Govt resumes talks with World Bank on e-Bharat
Differences over implementation being ironed out.
Our Bureau
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/12/22/stories/2009122251910400.htm

New Delhi, Dec. 21

Signalling the end of a deadlock, the Department of IT (DIT) has restarted
discussions with the World Bank to work on a revised framework and modalities
for the operationalisation of e-governance support project `e-Bharat'.

Sources said that initial discussions on e-Bharat could not reach a firm
conclusion as the World Bank had put certain conditions with regard to the
management of the project.

E-Bharat objectives are the same as those of National eGovernance Plan, albeit
at a smaller scale. The project is expected to contribute to improving
government effectiveness, empowering marginalised communities, increasing fiscal
revenue, reducing public procurement costs and promoting private sector led
growth through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Sources said that although discussion had been held even earlier for a possible
assistance of $300 million, the two sides could not agree on the framework for
implementation as the World Bank purportedly was insisting on certain conditions
to manage the project. For instance, against a hands-on project management
approach being favoured by the World Bank, the DIT was pushing for a programme
mode where assistance could be linked to targets or milestones.

"The differences are now resolved. There have also been some rounds of
discussions on the new framework," sources pointed out.

Objectives

E-Bharat was aimed at supporting DIT in programme management and also specific
support to certain projects (commercial taxes and PDS) by States such as Tamil
Nadu and Kerala.

In fact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, in its latest report last
week noted, that e-Bharat project was "in trouble". It recommended that the
issue should be "pursued with World Bank" so that the project is implemented
with the financial support given by World Bank, keeping in view the significant
efforts including sizeable resource put in by DIT and other Ministries and
participating States for the timely completion of the project preparation
activities.

The Standing Committee further noted,"to support the programme, the Government
has been carrying out a dialogue with the World Bank for possible programme
management and financial support.

Following the Government's decision not to establish a dedicated Special Purpose
Vehicle (national e-governance agency), a requirement insisted on by thw World
Bank earlier, the Bank had advocated a newer look to be adopted inter-alia
suggesting termination of the preparation of the e-Bharat project," the
Parliamentary panel observed, recounting past developments.

IT projects in city on the back burner
Jayajit Dash / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar December 22, 2009, 0:31 IST
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/it-projects-in-citythe-back-burner/3\
80307/

With almost all the proposed IT projects in the city being non-starters, the
emergence of Bhubaneswar as one of the most sought after IT destinations among
the Tier-II cities in the country is under a cloud.
The surge of investment proposals in the IT sector which had raised expectations
of an IT boom in the city now appear to be a mirage with these upcoming projects
making little or no progress at the ground level.

On the face of it, the city is poised to drive the next phase of IT growth in
the country with the presence of the four IT bigwigs- Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS), Infosys, Wipro and Mahindra Satyam (formerly Satyam Computers) which had
also announced plans to expand their operations further.

Add to this, there are a rush of investment proposals from the other prominent
IT investors including MindTree Consulting, Genpact, DLF, Raheja Corporation,
Zensar Technologies, ICICI Bank and the Kolkata-based Apeejay Surrendra Group.

However, the lack of resolve by the developers as well as the state IT
department in expediting these projects seems to have pushed them into the back
burner. The lull started with the global economic meltdown which prompted the IT
players to adopt go slow tactics but even after the signs of recovery, they are
still on the back foot.

While most of the IT investors are noncommittal on commencement of construction
work for their projects, a few players have passed the buck on the state
government for its lukewarm approach in developing the infrastructure needed for
the projects.

"The state government had assured to allot us 100 acres of land at the
Infocity-II area at Janla on the outskirts of the city but we are yet to be
alloted land for our expansion as the Infocity-II project is facing delay", said
a senior official of Infosys Technologies.

Consider this- The construction work on the approach road to the Infocity-II
project was scheduled to begin in January this year but even ten months down the
line, there are no signs of the construction work.

To make matters worse, even the state IT department has turned indifferent to
these IT projects and has instead shifted its focus to the e-governance
projects.

Given the current scenario when none of the IT players are giving a firm
commitment on the time-line of their projects, we are focusing on the faster
implementation of the different e-governance projects in the state, admitted a
top official of the state IT department.

Gong by the scale of IT investments in the city, DLF leads the pack with Rs 1000
crore which it had committed for setting up the DLF Infopark project in the
city. Following de-notification of its SEZ in the city, the real estate major
had announced to develop the project under the STPI (Software Technology Parks
of India) scheme.

Presently, mum is the word for DLF whose Infopark project was launched with much
fanfare in February this year ahead of the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the
state.

The same shadow of uncertainty looms over the other proposed IT projects with
the IT players adopting a wait and watch approach.

E-Governance in DSIR
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=56310

Under the e-Governance initiative of Government of India, a cell has been
created in the Department to implement a comprehensive programme to accelerate
e-Governance through Information Technology at all levels of Government to
improve efficiency, transparency and accountability. Under the programme,
Computers with online connectivity are provided to all the officers for
automating various activities and Department's website: http://www.dsir.gov.in
is continuously updated.

