Pensioners of Panchmahals Rejoice

Thanks to the initiative of the district collector and  the largest IP based e-governance project in Gujarat,
villagers of Panchmahals need to walk only up to their nearest STD/ISD kiosk to obtain their ration cards or pension claims. On December 31, 2001, Gujarat Online Limited (GOL) - a joint venture of United Telecom Limited and Gujarat based Madhukant Agro-Exports completed the networking of the entire state of Gujarat in record time. GOL will operate and maintain the systems for the next eight years then transfer operations to the state government at a token fee of Re 1.

The Gujarat network covers the talukas while even the Andhra Pradesh project is up to the district level only. However, the ministry in Gujarat does not match the AP CM Chandrababu Naidu’s vision. As a result, not too many people know the importance of the project and its usage. In fact, the video conferencing facility is demonstrated every time there is a photo opportunity, but no one is really using the project. 

“But things will change once the concept of e-governance is in place. In just a few months, you will see the government updating itself using an efficient and transparent electronic administration,” says a confident GOL CEO, P B Shyam, whose team lives by the adage of making Gujarat an e-state.

And the process has already begun for some. Jayanti S Ravi, an Indian administrative officer of Gujarat cadre is no stranger to IT. After her stint as Managing Director of Gujarat Informatics Limited (GIL), she has made a point to pass on the benefits of IT down to the people. So when she was made the Collector of the eastern part of Gujarat, Panchmahals, a backward district with a significant tribal populace, no one thought that the implementation would be as easy as it is today.

With eleven talukas, six towns and 1212 villages, the district has its headquarters in Godhra. According to the 2001 census, the total population of the district is 20.24 lakhs. The literacy level at less than 50%, is lower than the state average. The collector’s initiative has even made the police join the project. The District Superintendent of Police, Raju Bhargava says that even complaints will be registered online. “If the complaint makes for an FIR (first information report), an officer will visit the complainant and obtain his signature on the document,” he says.

But more than the facility of filing FIRs online, e-governance has eased the procurement of pension amounts and ration cards, two important aspects of any rural life in India. A similar project in Dhar in Madhya Pradesh did not get a good response leading to worries about the fate of this
project–Mahiti Shakti.

The portal, www.mahitishakti.net will provide a single window for all relevant information and services on all government initiatives. Any one who wishes to avail of the benefits of the project, has to go to the nearest STD/ISD kiosk. He has to submit the necessary documents to the kiosk owner who fills out the form online. The form reaches the Assistant Collector, the issuing authority in just a few minutes. The issuing authority deputes a circle officer to scrutinize the documents. In four days flat, the ration card or old age pension sanction letter reaches the Info Kiosk owner, who in turn, hands it over to the applicant.

“At the moment, we have prioritized the online processing of ration cards and old age pensions. Once it is formally launched, almost all the forms will be submitted and processed online,” informs sub divisional magistrate and deputy collector, Mohmmad
Shahid.

The Collectorate of Godhra has joined hands with the Concept Center for Electronic Governance (CCEG) of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) to develop a pilot project for enabling Citizen to Government (C-G) and Government to Citizen (G-C) transactions using IT.

And now, the offices of the Collectorates have changed for good. Everything from collecting the posts to disposal of the files
is computerized and the GSWAN (Gujarat State Wide Area Network) put into practice by GOL is used by officials exchanging files and notes for day to day governance through their PCs.

Data pertaining to schemes under the DRDA (District Rural Development Agency, the DPB (District Planning Board) and the TASP (Tribal Area Sub Plan) is available online. The web-enabled version of the Gujarat Geographic Information System (GGIS) gives details of the resource availability in terms of 95 parameters for every village of the district functions on a query- based system.

What any PCO kiosk needs to do when approached by a customer is to log on and provide this information, which is free of charge. The forms, along with a checklist of documents to be attached with the form at the time of submission, are available online.

But for online submission of applications, the kiosk owner can charge Rs 10 for an application form and Rs 20 for submission. With long distance calls made cheaper, the commissions on phone calls for these kiosks have also gone down and kiosk owners too could use the facility to make up for their losses.

The Deputy Mamlatdar and the officer in charge of IT services, Mitesh Parikh receives at least 10 to 15 applications every day for setting up an info kiosk.

Also in the offing is an electronic newsletter that will feature some important utilities:

• Tele-medicine: Responses to e-mails received from the public by a team of leading doctors and medical practitioners of Godhra. A directory giving names and telephone numbers of leading doctors of Panchmahals, both in the private and government sector.

• Legal Help: An e-mail based response system by a team of leading lawyers of the Bar Association of
  Godhra.

• Science Corner: Articles on latest scientific developments as well as an interactive QA System for the public. 

• Children’s Corner: Content on primary and secondary education developed by the DPEP coordinators.

• Agriculture Corner: Information and expert advice on good agricultural practices.

• Dairy Corner: Information pertaining to the animal husbandry sector prepared by the dairy and the District Animal Husbandry Officer.

• Astrological and Matrimonial Corner with the involvement of local resource persons.

• Archaeological and Environmental update 

• Panchayati Raj Corner: Static material (such as laws, which do not change on a frequent basis) on provisions of the
  Panchayati Raj including women’s empowerment and responses to queries.

• Extensive material on vocational guidance provided by the Information Directorate.

The project on Computerized Land Record access is expected to be completed within this year and the authorities also plan to initiate electronic payment of utilities. 

Jayanti S Ravi has formed an ‘e-governance trust’ that will continue to run the show in her absence. The trust comprises the Collector of Panchmahals, the District Superintendent of Police, District Development Officer and District Treasury Officer, apart from a few local members. The Collector also plans to utilize 84 outlets of Panchmahals Dairy and 22 outlets of the District Co-Operative Banks to provide information at the grassroot level. However, there are bottlenecks that may hinder the implementation of the project. As the portal may have a lot of documents that need legal clearance from the departments concerned. Inadequate infrastructure is another vital and worrying aspect. Whatever the impediments, a good beginning has been made.

Binu Alex/CNS in Ahmedabad