03 Dr. Gnaaneshchandra N. Jani

Research Paper

ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume-1 | Issue-1 | August-2015

E-Governance in Gujarat

Dr. Gnaaneshchandra N. Jani

M.Tech.,M.Sc.(Computer Science), M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. (BuddhismHistory),
B. Sc. (Physics), Department of Computer ,Vivekanand College of Arts,
Ahmedabad-380022.

Governance is the movement of governing. It relates to decisions
that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It con-
sists either of a separate process or of a specific part of management
or leadership processes. Sometimes people set up a government to
administer these processes and systems.

In terms of distinguishing the term governance from government -
"governance" is what a "government" does. It might be a geo-
political government (nation-state), a corporate government (busi-
ness entity), a socio-political government (tribe, family, etc.), or any
number of different kinds of government. But governance is the
kinetic exercise of management power and policy, while govern-
ment is the instrument (usually, collective) that does it. The term
government is also used more abstractly as a synonym for gover-
nance.

Awarded for Best e-Governance, Gujarat is a frontline State in the
implementation of e-governance policies & projects and setting up
of key infrastructure for E Governance. Gujarat Government focuses
on growth and development of new & emerging technology areas. It
has been increasingly using the ICT (Information and Communica-
tion Technologies) to offer citizen based service as per convenient
location with an initiative to improve the reach, make services more
transparent and reduce response time with reducing costs. The Gov-
ernment is also pro active in its Initiatives and ranks first state in the
country to have made e-Governance functional in all its Municipali-
ties and Municipal Corporations.

Application of information Communication Technology (ICT) in the
Governance to deliver the services better way. Services maybe...

• G2C- Government to Citizen

• G2B- Government to Business

• G2 G - Government to Government

State Govt, has adopted Innovative, constructive and result oriented
progressive policies for the promotion of e-governance in the State.
Through the Nodal Agency, the Government's Science and Technol-
ogy Department positions Gujarat, as a Key State in the Knowledge
Economy sector and acts as a medium to make Government-Citizen
Interface more effective, transparent and efficient.

Gujarat is an aspiring leader with e-readiness Initiatives with the IT
Policy 2006-2011. Gujarat has been position at L2 Stage in Informa-
tion Communication Technologies (ICTs) which is categorized
based on Environment, Readiness and Usage Applications. It stands
as an aspiring leader ranking to 3 1st Top Hotspots in the World and
minimizing to reach the goal.

Through the Bisag Satellite, the CM addresses the Distance Teach-
ers' Training Programme for the Elementary school teachers
through Satellite Technology. Over 1,94,000 Teachers over 4000
receiving Centers participated in the Interactive Training Program.
The GOI has launched National e-Governance Plan(NeGP) to
improve the system of Governance and to provide better services to

the citizen of India.

Following major components are involved in rolling out e- Gover-
nance initiatives:

1. Roadmap

2. Institutional Framework

3. Technology Infrastructure

4. BPR (Business Process Re-engineering)

5. Administrative Reforms

6. Delivery Mechanism

7. Information Security and Privacy

8. Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

9. Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)

10. Capacity Building and Change Management

11. Public awareness and Communication

Communicating and creating awareness with stakeholders and the
public at large on the benefits of e-Governance will help in design-
ing and implementation of required solutions.

GSWAN (Gujarat State Wide Area Network) :

• Connecting 7 Districts on 8 Mbps, 18 Districts on 4 Mbps and 1
District with 2 Mbps to State Center at Gandhinagar using leased
circuits provided by BSNL, Reliance and Tata Tele Services.

• Connecting 225 Talukas to 26 District HQ on 2 Mbps leased cir-
cuits.

• Interconnecting more than 3600 District and Taluka level GoG
offices

• Average 70 departmental offices at District locations and 5
offices at Taluka Locations have been connected to GSWAN

International Education & Research Journal [IERJ]

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Research Paper ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume-1 | Issue-1 | August-2015

• Facilitates uninterrupted and easy IP based Video-conferencing
between various GoG offices.

• Over 20015 E-mail IDs created for Government officers all over
the state.

• Over 255 Websites are hosted for various departments.

E- Counseling:

Web based tool for on-line counseling for the students desirous of
taking admission in various academic and technical courses offered
in the state. It facilitates to select the institute and branch from any
Internet point as per candidates eligibility.

DTE (Directorate of Technical Education) (since 2009)

• 14 Mbps Internet Bandwidth terminated at GSWAN State Centre
among 5000 Internet Users.

• Facilitates uninterrupted and easy IP based video-conferencing
between various GoG offices.

Online Job Application System (OJAS)

• Centralized system for accepting applications for Government
Vacancies, TAT, TET etc.

• Online validation of individual's data like birth date, caste based
age relaxation, PH, Ex-Serviceman, Gender specific details etc.