TCS' mKrishi on pilot run in Maharashtra

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/TCS-mKrishi-on-pilot-run-in-Maharashtra/557\
468/

Kolkata: Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) mobile-based advisory platform mKrishi
has started pilot projects in Maharshtra. The information system for farmers
will help them access localised information and advice on agricultural issues
through graphic and voice formats in local languages.

S Ramadorai, vice chairman of TCS, said: "We have to scale them up but the
pilots are very successful. There are real clients who are trying out on the
ground and we are trying to ascertain how effective that is."

According to him, with 3G being rolled out, a lot of applications will go
through hand-held devices. "Localisation of content is one of the biggest
opportunities in the country going forward in the next few years," he said.

mKrishi has been developed to provide personalised information and expert advice
to rural farmers in their local language using sensor technology. It is also
adaptable to illiterate farmers who can make a query from a cell phone using
voice-specific functions.

Present at the national conference on leadership at the CII-Suresh Neotia Centre
of Excellence in Kolkata, Ramadorai said TCS is looking for recruiting people
from various parts of the country. "We make sure they understand building
localisation of the content," he added.

Talking to reporters, Ramadorai said the deal pipeline for Indian IT companies
is good and there are growth prospects in the international markets like the US
as well as in India. While there are opportunities in Europe, they are a bit
slow.

According to him, while recruitments by various companies have started happening
and there is an overall momentum, the industry has to take a serious look into
utilisation of the workforce.

Pointing out potential sectors for future growth he said outsourcing of
knowledge services have come to stay. "Legal profession, drug discovery and
pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and engineering are some such areas," he
said.

hursday, December 17, 2009
 	 Ministry of Communications & Information Technology


   Usage of it in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
18:52 IST
RAJYA SABHA

The Government is promoting usage of Information Technology in the States for
better Governance and delivery of services of the citizens electronically.
National e-Governance Plan envisages better, efficient, transparent and
electronic delivery of G2G, G2C and G2B services. Moreover, Software Technology
Parks of India (STPI) has created 51 Software Technology Parks for promoting IT
across the country of them. 4 STPI Centres have been established in Uttar
Pradesh and one Centre in Bihar.

This reply was given by Shri Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications
and Information Technology in Rajya Sabha today.

GG/AT/VK

Soon, cyber crime police station in city to net web offenders
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Soon-cyber-crime-police-station\
-in-city-to-net-web-offenders/articleshow/5357439.cms

Kolkata Police
KOLKATA: With its detective department's cyber crime cell flooded with
complaints from internet users, Kolkata Police is all set to have a  separate
cyber crime police station to deal with new-age crimes.

Bangalore police already has such a police station. Detecting cyber crimes is a
specialized job, very different from routine criminal investigation that most
sleuths of Kolkata Police are familiar with. The proposed police station will
feature state-of-the-art technology and expertise.

Inaugurating a website on cyber crime on Saturday, city police commissioner
Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti said: "We are working hard on the formation of a cyber
crime police station. The station will be manned by some handpicked officers
conversant in cyber laws and cyber crime. We are building a pool of personnel
with expertise in this field. Cyber crime investigators constantly need experts'
help to solve cases."

The website will seek to create awareness about cyber crimes and cyber laws and
also tell victims where to lodge complaints. "It is not always possible for
everyone to come to the city police headquarters in Lalbazar. So, we will create
an option where people can lodge complaints on cyber crime," said Chakrabarti.
The website will also monitor the functioning of cyber cafes across the city.

Every cyber cafe will be registered with the website. "We are in the process of
developing a software, which will allow police to gain access every time a
person logs in at a cyber cafe. It will also help police trace the origin of a
threat or hate mail without delay. With terrorists increasingly using the
internet, cyber security and identity have become major areas of concern for
police across the nation over the last few years," said a senior IPS officer.

A symposium on cyber crime was jointly organized by Kolkata Police and Public
Relations Society of India (PRSI). Cyber crime prevention experts from Wipro,
IBM, TCS, Nasscom and Calcutta University shared their views on the imminent
threat to netizens and the city in general. Tanmoy Chatterjee of TCS presented a
concept note titled "Kolkata, a safe city".

Taking a cue from Chatterjee's "safe city" idea, the police chief reiterated the
significance of an integrated intelligence surveillance system. "We will slowly
put the system in place. CCTVs are only a part of that system. We always try to
tell people of Kolkata not to panic. They must be in touch with police. I can
assure that our force is ready to tackle any situation."

Dipankar Bhattacharyya of Wipro said cyber terrorism could pose a serious threat
to the safety and security of an individual as well as an institution.

TN job portal to share data with private firms
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/tn-job-portal-share-data-private-firms-561

The Tamil Nadu department of employment and training is planning to create a job
portal and for the first time in the country, the database will be made
available to private recruiters. The nodal agency for IT in the state,
Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot) is working with the employment
exchange to finalise the modalities of the project.

"The exchange has about 60 lakh profiles. Almost all the district-level
exchanges have been computerised and now we are planning to create a common
web-based portal such as a Naukri.com. IT services company Emergys has been
selected for the project," said a senior official who did not want to be named.
The portal is expected to go live in May.

Unlike private job portals, the government website would provide only profiles
that have been validated, the official said. The processes in the employment
exchange take a lot of time but every profile is meticulously checked for its
genuineness, he added.

