agrawal,President, CSI, Sh. L. C. Singh, President &CEO, Nihilent Technology presented thisaward of appreciation in District Category.The award was received by the DistrictCollector, Pali Sh. Niraj K. Pawan, IAS andSh. Anil Purohit, DIO & PSA, Pali. TheSugam project of NIC Jodhpur has alsobeen previously awarded by CSI –Nihilentat Pune.

Chandan Sen, RAJASTHAN

Award for NIC PALI

Inauguration of OnlineMissal Bandobast RecordSystem, Raipur

In the NEWS

hon’ble c.M dr. raman Singh handing the caste certificate to astudent after inauguration


In the News

In a step forward towards e-governance, theFinance Department, ChandigarhAdministration organized a workshop of all theDrawing & Disbursing Officers of theChandigarh Administration on 22nd November2011 at PEC Auditorium. The workshop aimed atimparting practical training for the smoothimplementation of e-payment system to theDDOs. With the introduction of e-payment sys-tem, all payments to be made to the beneficiariesshall be made by electronic fund transfer to therespective accounts of the employees/beneficia-ries at the level of Central Treasury, Chandigarh.All periodic and non-periodic payments payableto various officers/officials/privatecontractors/agencies shall be made on-line onthe presentation of relevant bill in the CentralTreasury Chandigarh.About 350 officers/officials of the Chandigarh

Administration participated in the said workshop.Sh. Ajay Rampal, SIO, NIC gave presentation aboutthe Govt. Financial Accounting System to the par-ticipants and Smt. Gurpreet Kaur Sapra, JointSecretary Finance-cum-Director Treasury alsohighlighted the advantages of the e-payment.Previously, it took two to three days for the trans-fer of money to the beneficiaries’ accounts butwith this new system it will take only two hoursfor the transfer of funds. It will also be helpful foreasy reconciliations and less paper fund manage-ment system. In the month of November, salariesfor three departments will be taken up on pilot

basis. From December 2011, salaries of all theemployees of the Chandigarh Administration willbe covered under this system. The new systemfacilitate On line access to salary details to eachemployee, Mobile based information and querysystem, Online bank transfer of payments to indi-vidual/vendors

Vivek Verma, CHANDIGARH

DDOs workshop on e-Payment at Chandigarh UT

Sh. ajay rampal, Sio nic chandigarh demonstrating the software

On World Handicapped Day (3rd December), Deputy Commissioner,Faridabad Dr. Rakesh Gupta, IAS inaugurated the website for pro-viding the Online status of blood availability in the nine blood

banks. In this website, blood availability can be checked through two waysi.e. blood bank wise and blood group wise. Also a blood group wise list ofvolunteer blood donors with their contact information has been madeavailable.All blood banks send the availability of blood through e-mail to DC

office on daily basis. This information has been entered into the softwarewhich generates blood bank wise & blood group wise reports in pdf for-mat. Then these pdf files are uploaded to the website. This website hasbeen linked with the website of District Faridabad http://faridabad.nic.in

Poonam, HARYANA

Online status of blood availability in theBlood banks, Faridabad

dr. rakesh Gupta, dc faridabad, Sh.vipin Mittal, dio faridabad, Smt.

Seema Gupta, chairperson, red crosssociety examining the website


In the News

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Meghalaya, DrMukul Sangma inaugurated the Co-operativeCore Banking Solution (CCBS) for the

Meghalaya Co-operative Apex Bank Ltd (MCAB) onOctober 20, 2011. The application has beendesigned and developed by National InformaticsCentre (NIC).The Chief Minister said that core banking not

only increases employee productivity but alsoimproves monitoring of agricultural and non-agri-cultural credits. He hoped that with the co-opera-tion of the people the bank would further improveits services. By increasing its presence in remoteareas the bank has benefitted rural peopleimmensely, Dr Sangma said.The inaugural function was attended by Sh. Saleng

Sangma, Minister of Co-operation, Government ofMeghalaya, Smt. R Warjri, Chairperson of MCAB,Smt. JRD Kailey, Deputy Director General, NIC, Sh. AK Singh, Senior Technical Director, NIC, Sh. TimothyDkhar, Senior Technical Director and State

Informatics Officer, NIC Meghalaya, Sh. I P S Sethi, ,Senior Technical Director, NIC among others.After the inauguration, the Chairperson of the Bankhanded over the first CCBS passbook to the ChiefMinister who is also a customer of the bank.

Sabyasachi Choudhury, MEGHALAYA

Hon’ble Cabinet Minister, Tribal Affairs, Govt.Of India, Sh.V. Kishore Chandra Deo, recentlyreviewed PRERANA (Post-Matric Scholarship

REgistration Release And Network Automation) aunique initiative of Govt. of Odisha for developmentof Tribal and Backward Classes of the State.Initiating the discussion, Secretary, Sh. Santosh

Kumar Sarangi, IAS, described PRERANA as of

much importance in receiving applications, pro-cessing & sanctioning the scholarships to thedeserving students. He informed that within 20working days of launching of the application morethan 80,000 applications have been processed bythe system. Sh.A. K. Hota, TD, NIC, Orissa assisted by Sh. S.

P. Dash, Scientist-C, presented the detailed workflow, roles & responsibility of major stake holders,deliverables of the application, programme man-agement approach followed etc.The Hon’ble Minister expressed his satisfaction

over the commitment of the Govt. of Odisha andthe effort of NIC in extending ICT based supportand services to the Tribal and Backward Classes. Appreciating the effort of NIC & GOO, Sh.

Ravindra Garimella, IAS, Private Secretary to theMinister, wished to initiate the action plan fornational roll-out of “PRERANA”.Among the others, the senior officials of the SSD

& BCW Dept. were present in the meeting. Themeeting ended with vote of thanks by Sh. BisarKumar Nayak, IAS, Jt. Secretary to Govt.