• Fees collection and forms collection facility

• SMS integration for intimation

• Online publication of exam Call letters

1. BE/ B. Tech, 2. MBA/MCA,3. Diploma Eng.Site:www.gujacpc.nic.in

• Build strong public interface to minimize travel burdens on
counselees & their parents for counseling

• Brings 100% transparency in seats allotment and admissions.

• Merit protection follows the state reservation policy and Honor-
able Supreme Court guide lines

• Centralized database and centralized monitoring.

• Paper Less counseling.

• Secured and controlled data access at every level.

• Online payment gateway

• SMS to candidates

Bare code Ration card and Public Distribution System:

• Issue of new BARCODED RATION CARDS having 2D
barcode on it. BARCODE contains some crucial information of
Ration card.

• The BIOMETRIC data of at least 1 member/card is captured as
per ISO standard (ISO 19794-4 and 19794-2 (minutiae))

• Establishing the identity of a person through convergence of
Ration Card data with EPIC, BPL,GAS, Electricity, Job Cards and
Khedutkhatedar

• Food coupons to the beneficiaries to avail the commodity cov-
ered in Public Distribution System . The food coupons can be
printed from e-gram /cyber cafe on biometric verification of ben-
eficiaries.

Online filing of main exam for GPSC

Ready back-office software for exam planning

The Application forms are available 24x7

Simplified forms with no paper work and elimination of appli-
cation form sale

Intimation through SMS of acceptance of application form,
call letter intimation etc.

Saves time at each stage and ensures Accuracy and transpar-
ency

Saves expenditure incurred by the applicant and recruiting
agency by eliminating the sale of application forms

Restricts applications by enforcing Validation Rules.

Minimizes management issues like keeping 2-3 lacks of appli-
cations with their enclosures, data entry of forms, planning of
preparation of exams and results etc.

An Eco-Friendly system due to less consumption of papers

This will result in time saving by at least Six months.

Apno Taluka Vibrant Taluka (ATVT) :

• Bringing the all activities of government under one roof in
decentralized manner with greater transparency and efficiency
using E-governance is needed, as a common citizen will be able
to get benefits effectively and reliably.

• In this regard, the Government of Gujarat has taken an initia-
tive to empower all the talukas in the state through ATVT.

• Applications for assistance under various services would now
be collected and processed at the taluka level itself and the citi-
zen would not be required to go up to district headquarters.

• Citizen Centric : Availability of services at their Taluka and as
earlier, need not got to district head quarters.

• Transparency : The Entire process is carried out by the soft-
ware and verify the application at multiple stages by authorized
officials within the predefined time.

• Cost Effectiveness : Reduce the time and cost as the services
are available at citizen centric and the citizen avail the service
with nominal charges.

• SMS Alert: The beneficiary get the SMS Alert when application
is received at ATVT center and when service is approved and
ready for delivery.

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International Education & Research Journal [IERJ]

Research Paper

ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume-1 | Issue-1 | August-2015

• The current status of the system: 158 services More than 20

lakhs applications received

E Gram - Vishvagram

On the Birthday of Subhash Chandra Bose on 23rd January, CM
Narendra Modi launched the e-Gram Vishwagram Project from
Haripura, the place where Subhash Chandra Bose had given call for
freedom. This Project Initiates e-Gram Project connecting 13716
Gram Panchayats and 6000 Citizen Common Service Centres as a
part of the eGram connectivity Project. Some features of e-Gram Pro-
ject are Video conferencing facilities at all villages, issuing the docu-
ments and certificates, application forms for various development
and welfare schemes. Also 7/12 certificates to the farmers from
panchayats. VSat communication technology based broadband con-
nectivity, free of cost communication between panchayats, common
service facilities, advantages of Internet and cyber connectivity and
electricity-telephone bills, visa, E-postal services and many more
facilities are provided through the online e-Gram project website.

e-Dhara (E- Jamin) Computerized Land Record :

E-Dhara enchances complete Computerization of Land Records
across the state. Elimination of Manual Records, computer con-
trolled mutation process and self sustainability are the leading
objectives of e-Dhara system.

Benefits:

• ROR available 24x7 on at e-gram centers

• ROR available at e-Jamin centers also

• Re-use of data for agriculture census, re-survey underNLRMP,
registration of documents etc.

• Secured data

• Only mutation process can change the data

• User logs

• Workflow based mutation process with FIFO

• Data access to different department only for view

mented in all 27 RTO in Gujarat.

• Sarathi deals with the various categories of Licenses to be
issued to citizen. These include Learning Licnese, Driving
License, Conductor License and Driving School License. Online
learning license test is also integrated with Sarathi which is man-
datory before issue of LL. various types of transactions related
to Licnese can be done through Sarathi. Online facility is also cre-
ated to accept Learning Licnese applications with appointment.
Key Management System is also implemented for Sarathi in all
RTO in Gujarat. This helps to verify the issue of DL issued
through Sarathi anywhere in India.