Most people do not register in the employment exchange mainly because of the
delay in processing. After full automation of the process, the government's
portal will be the most authentic database for recruiters, he said.

For now, there is no clarity on the fee to be charged. According to the
guidelines of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), governments cannot
charge a fee for this service. However, the departments are working out means to
prevent misuse of the database, he said.

Elcot has a data centre at Perungudi near Chennai with a data recovery centre in
Madurai.

Webel to create 5.75 lakh Sq ft for biotech & IT park
18 Dec 2009, 2122 hrs IST, PTI
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/software/Webel-to-create-575-lakh-S\
q-ft-for-biotech-IT-park/articleshow/5353169.cms
  Save  Print 	 EMail 	 Share  Comment Text:
KOLKATA: Facing a crunch in IT space, the West Bengal government has decided to
create 5.75 lakh sq feet of new space for IT and biotech park in the next 18
months.

"We have decided to build 3.75 lakh sq feet for biotech & IT park on 1.5 acres
acres on the GE returned land. GE has returned half of the total land given in
sector V," IT minister Debesh Das told.

Another IT park would be built on the EM Bypass close to the Science City in JV
with KMC, he said.

"The EM Bypass IT park will be of two lakh sq feet," he said.

Both the projects will be executed through its nodal IT agency Webel and there
will be no private participation.

Registration office to digitise its archives
Nikhil Deshmukh, TNN 21 December 2009, 05:15am IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Registration-office-to-digitise-its\
-archives-/articleshow/5359820.cms

PUNE: The state department of registration and stamps has undertaken the task of
computerising its archives, which will enable officials to get information of
any property at the click of a mouse.

The basic computerisation of the department was initiated in 2000.

Ramrao Shingare, inspector general of registration (IGR), controller of stamps
and chief controlling revenue authority, told TOI: "To reduce the increasing
workload, the department has decided to digitise all the documents at the
office. It will save a lot of time for the people, who would otherwise have to
spend weeks for getting their original documents and for other procedures."

The state registrar office has documents prepared from 1885 onwards, which need
to be referred to from time to time. "These documents would be digitised and
made available to the staff. High-end computers and servers will take only a few
seconds to find the current location of any document that would be required for
official purpose," an official said.

Shingare added that "the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been asked to
develop a software for the department, which would enable the user to access the
whole archives."

This would be the pilot project for the NIC to develop a software that can be
used at state level, said an official at the NIC.

The NIC has already developed a software for the sub-registrar office, Pune,
which has evoked encouraging response from the staff. The NIC is now preparing a
detailed plan as there are billions of papers that need to be digitised for
storing them in electronic format.

The registrar office does 85 types of registrations everyday. While developing
the software, the NIC is taking care of all the functions of the department, the
NIC official said.

During 2008-09, the registrar office collected Rs 8,384 crore from property
registration, stamps sale and other sources. Despite the global economic
slowdown, the department's revenue was less by just Rs 150 crore, said an
official at the IGR office.

UIDs likely for sch oolchildren
Subrahmanyan Viswanath, Bangalore, Dec21, DH News Service:

School admission across the country may not be the same again from 2011. It may
be impossible without the Unique ID (UID) if the Centre accepts a proposal of
the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).


The UIDAI, chaired by Nandan M Nilekani and his second-in-command Director
General Ram Sewak Sharma, has stressed the need for making it mandatory for
children to have the UID at the time of admission to school once the process of
issuing the UID gets under way.

The rationale behind the proposal is that children can be tracked for academic
progress besides being targeted for direct benefits.

According to the UIDAI, India being a young country with over 400 million
residents below the age of 18, the government needs to specifically target that
segment of the population.

The authority, in its confidential paper, which was accessed by Deccan Herald,
says the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme could be an ideal platform for the
enrolment of children (of the age group of 6-14) under the UID.

The paper notes it will enable better child tracking and improvement in the
mid-day meal scheme. Observing that the concept of universal child tracking is
gaining ground, the advantages of the UID would be immense for children,
according to the paper.

Database

It says enrolling children under the UID must be made mandatory as an accurate
database of children with UIDs will be beneficial to track their progress,
especially in government schools, besides eliminating child labour.

Further, the paper observes that registering new births will be a challenging
task as approximately 60,000 babies are born in the country every day.

Since their biometrics is not stable, the document says they have to be
re-scanned later. As names are often not given at the time of the registration
of birth, the child's biometrics should be taken at the age of five, and it
should be updated every five years until the age of 18.

One way to resolve the issue, according to the paper, is to ensure that the UID
number is included in the infant's birth certificate as the number will remain
the key identifier throughout the individual's life. Likewise, it says the child
should be named before applying for the UID number to ensure it can also be
allotted at birth.

