MoWR – Pilot MI Census, Rajasthan

Conducted By NISG

India is one of the world’s largest agrarian economies and the agriculture sector plays a very

important role in our continued growth and development. Irrigation has played a major role in

increasing the agricultural output of the country. Amongst the various types of irrigation projects, it

is generally considered that Minor irrigation projects are more sustainable and eco-friendly than

larger projects. The Census of Minor Irrigation Schemes is an important input for planning the

country’s agricultural and economic growth.

The ministry has so far conducted 4 such census exercises. In a recent assessment, the Ministry has

observed that each Census report has been published 4.5 to 5 years after the reference year. The

reliability of data collected is also questionable. There is thus a tremendous need for improvement in

the conduct of the Census of Minor Irrigation Schemes. MOWR engaged the services of NISG to

study the present methodology and suggest an alternative methodology with or without use of

better/alternative technology to achieve higher data reliability and faster access to census results.

NISG’s assessment brought out many areas of Process Re–engineering and recommendations in the

Minor Irrigation Census Operations were presented in the Solution Design Report. Having gone

through the Solution Design Report, MOWR decided to take up a pilot project of conducting the MI

Census in one State using the mobile technology and methodology suggested in the report.

The Re-engineered MI Census process envisaged the use of NISG’s mobile technology and

application framework. This technology framework envisages the use of low cost mobile phones

with built-in features such as GPS, camera and GPRS as data collection devices. The mobiles phone

utilizes a GPRS data plan to connect to the Internet for both downloading the mobile based

questionnaire to collect field data and to upload filled records to a central server.

Based on NISG’s preliminary ground work, the candidate pilot states considered were Bihar,

Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Factors like number of MI Schemes, geographical area and

features, variety of types of MI Schemes, presence and spread of Common Service Centers (CSCs)

were considered in selection of the Pilot state. Bihar emerged as the first choice Pilot State but

during the fact finding trip to Bihar it was pointed out that the state faces severe flooding during the

monsoons making large parts of the state inaccessible. Therefore, NISG and MOWR mutually agreed

to select Gujarat as the Pilot State.

Gujarat has a well-knit CSC network with one CSC at each Gram Panchayat. The CSC network

managed by e-Gram Vishwagram Society (eGVS, a stage agency), was given the first preference to

collect MI census data. NISG also explored two other alternatives as potential field agencies. NISG

and MOWR mutually agreed to abandon Gujarat as a Pilot State in Sep 2012.

Rajasthan was chosen as the next alternative for the Pilot State. The ground work in Rajasthan began

around mid-September 2012. Having gained experience from the abandoned endeavor in Gujarat,

NISG quickly ramped up its activities to start the data collection work in the last week of October

2012. In Rajasthan also the CSC network was initially explored as the agency to conduct the field

data collection work. But this effort had to be jettisoned due to prohibitively high prices quoted for

using this network. NGOs / private agencies were then considered - as many as 12 agencies were

short-listed to conduct the field data collection work. The initial plan of allocating 2 districts to each

agency had to be revised as only 3 agencies could ultimately muster themselves to start data

collection work due to the tight timelines of completing the task in around 45 days across select

districts of Rajasthan. These 3 agencies were NGOs and had prior experience in conducting field data

collection work. Field agencies typically follow the "just in time" approach to bring onboard the

required number of field resources and this was an important factor that was tracked to ensure

timely start and completion of the data collection work. From an initially slow pace, these agencies

began ramping up their speed of field work. On an average, 450 field staff were collecting MI Census

data per day, with the peak strength being around 800 field staff. The average data collection rate

achieved during this period was around 40 records per day per field staff.

In around 55 calendar days a total of 11,34,512 records of MI Schemes were collected across 72

Taluks in 10 Districts and uploaded in real time into the Central server. This MI Census data was

available in near real time at a central location to the various stakeholders (including NISG’s central

monitoring team, MOWR and the field agencies). Web based application modules developed by

NISG provided real time viewing, monitoring and reporting capabilities at the fingertips of all

stakeholders. It may be noted that there were 128 records that were erroneous - the error density is

0.011% or 1 error per 8860 records. These were errors than could easily be avoided with a refined

mobile application – check final error count

Several challenges were faced during the Pilot. The major challenge that emerged was that of GPS.

Often, GPS readings did not change across schemes within a village and even across villages. Many

times a GPS reading could not be obtained. This could be attributed to the use of low-cost mobile

phones which typically use the Assisted GPS (A-GPS) functionality provided by the wireless service

provider through its network of communication towers to obtain a GPS reading. The accuracy of GPS

information is based on tower density, with lower tower density resulting in lower accuracy of the

GPS reading or the lack of any reading. Several high-end mobile phones incorporate GPS but they

also use A-GPS to improve the accuracy of location information. Both low-end and high-end mobile

handsets were used in the Pilot but it was observed that GPS accuracy was wanting. NISG also

collected a sample of GPS readings using independent GPS data loggers and found that these devices

could record distinct GPS readings and more accurately compared to the GPS readings taken by

mobile phones with built-in A-GPS functionality. Further, A-GPS functionality requires connectivity

whereas the mobile application is capable of working without connectivity (offline mode) for data

collection. These are essentially conflicting demands placed on the mobile phone application. Hence,

a mobile phone with built-in GPS should be considered when recording of GPS location information

is an essential requirement but it should not be used to uniquely identify a MI Scheme Alternatively,

external GPS data-loggers that provide far better accuracy could be used to obtain a GPS reading and

input these readings into the data collection form on the mobile phone.