• State and National Register: State and National Register is also
created for Registration data and Driving Licenses issued
through Vahan and Sarathi. This helps to check and verify these
data by enforcement agencies on requirement.

Impact:

• Helped RTO to stream line their operations

• Service delivery with speed, accuracy and transparency

• Helped to reduce queues at RTO.

• Processes are automated as far as possible.

• Use of technology to reduce waiting time for citizen at RTO.

• Data accuracy is increased due to acceptance of online applica-
tions

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E-Mamta (Mother and Child Tracking System)

• High Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) & Infant Mortality Rate
(IMR)caused by High Dropout Rates, High Left Out rates, Inade-
quate quality of RCH Services

• To build capacity to Find, Communicate and Use the Informa-
tion effectively and link it to Individual Beneficiaries.

• Health Management Information System (HMIS) Monitors
through Numbers - No attention is given to Individuals being left
out of Health Care Service Delivery.

• Paradigm Shift from Number based Reporting to Individual
Based Reporting

• Can be extended to different offices for generating mutation
automatically

• Now can be part of ATVT for accepting mutation requests.

Vahan & Sarathi :

• Vahan and Sarathi are designed and developed by NIC in consul-
tation with Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to com-
puterize services providec by RTO office in India.

• Vahan is mainly used for Registration of all categories of Vehi-
cles, issue of Fitness and Permits and collection of Vehicle Tax.
Web based Dealer system is also provided to facilitate easy sub-
mission of registration data by Dealer. This is integrated with
Vahan to carry out all types of transactions. Vahan is imple-

Advantages:

• Citizens can access the highest authority of the State to resolve
the most challenging cases

• Citizens have the facility to know the status of their case from
their nearest internet access point at their location or at the
local Government office

• It saves time and cost of public as traveling to different offices
and waiting for a long time before their grievances were settled
is avoided

• SWAGAT has had an powerful indirect impact in encouraging
state officials to resolve grievances before they reach the
SWAGAT stage

International Education & Research Journal [IERJ]

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Research Paper

ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume-1 | Issue-1 | August-2015

Health Management Information System

HMIS is to build trust and confidence for the general hospitals in the
hearts of the citizen of the state by providing efficient and quality
health services through IT application. They streamline the Opera-
tions with improved Patient care and effective Administration and
Control. HMIS project was conceptualized by the department of
health & family welfare to ensure the quality health care by IT appli-
cation to provide standard clinical & diagnostic tools, hospital man-
agement tools and integration of management information at the
state level so as to ensure online review & monitoring. The Project is
undertaken by Department of Health and Family welfare.

E-City

The Project undertaken by Revenue Department of GOG,
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is the first Municipal Corpora-
tion in India to facilitate better performance of the delivery of
municipal services like birth and death registration, building plan,
primary health and education, city cleanliness, water supply, sew-
age, road, street-lights, parks and garden through e-governance to
citizens of the city. For this Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has
established six City Civic Centers located in five zones of
Ahmedabad city and also created forty-three ward civic offices all
these interconnected via intranet/ Internet connectivity. Citizens
have the facility to pay through net/bank/ cyber cafe.

SICN (Sachivalya Integrated Communication Network)

SICN is a network owned by Government of Gujarat for their Voice
Communication needs. This network is spread in capital of Gujarat
Gandhinagar connecting almost all the Govt. Boards & Corporations
Offices.

ICT and e readiness Initiatives

Gujarat is an aspiring leader with e readiness Initiatives with the IT
Policy 2006-2011. All departments have prepared their IT Action
Plan, which has a one-year focus and a five-year perspective. A fix
part of the budget is committed to IT related activities. Each depart-
ment has Chief Information Officer [CIO) who reports directly to Sec-
retary of the department.

The IT Policy also showcases other features. IT enhances man
power skills, collaborations and Business promotions. Mega Pro-
jects, IT Parks, SEZ and spaces for IT/ITES promotions. Power
exemptions for large units, financial assistance are other areas
focused upon. Distance Learning and Education is yet another Ini-
tiative that takes a major uplift. Optimum use of existing educational
infrastructure, including distance learning through satellite com-
munication facilities is available at Bhaskaracharaya Institute for
Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG).

Gujarat State Data Centre

State Data Centre (SDC) has been setup at Gandhinagar. The Project
under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of GOI, is identified as
one of the core and critical infrastructure components needed for
consolidation and hosting of applications essential for the
eGovernance services. It is integrated with other two components
i.e.SWAN and CSC/E-Gram. The GSDC (Gujarat State Data Center)
includes 2600 sq.ft, of server and storage area, 600 sq. ft. of connec-
tivity zone and 1300 sq.ft of control room and utility area.