National Mission Mode project (NMMP) on e-Governance in Municipalities as part
of JNNURM

       A Mission Mode Project on e-Governance in municipalities has been prepared
by this Ministry to make urban governance more efficient and effective. Since
local government is the first interface between citizens and government this
initiative would solve a number of problems that the people in towns and cities
are facing due to rapid urbanization. It would assist improved service delivery,
decentralization, better information management & transparency, citizen's
involvement in government, improved interaction between local governments and
its citizens as well as other interest groups like NGOs, CBOs, RWAs, etc. It has
been decided that initially the scheme would be a part of Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for 35 cities with population of over 10
lakh and a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for other cities and towns would
be taken up after watching the implementation under JNNURM. Accordingly, the
guidelines on NMMP on e-Governance in municipalities have been prepared and
circulated to the States/ULBs for submission of DPRs. A meeting was held with
the Principal Secretaries/Secretaries (UD) of States and Municipal Commissioner
of cities selected for e-governance implementation on 30.7.2008 to discuss the
issues relating to e-governance implementation and to expedite preparation of
DPRs. Six projects on e-governance in Municipalities have since been approved
for the city of Vijayawada, Nagpur, Kochi, Pune, Navi Mumbai and Ulhasnagar.

ow, MCD mulls Biometric attendance system for teachers
December 19, 2009  |  RSS   |  Tell a friend  |  Printable Version
http://www.indiaedunews.net/Delhi/Now,_MCD_mulls_Biometric_attendance_system_for\
_teachers_9943/

New Delhi: After the hullabaloo created by the Delhi University teachers about
the biometric attendance system, the teachers at the Municipal Corporation of
Delhi (MCD) schools may soon join the league.

The MCD is also planning to introduce the same in its teaching department in
order to keep a check on its staff.

The civic body has already successfully implemented the system in all its other
departments and plans the same for the educational purpose.

According to the plan, the MCD will bring 23,000 principals, teachers and staff
providing education in 1780 primary schools run by the civic body under
biometric attendance.

The Municipal Commissioner, Mr. K.S. Mehra notified that after successful
implementation of the biometric system in all the departments the same step will
be taken for the principals, teachers and staff.

"Installation of such a system will ensure the accountability and responsibility
of the teachers for the prescribed hour in the school," said Mr. Mehra.

The MCD has a different course of action for its students. It says that although
it would not implement the biometric system for them but plans to introduce the
Management Information System (MIS), which it says, has already been
implemented.

MIS and biometric system is a part of MCD's ambitious e-governance project.

"Introduction of the biometric for students will be a tedious and time-consuming
task. We have kept them away from this system in order to keep things simple.
Their attendance will be monitored by MIS," he added.

He claims that this new attendance system will help us provide better primary
education to the children studying in MCD schools.

The first biometric system was introduced on August 1, 2008 at the
Commissioner's office in Ambedkar Stadium and MCD's headquarter at Town Hall.

Sibal says HRD ministry will work with UIDAI to monitor schooling
etIndian News Network
New Delhi, December 19, 2009
Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal has said that his Ministry
would work in close cooperation with the Unique Identification Authority of
India (UIDAI) so that all schoolchildren teachers get a unique identification
number.


Addressing the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to
his ministry here yesterday, Mr Sibal said this would enable a countrywide
monitoring of schooling and educational outcomes.


The meeting was on "The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,
2009" and officials from the ministry made a brief presentation on the salient
features of the new law.

http://netindian.in/news/2009/12/19/0004491/sibal-says-hrd-ministry-will-work-ui\
dai-monitor-schooling

Allotment of unique IDs to start Feb 2011: Nilekeni
http://sify.com/news/Allotment-of-unique-IDs-to-start-Feb-2011-Nilekeni-news-Nat\
ional-jmts4djggba.html
2009-12-19 18:30:00
The process of allotting unique identification numbers in the country will begin
in Feb 2011, head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Nandan
Nilekeni said here Saturday.

Karnataka is among the three states from where the process will start, Nilekeni
told reporters after meeting state Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

'The state government has assured all help to implement the project,' Nilekeni,
one of the founders of IT major Infosys Technologies, said.

The 16-digit numbers will be allotted by the UIDAI based on 11 biometrics,
including fingerprints and the iris.

The UIDAI would not allot any cards, but only the 16-digit numbers.

Evolving a Framework for Delivery of Basic Financial Services Using Mobile
Phones
http://www.mit.gov.in/default.aspx?id=992

A proposal is under consideration of the Government regarding introduction of a
Mobile Based Model for delivery of basic financial services. The proposal
assumes significance considering the growing number of mobile subscribers among
the rural population and the disadvantaged sections. With mobile subscribers in
rural areas far in excess of bank account holders, a large section of rural
population now has access to mobile telephony but not to financial services
through banks. With the rural mobile subscriber base expected to grow
significantly over the next few years, a delivery mechanism that enables
provision of basic financial services on the individual's mobile could be a
major step in the direction of reaching out to the "unbanked" population of the
country.
Evolving a framework for delivering financial services over mobiles as envisaged
gives rise to the need to work out relevant norms and modalities and to define
the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, Ministries/Departments
and Regulatory Bodies like RBI and TRAI. An indicative list of the issues likely
to be addressed in this context is as follows:

The type/types of transactions that could be allowed

The quantum of financial limits which may be imposed

The types of guarantee to be offered by the airtime vendors

Eligibility of the agencies involved

The role, responsibility and accountability of telecom service providers

Regulatory issues to ensure accountability, auditability and traceability of
money transfers