A.K. Hota, ORISSA

PRERANA – Delighted Hon’ble Cabinet Minister,

Tribal Affairs, GOI

Co-operative Core Banking Solution for Meghalaya Co-operative Apex Bank

view of the inaugural function

hon'ble Minister with Secretary and other dignitaries


In the News

Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha goes online

To mark the eleventh foundation day ofthe Jharkhand Legislative Assembly,Dr. Sayed Ahmad, Hon’ble Governor,

Jharkhand inaugurated its website –http://jharkhandvidhansabha.nic.in on22nd November’2011 at a glittering func-tion organized in the sprawling premises ofthe legislative assembly in the presence ofan august gathering comprising – Hon’bleCM Sh. Arjun Munda, Sh. ChandreshwarPrasad Singh, Speaker and all the Hon’bleministers, Members of the assembly. The Principal Secretaries, Secretaries andlarge number of senior officials of variousdepartments of the government led by Sh.Shushil Kumar Choudhury, Chief Secretary,attended the function making the occasiona confluence of the executive and the bureaucracy.

dr. Sayed ahmad, hon’ble Governor, Jharkhand lightening the lamp on the occasion

Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Gauhati HighCourt, Sh. Madan B. Lokur recently graced the

function of inauguration of Video Conferencing,KIOSK and the website (http://hcmimphal.nic.in ).The web site was designed, developed and hostedby NIC, Manipur and the contents were providedby the Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench. Itallows uploading of Judgment, searching of judg-

ment by case number, judge name, date wise, peti-tioner wise, respondent wise and party wise etc. Italso provides links to the web site of SupremeCourt, High Court and other Benches.Hon’ble Chief Justice congratulated to the NICofficials for developing this web site and alsomentioned that the newly launched VideoConference and the Information Kiosk will notonly give benefits to the lawyers and Court offi-cials but also to the respondents and petitionersof the State where communication technology isstill lagging behind.Hon’ble Justice Sh. Tayenjam NandakumarSingh, Portfolio Judge of Gauhati High Court,Imphal Bench mentioned the importance of thefacility that will enhance discussions and meetingswith other Judges throughout the Country in abig way at the desired time thereby improvingCourt functionaries more efficiently. Sh.Kotishwar Singh, the learned Advocate General ofManipur, said that the facility of VideoConferencing if launched in the District Courtsand Central jail will reduce the inconvenience ofcarrying prisoners a long way on which theGovernment spends large amount of State fund.

M.Budhimala Devi, MANIPUR

Inauguration of Video Conferencing, KIOSK andWebsite of the Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench

hon’ble chief Justice of Gauhati high court during inaugural function


Book Review

book title: computer networksauthors: larry l.peterson andbruce S.daviepublisher: Morgan Kaufmann

E.INIYA NEHRUSenior TechnicalDirectorNIC [email protected]

The book ComputerNetworks, Fifth Edition: ASystems Approach issuitable for all sets ofpeople including networkadministrator, applicationdeveloper or a designer ofnetwork equipment tounderstand how modernnetworks and theirapplications are built.

COMPUTER NETWORKS: a sys-tems approach fifth edition writtenby Larry L.Peterson and BruceS.Davie is one of the bestsellingbooks on Computer Networks thatteaches the key principles in net-working with examples drawn fromthe real world of network and proto-col design. Using the Internet as theprimary example, the authorsexplain various protocols and net-working technologies. Their sys-tems-oriented approach encouragesthinking about how individual net-work components fit into a larger,complex system of interactions. Thebook is organised into nine chaptersas follows:The first chapter “Foundation” dis-cusses what goes into network archi-tecture, provides an introduction toprotocol implementation issues, anddefines the quantitative perform-ance metrics that drive the networkdesign. The second chapter “GettingConnected” describes the issues inlink-level protocols including encod-ing, framing, and error detection.The most important currently usedlink technologies - Ethernet andWireless has been described here.The third chapter “Internetworking”discusses the basic concepts ofswitching and routing. This chapteralso deals with the Internet Protocol(IP), routing protocols and hardware,software approaches to build routersand switches. The fourth chapter“Advanced Internetworking” coversmulti-area routing protocols, inter-domain routing and BGP, IP version6, multiprotocol label switching(MPLS) and multicast. The fifthchapter “End-to-End protocols”describes both the Internet’s

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)and Remote Procedure Call (RPC)used to build client-server applica-tions in detail. The sixth chapter“Congestion Control and ResourceAllocation” introduces the mecha-nisms used to provide quality ofservice (QOS) in IP. This chapter alsodescribes how congestion controlworks in TCP. The seventh chapter“End-to-End Data” covers XML andhow MPEG video compression andMP3 audio compression work. Thischapter describes how applicationdata is encoded in network packets.The eighth chapter “NetworkSecurity” gives an overview of cryp-tographic tools, the problems of keydistribution, and authenticationtechniques using both public and pri-vate keys. This chapter also discussesthe building of secure systems usingexamples including Pretty GoodPrivacy (PGP), Secure Shell (SSL),and the IP Security architecture(IPSEC). The ninth chapter“Applications” describes a sample ofnetwork applications and the proto-cols they use, including traditionalapplications like email and the Web,multimedia applications such as IPtelephony and video streaming, andthe overlay networks like peer-to-peer file sharing and content distri-bution networks.This book also contains a set of exer-cises of varying difficulty whichensure that the readers have mas-tered the material presented.The book has gone through five edi-tions proves the popularity of thebook both as a textbook for teachingcomputer networks as well as a refer-ence book for networking profes-sionals.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition: A SystemsApproach