NISG also had to make several changes to its work-plan to quickly adapt to the scenarios being faced

during the Pilot MI Census. For example, the mobile phones generally available in the open market

at the start of the Pilot phase were Java based mobile phones. Hence the mobile solution was

developed for low-cost Java-enabled mobile phones. However, by the time field data collection work

was to start in Rajasthan, the availability of low cost Java-enabled mobile phones had reduced

significantly in the open market and Android-based mobile smart-phones had become more

prevalent at costs comparable with Java-enabled mobile phones. So NISG had to adapt to rapidly

changing market dynamics by developing an Android-based mobile solution that resulted in delaying

the start of data collection in Rajasthan to end-October 2012. The collected Pilot Census data is

eventually to be hosted and maintained on NRSC’s India-WRIS WebGIS platform. The India-WRIS

WebGIS platform has been designed and developed by the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC),

Jodhpur as part of an MOU with the Central Water Commission department, MOWR. Thus all data

related to MOWR will be available at one location and can be integrated as and when required for

detailed analysis for use by the user community.

This Census report is a collection of experiences gained during the Pilot MI Census in Rajasthan and

provides insights about various aspects of the Pilot work. There are sections covering the Pilot

planning and its execution, recommendations for the roll-out based on the lessons learnt and

detailed analysis reports as an annexure.

Key recommendations are summarized below:

a) The Re-engineered MI Census process implemented in the Pilot can be rolled out across the

country.

b) The re-engineered MI Census process for data collection using mobile phones can be used

since it enhances the quality of the data gathered, with fewer errors compared to the

manual pen-and-paper based data collection process; data becomes available in near real

time at a central location, allowing faster analysis of data analysis and timely reporting.

c) In a typical state having say 12 lakh MI Schemes, field data collection work can be completed

in approximately 6 months by a field team of around 350 resources.

d) The mobile phone can be effectively used as a data collection device.

e) Mobile based application used for data collection is user friendly and takes away the need

for the field staff to ‘employ logic to ask requisite questions’ and it enables the staff to

concentrate on the validity of information provided.

f) Mobile based application for data collection can employ an embedded workflow based

questionnaire, with data validity checks and mathematical formulas for simple

computations. This reduces data entry errors to a minimum and improves overall data

quality and reliability.

g) Mobile phones can be used even in remote regions where there is no mobile connectivity or

availability of continuous power due to the offline mode in which the mobile application can

function. Low end mobile phones (typically costing around Rs. 4500/-) can be used.

h) GPS is an effective tool for uniquely identifying a MI Scheme.

i) The combination of mobile phone and recording of GPS instills rigor in the data collection

work. Field staff can be contacted and tracked in near real time.

j) Using a mobile’s built-in GPS feature does not provide the requisite accuracy in identifying a

MI Scheme.

k) GPS readings recorded by an independent GPS data logger provide much better accuracy as

compared to the built-in GPS of a mobile phone. It is recommended to use independent GPS

data loggers (typically costing around Rs. 10,000/-).

l) Mobile based forms using English text are not a hindrance. Field staff can effectively manage

data collection work using the English based forms.

m) Although the CSC network can be used as a data collection agency, their interest quotient

and cost factors precluded us from going with the CSC route.

n) NGOs / private agencies can be used as data collection agencies. They are efficient,

adaptable and accountable.

o) Data collection can be carried out by field staff with basic school education. A typical class IX

pass-out can be employed as a field data collector.

p) It is highly encouraged that ‘locals’ be used as field staff as they have requisite ground based

knowledge of the area. As he is likely to be more readily acceptable in the local village

community, his information gathering effort is likely to be more efficient.

q) The earlier process step of calling for a (village level) meeting of village elders, Sarpanch and

famers before the start of the Census in the village is not practical.

r) Physically marking an MI Scheme with enamel based paint is highly beneficial in ensuring

coverage of schemes and in identifying a particular scheme during supervision.

s) Photographs do not play any beneficial role and hence not required to be taken. They also

increase the size of records stored in the mobile phones and are subsequently transmitted

from the mobile phones to the central server.

t) Central monitoring team is an effective mechanism to monitor the field work in real time.

They can effectively spot issues during the data collection work.

u) Central monitoring team provide near real time support to

Field staff during data collection work by resolving their queries

Government officials as they can act as an extended arm of the department