Need for inter-operability between various service providers and standards
involving the agencies processes, transactions and formats involved

Interface with banking regulator

Safety of deposits

Security standards governing transactions

Issues with respect to KYC-Know Your Customer provisions

Customer Protection, complaints & redressal mechanism

Linkages with the proposed Unique ID for residents

Geographical coverage of services with respect to inclusion of border/sensitive
areas

Leveraging the

existing infrastructure established and operationalised by the telecom service
providers across the country for airtime payments

electronic service delivery outlets in the form of Common Service Centres/Bharat
Nirman kiosks being established across the country

existing infrastructure created by the States/any other agency

Any other issue with respect to conceptualization and operationalisation of the
mobile-based financial services model

To address the above issues, Government has constituted an Inter Ministerial
Group (IMG) under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Information
Technology, Government of India with Secretaries from Department of
Telecommunications, Department of Financial Services, Department of Posts,
Ministry of Rural Development, Planning Commission and representatives from
Ministry of Home Affairs, UID Authority of India, Reserve Bank of India and
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India as members. The first meeting of the IMG
took place on 3rd December 2009 where an agreement was arrived at on the goals
for a suitable financial service delivery system, the necessary conditions
within which to achieve these goals and the key elements of financial service
delivery. The following are the details thereof:

Goals

Ability to deposit money in an account

Ability to transfer money

Ability to cash-in & cash-out

Ability to make transactions across service providers

Nationwide coverage

Necessary Conditions

Adequate KYC Norms

Authentication mechanism

Adequate Security standards to cover

Safety of deposits

End to end security (confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation) of the
entire electronic transaction chain


Customer protection and Grievance Redressal

Traceability subsuming AML requirements

Originator of the transaction

Processor of the transaction

Receiver of the transaction


Key elements of financial service delivery to the unbanked

Mobile Operator

Bank

Intermediary

Post Offices

UIDAI (as and when UID services are available)

Subsequent meetings of the IMG will focus on the means for achieving these
goals. Concerned stakeholders are invited to present their views on the subject
so that these could be suitably addressed / incorporated while a framework is
evolved for delivery of basic financial services using mobile phones. Your
suggestions may be sent to the following officer at his email address as
indicated:

Shri D. Krishnan
Principal Consultant & Adviser
Department of Information Technology
4th Floor, Electronics Niketan
6, CGO Complex
Lodhi Road
New Delhi – 110003
Ph: 011 – 30481612, 24301939
Email: krishna@...

In a tweet reply to me the MoS External Affairs suggests that the Pilot for
passport seva project will be launched in January.

sachdeva_sameer

@ShashiTharoor When do we see launch of passport seva project


ShashiTharoor

@sachdeva_sameer we hope a pilot project of 2 Passport Seva Kendras (Chandigarh
&Bengaluru) will be launched in Jan once software bugs fixed

E-passports likely to be issued from July next year
Prafulla Marpakwar, TNN 18 December 2009, 01:14am IST
Text Size:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/E-passports-likely-to-be-issued-f\
rom-July-next-year/articleshow/5349520.cms
|
MUMBAI: After a prolonged delay of more than a year, the Central Passport
Organisation (CPO) has drafted an ambitious plan to issue electronic passports
from next year, preferably from July 1, 2010.

"In June 2008, we delivered the first electronic passport to President Pratibha
Patil and the second to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. At that time, we had
promised to issue electronic passports to the public within a year, by July
2009. But due to technical problems, the project was delayed. Now, we are in a
position to issue e-passports by July 1, 2009,'' a senior passport official told
TOI on Thursday.

If the project is implemented by the scheduled date, India will be among the 43
countries across the world to switch over to an e-passport system.

Globally, the e-passport system was introduced on a large scale after the 9/11
attacks. An electronic passport contains complete information along with
fingerprint and photograph, so that the passport cannot be duplicated.

Secondly, the e-passport will simplify procedures during immigration. The
e-passports have been designed by the CPO in collaboration with Nashik's India
Security Press and Kanpur IIT. "The e-passport will be like our regular
passport, with an embedded electronic chip, which will contain the entire
information. Of course, the cost of the passport will be more than our regular
passport. We are in the process of working out the cost,'' the official said.

While diplomatic and other officials in New Delhi have already been given
e-passports, for the general public, these will be issued in a phased manner in
a time-bound period. "Currently, there are nearly three crore passport holders
in the country. When they come for renewal, they will be given e-passports. In
addition, an estimated 60 lakh to 70 lakh new passports are issued every year.
Our plan is to ensure that all new passports issued after July 1, 2010, are
e-passports,'' he said.

On the proposal to outsource part of the passport work, the official said it was
proposed to involve a leading consultancy firm for the purpose. However, that
project has also been delayed indefinitely due to the non-availability of
adequate infrastructure. It was proposed that basic work, particularly scrutiny
of application forms, was to be entrusted to a private organisation and a pilot
project was supposed to be launched from September 1, 2008, but now it appears
that it will take some more time. "Our aim is to deliver the passport within
15-20 days. With our existing manpower, we take at least 35 to 45 days for the
purpose. Hence, it was proposed to privatise part of that work. We appointed
consultant, but so far, there has been no progress,'' he said.