GSDC has been connected to all the Government offices through
GSWAN infrastructure. The GSDC acts as a mediator ad convergence
point between open unsecured public domain and sensitive govern-
ment environment. The GSDC has been equipped to host/co-locate
systems such as Web Servers, Application Servers, Database Serv-
ers, SAN, and NAS etc.

GSDC will provide much functionality such as Central Repository of
the State, Secure Data Storage, Online Delivery of Citizen Informa-
tion/Services Portal, State Intranet Portal, Disaster Recovery,
Remote Management and Service Integration etc. GSDC would also
provide better operation & management control and minimize over-

all cost of Data Management, IT Resource Management, Deploy-
ment and other costs.

To provide decentralized delivery of services to the citizens in the
state, Government of Gujarat has also setup three Mini Data Centres
at Mehsana, Rajkot and Vadodara.

Home Department

The portal of Home Department - www.home.gujarat.gov.in - cov-
ers total 7 0 individual websites, including that of the Home Depart-
ment, all its HODs like Anti Corruption Bureau, Prohibition & Excise,
IG Prisons etc. and Gujarat Police (DGP, Commissionerate, DSPs,
Armed Unit, Training, Human Rights etc.), Port & Transport Depart-
ment, Commissioner Transport and all RTOs & ARTOs. It is com-
pletely Dynamic (Unicode based) Web-Portal & Websites based on
CMS (Content Management System) and having Online Updating
Facility, User Interaction to the various Applications and Database,
Search Engine enabled features, Online Complain and User Feed-
back facility.

The Portal is set with Objectives to bring the government depart-
ment closer to the citizens and make the work and procedures of the
Department speedy and transparent. It makes all the HoDs far more
approachable and accessible; provide in-depth information about
each office, going much beyond the requirements under the Right to
Information Act. It also provides public interface to the applications
like whom to contact (contact matrix), online complain, report &
find missing/ stolen persons/ vehicle/ things, Track FIR status, find
police station, Getting Tenant / Servant Registration etc.

In Gujarat, e-Governance has definitely come in handy insofar as
reduction of corruption and significant increase in the state's tax rev-
enue is concerned

*9 SWAGAT | | a - B ' ^ - Page> Safety - Tl

SWAG AT @ Gujarat

State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology

scifem O^lcl

1960 -2010

SWAGAT Online (State Wide Attention on Grievances through
Application of Technology)

(URL : http://swagat.guj.nic.in) Swagat project is been hosted on
every 4th Thursday of the month in the presence of Chief Minister
Narendra Modi in the Jansampark Department of his Chief Minister
Office. In his presence with all the department heads and the district
representatives, the grievance of the common man are addressed
through Video conferencing and solutions are provided online to
the common man immediately. All the department heads try to find
the solution to the common man's problem in the best possible way.
Of the Applications received, justice to 92.45% is done by the
mutual united initiative since the implementation.

Advantages:

• Citizens can access the highest authority of the State to resolve
the most challenging cases

• Citizens have the facility to know the status of their case from
their nearest internet access point at their location or at the
local Government office

• It saves time and cost of public as traveling to different offices
and waiting for a long time before their grievances were settled

12

International Education & Research Journal [IERJ]

Research Paper

ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume-1 | Issue-1 | August-2015

is avoided

• SWAGAT has had an powerful indirect impact in encouraging
state officials to resolve grievances before they reach the
SWAGAT stage

Reference:

• egovstandards.gov.in/

• india.gov.in/govt/national_egov_plan.php

• www.egovamc.com/

• www.apdip.net/publications /iespprimer

• http://deshgujarat.com/2012/02/08/gujarat-govt-wins-two-
e-governance-awards /

• www.gujaratinformatics.com +http://www.gil.gujarat.gov.in/
e_Governance_awards.html

• http://www.indg.in/india/sitemap-l/e-governance/ict-
initiatives-in-states-uts/e-governance-in-gujarat

• http://egov.eletsonline.com/2012/02/eindia-2011-mr-
rajnish-mahajan-state-informatics-officer-nic-gujarat-centre/

• http://egov.eletsonline.com/2012/03/eindia-2011-dr-neeta-
shah-director-e-governance-gujarat-informatics-ltd-2/

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki /E-Government

• http : / /www.guj aratindia.com/initiatives /initiatives- 1 .htm

• http://gujaratindia.com/whos-who/cmo-net.htm

• http : / /www.guj aratindia.com/initiati ves /initiati ves.htm?Initi
ativeId=8HmR2q5JvVhL+lfje9iZbg==

• http://revenuedepartment.gujarat.gov.in/objectives-of-e-
dhara-system

• http://www.narendramodi.in/50-episodes-of-swagat-online-
completed-successfully/

• http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/now-egram-project-
to-bridge-digital-divide-between-urban-rural-gujarat/4249
27/

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