IfG.CC - Regionen

Today 472

Yesterday 1381

All 39536313

Several anti-poverty schemes are struggling to take off, thanks to the non-existence of IT infrastructure at the Panchayat and block level

Who could you blame for the failure of various welfare schemes meant for alleviating rural poverty? Most people are not likely to site weak tech infrastructure, but it seems to be emerging as one of the main hurdles.

Step into any block development office and you are likely to see officers pouring over reams of paper, recording and sending data to their district headquarters. While some officers at block level feel lucky to have computers to help them do number crunching and transmit data, many still have a long wait for PCs and then software to run it.

Andhra Pradesh has used it with great success, saving Rs 2,000 crore over three years

Andhra Pradesh took to e-procurement a few years ago by involving the private sector for expertise and sharing the costs in a public-private partnership. It covered eight critical departments, 13 public sector units, 57 municipalities and a few autonomous bodies. According to the IT department of the government, it has reportedly transacted 13,600 tenders with a value of about Rs 34,000 crore in three years. The range of items procured includes drugs, pesticides, office stationery, hardware, software, transformers, office equipment and commodities. The values ranged from a mere Rs 56,000, for procuring drains for a municipality, to an irrigation contract worth Rs 2,365 crore.

Taking forward United Progressive Alliance's (UPA)'s aim of Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA), the Jharkhand government has rolled out a computer education and computer-aided education programme to down link satellite based education at the local level. It will cover over 440 schools across 22 districts of the state.

A part of the states' e-governance initiative, the project is being jointly implemented by the Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) and the Jharkhand Agency for Promotion of Information Technology (JAPIT). Core Projects and Technologies Ltd.(CPTL) will provide technology support. The project is to be implemented in a span of five years on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis.

Hinting at a paradigm shift in the Customs Department's approach to swiftly move towards a National e-Governance Action Plan (Negap), Mr A.K. Raha, Member (Legal, Judicial and Computerisation), Central Board of Customs and Excise (CBEC), said today that a new software package is being developed for total e-governance in the Department. Speaking at an interactive session organised by the CII (Eastern Region) for exporters of the region, he said the primary objective was to extend the software system to Customs and Central excise, and service tax, enabling all Commissionerates to talk to each other online.

The minister directed Defence Estate officials to make optimum use of the Raksha Bhoomi software in order to protect Defence land and prevent encroachments

Taking e-Governance a step further, the Directorate General of Defence Estates under the Ministry of Defence has started computerizing land records comprising vast tracts of land in the country measuring about seventeen lakh acres.

The software “Raksha Bhoomi” was launched by Minister of State for Defence, M.M. Pallam Raju.