Further, the official said, though there is constant demand for more passports,
most passport holders have take it for identity purpose. "Our information is
that 70% of the passport holders have never travelled abroad and many of the
passports have lapsed and were never renewed. Since it is a type of an identity
card, there is more demand for it,'' he said.

Hooda assures support for unique ID project
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Hooda-assures-support-for-unique-ID-project\
/555525/

fe Bureaus
Posted: Friday, Dec 18, 2009 at 2230 hrs IST
Updated: Friday, Dec 18, 2009 at 2230 hrs IST


Chandigarh: Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda has assured all help
of his government to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) and
said that the State level unit would function under financial commissioner and
principal secretary, Tourism, Keshni Anand Arora to allot unique identification
numbers to the residents of Haryana.

The chief minister was discussing the issue of allotment of unique
identification number with the chairman of Unique Identification Authority of
India, Nandan Nilekani. Nilekani, who has been visiting various States to
discuss the issue of unique identification number, expected Haryana to lead in
this venture. He said that the UIAI would not allot any card, but unique
identification numbers of 16 digits would be allotted to each resident of India.
He said that the UIAI would start issuing numbers in February 2011. He said that
these numbers would be allotted on the basis of 11 biometrics including 10
finger prints and the iris. There would be eight regional offices of the UIAI
and each such office would cover two-three states.

Another delay hits India's fast passport project
18 Dec 2009, 1716 hrs IST, IANS
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/visa-p\
ower/Another-delay-hits-Indias-fast-passport-project/articleshow/5352123.cms

NEW DELHI: The indefinite wait for the start of the Passport Seva Project, an
e-project for faster delivery of passports, has got another sting

in its tale. The employees have now done a U-turn and asked for a "review" of
the Rs.1,000-crore project outsourced to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

"We are of the opinion that there is a need to review afresh the whole project,"
said a letter from the All India Passport Employees Association (AIPEA) to
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.

The Passport Seva Project is an e-governance project of the Indian government
which is supposed to streamline and bring efficiency in the process of
distribution of passports.

The contract for implementing the project, worth Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.10 billion
or $21.4 million) was given to information technology major Tata Consultancy
Services in October 2008, with an implementation timeline from June.

Since then, there have been multiple deadlines, in October and November. But the
project is yet to take off as TCS has been unable to provide fool-proof
software.

Incidentally, AIPEA had earlier reached an agreement with the ministry before
the contract was signed with TCS in 2008 for starting the project, after long
overdue promotions were given to a large number of employees.

The association consists of 2,400 employees located at regional passport offices
around the country. Incidentally, there has been a freeze on the recruitment of
new employees, despite the number of passports processed doubling in the last
seven years.

The association raised its disquiet about the status of the project in September
this year, following which a committee was formed, which included ministry
officials and union representatives.

The committee, which met in mid-October, has not been able to convince the
association leaders about their "crucial" role in the Passport Seva Kendras,
with the latter insisting that a passport employee should be at the front-end of
operations.

According to plans, TCS employees will be the face of the Passport Seva Kendras,
while the ministry employees are to remain behind the scenes, handling all the
sensitive processes.

A group of employees was taken Oct 28 to visit the Passport Seva Kendra in
Bangalore, which will be the location of the pilot project. The entire civil
works for the centre has been completed. After the visit, the staff said they
were even more dissatisfied with TCS.

"We regret that Tata could not show the testing to the committee because of some
technical problems and it was assured that testing shall be shown next week. Now
more than four weeks have gone, but the testing has not been shown to the
committee till date," said the letter written by the AIPEA.

The Department of Information Technology's Standardization Testing and Quality
Certification is doing the third party audit of TCS' software and has reportedly
found innumerable 'bugs'.

The ministry of external affairs (MEA) had told the the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on External Affairs that as the software development was an "external
dependency", it could not give a firm date for launching the project. The
Standing Committee had taken had meanwhile pulled up the ministry for not
starting the Passport Seva project, despite previous assurances.

Earlier this month, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visited the Bangalore office
to inspect the progress. "The bugs are there in the computability of the new
software in taking information from earlier database. Also, there are numerous
discrepancies noticed when the information collected moves from one stage to
another," said a senior ministry official.

Staff employees will be given 'digital signatures', which they will use to
authorise and check the more secure processes in the passport system. While
employees in Bangalore have applied for the 'digital signature', AIPEA officials
said the staff in the rest of the country would resist the move.

TCS has said the project will begin in January-end. But officials in the foreign
ministry have their fingers crossed.

Unique ID authority will charge fee for data
Subrahmanyan Viswanath, Bangalore, Dec 15, DHNS
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/41477/unique-id-authority-charge-fee.html

The enrolment cost, under the ambitious Unique Identification (UID) project, is
expected to cost a whopping Rs 3,000 crore, according to the Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), spearheaded by Chairman Nandan
Nilekani. Further, enrolment of each resident is likely to cost between Rs 20 to
Rs 25.

As a result, to meet the humongous cost, the authority, will levy transaction
fee on potential user agencies availing its services. According to the
confidential UIDAI working paper, made available to  Deccan Herald, while it
will provide authentication services to government agencies at subsidised rate,
other user agencies would be levied transaction fee.

