National e-Governance Plan

The e-Governance scenario in India has evolved from mere computerization of Government Departments to initiatives which encapsulate the finer points of governance like citizen centricity, service orientation, accountability and transparency. The National e-Governance Plan has played a pivotal role in realization of this vision by focusing on key government services to citizens (G2C) and to businesses (G2B). Broadly, the Plan encompasses nine central Mission Mode Projects (MMPs), eleven state MMPs and seven integrated MMPs that span multiple backend Ministries/Departments. It also includes eight program support components aimed at creating the right governance and institutional mechanisms, core infrastructure, policies & standards and the necessary legal framework for adoption of e governance.

State Wide Area Network

In March 2005, Department of IT obtained Cabinet Approval for very important e- Governance Core Infrastructure Scheme for an overall outlay of Rs. 3334 crores to be expanded in five years, which would establish Wide Area Networks in 29 States and 6 UTs across the country, from each State/UT Hqr to the Blocks. Implementation of this Scheme is in full swing with individual project proposals approved for 28 States/UTs with the balance proposals to be approved by the designated Empowered Committee by June 2007. Wide Area Networks being established in the States/UTs under this SWAN Scheme, expected to be implemented by March 2008 in all States/ UTs, would serve a long way to provide G2G and G2C services in the entire e-Governance echo system, especially for the various Mission Mode Projects contemplated under the National e-Governance Plan.

Common Services Centres (CSC) Scheme

Government of India approved the CSC Scheme for establishment of 100,000+ CSCs across rural India, i.e. one (1) CSC per six (6) villages, on a Public-Private Partnership model. The CSCs are envisioned as the front-end delivery points for Government, Private and social sector services to rural citizens of India such as, e-Governance services, e-Agriculture, e-Education, Telemedicine, Rural banking etc. The total cost of the Scheme is estimated at Rs. 5742 Crores out of which Rs. 4093 Crores would come from Private Sector.

e-Bharat

The Government of India has been carrying out a dialogue with the World Bank for an Indian funding support for NeGP to the extent of 300 million in the form of a Specific Investment Loan (SIL) over a four-year period. The proposed assistance (called e-Bharat Project) is expected to finance an agreed-upon sub-set of NeGP projects and components after these have received Cabinet approval. This Bank loan to the Centre would be passed on as grants to States, subject to their adherence to certain pre-defined guidelines. Additional funding under e-Bharat could be made available based on satisfactory and timely utilization of the initial SIL as per mutually agreed timelines.

e-Readiness

The Department of IT has been commissioning e-Readiness Assessment Report of Indian States & UTs for the past 3 years. These Reports play a significant role in helping states evolve a proactive policy and plan robust ICT infrastructure, and also identifies possible hurdles and suggests plan of action to overcome these, to make giant strides towards creating information societies and participate in knowledge economy. In the Report for 2005, the comparative analysis of state-wise ranking demonstrates the outcome of such policy interventions. The Report examines, using the case study method, whether the e-governance/e-readiness initiatives have integrated or empowered the marginalized section.

Impact Assessment

As an integral part of the Outcome-based approach to policy formulation & project implementation, the DIT, under its e-Assessment strategy has initiated assessment of Impact of e-Government and ICT for Development (ICT4D) projects that provide any measure of e-Government services across India. For this purpose, the DIT has empanelled 11 research agencies. The impact could be social in terms of quality of life, inclusion, access to information regarding benefits etc., economic in terms of either income generation or savings or even empowerment in terms of transparency, Right to Information etc.

e-District

e-District is a State Mission Mode Project under the National e-Government Plan. The Project aims to target certain high volume services currently not covered by any MMP under the NeGP and undertake back-end computerization to e-enable the delivery of these services through Common Service Centres. The implementation strategy of an e-District would suitably take into account the infrastructure currently being created under NeGP such as the SWANs and SDCs. Projects in U.P. and Assam have been sanctioned and implementation initiated. Implementation guidelines are being circulated to States inviting pilot proposals.

Unique ID

A Central database is being created that uniquely identifies all residents across the country. It is primarily aimed at better targeting of beneficiaries under various social sector schemes. Progressive linkages with other major databases such as Household Survey (for BPL families), PDS, etc. would eliminate the need for multiple identification mechanisms presently prevalent across government departments.

State Data Centre

State Data Centre (SDC) has been identified as one of the important elements of the core infrastructure for supporting e-Governance initiatives of NcGP. It is proposed to create State Data Centres in the States/UTs across the country to provide efficient electronic delivery of G2G, G2C and G2B services. These services can be rendered by the States through common delivery platform seamlessly supported by core Connectivity Infrastructure such as State Wild Area Network (SWAN) and Common Service Centre (CSC) connectivity extended to village level.

The entire schemes for 35 States/UTs shall involve an investment of Rs. 1685 crores and it is planned to establish around 20 Data Centres within the next one year of so.

Community Information Centres

Department of Information Technology (DIT) had taken up an initiative in February 2002 for setting up of Community Information Centres (CICs) in the hilly, far-flung rural areas of the country to bring the benefits of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to the people for socio-economic development of these regions and to alleviate the digital divide between urban and non-urban areas. The initiative which was as a follow up to the special package announced by PM (Prime Minister) to the North Eastern States has been extended to Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) in February 2004, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep Islands in February 2005. These CICs are a citizen interface for IT enabled e-Government services and training.

During 2006, CIC at Nathula Pass in Sikkim near the Indo-China border has been commissioned which is the highest internet kiosk. 124 CICs in Jammu & Kashmir, 38 CICs in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and 30 CICs in Lakshadweep Islands have been made operational.

The social cost benefit analysis of the CICs set up in the 8 North-Eastern States was carried out by National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Interim provision has been made for financial assistance up to 2 years beyond February 2007 for management of existing 555 CICs of North-Eastern States as a gap bridging arrangement to facilitate their merger into Community Service Centres (CSCs) under the NeGP (National e-Governance Plan). The financial assistance would be available to State Governments agreeing for integration of CICs with CSC Scheme and submit the RFP for CSC Scheme.

Standards in e-Governance

GOI has set up an Institutional mechanism constituting NIC, STOC, and Working Groups with representation from Industry, Government and academia with an Apex Body at the top to approve and notify the evolved Standards for E-Governance. Key areas being addressed include Interoperability, Security, Localization and Data standards. The website is http://egovstandards.gov.in

National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG)

This mission project aims at setting up a constellation of gateways across the country which will establish standards-based interoperability between the CSCs at the front and back-end government departments. Acting as a nerve centre, the gateways would handle a large number of transactions across the entire network; provide a common set of specifications and a single point access. Such an infrastructure would also help inter-departmental working in a co-ordinated and synchronized manner. As a central processing mechanism it would also help in tracking all transactions of the Government.

India Portal

The India Portal is envisaged to be a unified portal for accessing information in the State Sector for electronic delivery of citizen services and a major facilitator for implementing e-governance initiatives. The beneficiaries can be broadly categorized as citizens, corporate organizations, both in State and non-state sectors, the Government itself (Central, State and Local body level), media and the world at large. The Portal is envisaged to be a 'single window access' to G2C services across the nation under the NeGP. It is operational at http://india.gov.in/. In order to provide comprehensive, accurate, reliable contents, National Portal Coordinators (NPC) have been identified from States/UTs and Central Ministries/ Departments. India Portal will also be providing multi-lingual content.