The authority proposes to provide chargeable authentication services of two
types — address verification and biometrics confirmation. While for airlines it
would offer free service for basic ID confirmation, banks, would have to pay Rs
5 for address verification for account opening, and credit card companies Rs 10
for biometrics confirmation.

Revenue scenarios

Likewise, projecting possible scenarios of steady income from service fee, it
estimates total annual revenue of Rs 288.15 crore. From address verification Rs
159.55 crore and from biometric confirmation Rs 128.60 crore.

According to preliminary projections, from new mobile connections it expects Rs
19.59 crore, from PAN cards Rs 1.20 crore, from gas connections by PSUs Rs 1.50
crore, from passports Rs 6 lakh, from new LIC policies Rs 10.16 crore, from
credit cards Rs 70 lakh, from bank accounts Rs 11.55 crore.

Justifying levying service charges, the authority says, it takes both government
agencies and private sector firms anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 500 for address
verification. Furthermore, it is usually done through physical visit besides
another enquiry to confirm information provided. Hence, address authentication
service by UIDAI will be valuable one.

Big ticket savings

Similarly, it observes that, issuing credit card or granting a loan, needs
confirmation of resident's identity, involving submission of photographs and
other documentation.
With UIDAI, however, the agency (card companies / banks) can send scanned
photograph or fingerprint (based on security level required) together with other
demographic details to confirm identity.

Incidentally, the authority says, the revolutionary single, universal ID number
by eliminating fraud and duplicate identities, will save the government
exchequer upwards of Rs 20,000 crore annually.

Citing an example, it says Ministry of Petrolum & Natural Gas can save over Rs
1,200 crore a year in subsidies reportedly lost on LPG cylinders registered
under duplicate or ghost identities.

Exclusive--Passport Seva Project Still to See Light of Day
The much awaited Passport Seva Project has been delayed for the third time due
to the clear lack of planning required to realise a project of such scale and
complexity
Priya Kekre
http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/top_stories/2009/109121402.asp

Monday, December 14, 2009
Print Comment Email Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Twitter

Promising a passport within three days, it peddled a dream to Indians crowding
understaffed and overburdened regional passport centres. But the Passport Seva
Project, one of the government's flagship e-governance programmes, is facing
inordinate delays.

The Passport Seva project began as one of the 27 Mission Mode Projects listed in
the national e-governance plan. In October 2008, the Ministry of External
Affairs (MEA) signed the agreement with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to
implement the project, estimated to be worth Rs.1 billion. Passports would be
generated in 3 business days and under the `Tatkal' plan, they would be
generated on the same day. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon had then said the
pilot project will become functional in June 2009, with the rest of the country
to be serviced by 77 stations in 2010. But the project has been delayed for the
third time. The first deadline was in June, then October, before the revised
date of Nov 13 was arrived at, but this too was not met.

The pilot project would have seen 'Passport Seva' centres in 7 locations,
starting in Bangalore and later in Hubli and Mangalore, also in Karnataka,
followed by Chandigarh, Ludhiana in Punjab and Ambala in Haryana. A mini centre
will also be opened in Gulbarga (Karnataka) as an addition in the pilot project.
As per the project, front-end activities of passport issuance, dispatch of
passports, online linking with police, Central Printing unit for centralized
printing of passports will be put in place. The sensitive activities such as
police verification, printing and dispatch of passports will be performed by
government staff. The new system is aimed at 'timely, transparent, more
accessible and reliable manner' for passport issuance. While this spells good
news for the citizens, the thousands of passport agents who have been making a
living through commissions will be thrown out of business. No alternative
arrangements or employments means have been carved out for them by the MEA so
far. Certain industry sources are of the opinion that these agents have come
together to lobby against the Passport Seva project, unless their interests are
also kept in mind.

When contacted about the delays in the project, TCS directed all its queries to
the MEA. According to A Manickan, joint secretary, consular, passport and visa,
MEA, all the physical infrastructure is ready. This includes a user-friendly
building with swanky interiors, 25 counters and electronic token boards. Also,
the data centre based in Delhi is now operational. However, the problem was with
the back up data centre which took time to set up. A senior TCS official was
also quoted in the media as saying that the delay was due to setting up of a
'disaster recovery centre', which will have the back-up of all the passport
records. The state-run Software Technology Park of India (STPI) has now finally
set up the back-up data centre for TCS in Chennai and will be running it at a
cost of Rs.30 million (Rs.3 crore) over a period of seven years. However, the
networking to different stations may take longer. Incidentally, the National
Informatics Centre, which runs the current passport software, PISON (passport
information service system on the net), has already given the data for transfer
of nearly 80 lakh passport records to the MEA recently. The data will be kept in
a specially constructed data centre as it awaits migration to the new software
program developed by TCS.

But officials within the DIT who are privy to the project say the main delay is
due to the fact that TCS had not got its software ready. Apparently, there have
been some key errors in the applications that are being tested. Another major
reason for the delay is the inordinate time required to draft the software
requirement specification (SRS) document, which was completed only recently. The
SRS, which details how the software program will behave in diverse
circumstances, had taken a lot of brainstorming sessions between MEA and TCS
engineers. The final document comes to about 400 pages. The glitches do not end
here. The inordinate delays also have been caused by some highly inefficient
planning. When asked about the delays in the Passport Seva Project, Manickan
said, "The deadlines set for the project were internal guidelines set by both
parties based on discussions. While the infrastructure is ready now, when we
started off we found out that the locations for the data centres were not
suitable for setting up Level 3 data centres. Hence, we had to go back to
scratch to achieve these standards. That is the reason it got delayed to
October."

Post this, the infrastructure as well as the applications went through 4 cycles
of testing by DIT's Standarization Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) in
the month of October. According to Manickan, the DIT auditors found several
defects on the security, strategic controls, and the entire passport
application, submission, and processing cycles which led to the delay even in
the third deadline set for November 13. After this, the Parliamentary Committee
pulled up the Ministry of External Affairs for the "repeated postponement" in
the launch of the Passport Seva Project.

The ministry still has to sign a non-disclosure agreement with TCS, as the
latter will have access to information of millions of applicants. Incidentally,
MEA has insisted that all "sensitive activities" will be carried out only by
government agencies. A lot of confusion also persists on whether the NIC's
current PISON (passport information service system on the net) will continue in
parallel to the proposed TCS software - and, if so, their mode of compatibility.
The dilemma has arisen as Indian missions abroad, which also issue passports and
are linked through the NIC program - are not part of the Passport Seva Project.
The MEA has still not issued a formal statement clarifying these details not has
it detailed a timeline by when the project will go live. "We will have another
round or the fifth cycle of STQC testing in the first week of January 2010,
before we decide on the future course." Manickan said. According to him, the DIT
has identified the key loopholes and based on the next round of tests will be
able to tackle them faster. He also went on to say that the DIT has brought in a
lot of senior officials to evaluate the project and placed a larger dedicated
team to solve the teething issues.

Once the tests and audits are completed in January, the pilot phase of the
project will be implemented in 7 locations. The pilot project will go through
another round of thorough testing before being rolled out across 77 locations in
the country, where initial scrutiny of application forms, acceptance of fee,
scanning of documents, among others, will be performed by selected service
providers. "It is a very complicated process. We want to make sure that all
redundancies are in place and that all the software glitches are solved before
we go live and operational. Once the project starts, we cannot leave any scope
for commotion or chaos. The delays are simply because we are trying to get
everything right and do not wish to compromise on any aspect," said Manickam.

All we can hope now is that, the MEA, TCS, NIC and DIT all work together and
make up for the lack of foresight and planning showed so far to realise this
much sought after e-governance project.

http://cdac.in/html/jobs/dg03122009.asp

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), is a Scientific Society of
the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology, Govt.of India. C-DAC's areas of expertise range from R&D
work in Foundation Technologies to Product Development, IP Generation and
Technology Transfer, Deployment of Solutions in various sectors directly or
through partnership model, High Performance Computing and Grid Computing;
Language Computing & Speech Processing; Computer Science & Software Technologies
including Free & Open Source software; and Professional Electronics including
Embedded Systems, Platforms, Specialized Hardware, Broadband and Wireless
Control Systems & Cyber-Security. On the applications and solutions side, the
prominent sectors include Science & Engineering, e-Governance, Health,
Education, Power, Railways, Industry among others. Education & Training
Programmes focused on high and specialized technical courses and finishing
school type modules of relevance to industry.

Applications are invited for the post of Director General for Centre for
Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in HAG 67000-(annual increment @
3%)-79000 (pre-revised pay scale: Rs.22400-525-24500) and it is proposed to be
filled by Direct Recruitment /Absorption / Deputation basis.

The Director General shall be the Chief Executive of C-DAC and shall have
administrative and financial powers to implement decisions of the Governing
Council (GC)/ Coordination Committee (CC) of C-DAC, evolve strategies and plans
for proper management of C-DAC and shall make proposals to the CC / GC regarding
Staff Rules, Service Conditions etc. of C-DAC.

Method of Recruitment:

Direct Recruitment / Absorption / Deputation. The appointment would be for a
tenure not exceeding five years or till date of retirement on superannuation,
whichever is earlier, provided that, in case of appointment on Deputation, the
date of superannuation will be as applicable in the lending organization.


Direct Recruitment :
Essential Educational Qualifications & Experience

B.E. / B.Tech. in relevant discipline* with 25 years experience.

Or

Post-Graduate in Engineering in relevant discipline* with 20 years experience.

Or

Ph.D. with over 15 years of relevant experience*.

* Relevant Discipline / Experience: Computer Science / Electronics / Electrical
/ IT/ Telecommunication.

Absorption / Deputation Basis
:
In case of absorption / deputation - officers of the Central/State Govt. / PSUs
/ Autonomous Bodies: holding analogous post on regular basis.

Or

Having 5 years of regular service in the scale of pay of Rs.18400-500-22400
(pre-revised)

Possessing the qualifications prescribed for direct recruitment.
Age Limit for Direct Recruits :
Preferably below 50 years for Direct Recruitment and 56 years for Deputation /
Absorption (Relaxation can be given in deserving cases). The age will be as on
the last date of receipt of applications.

Job Responsibilities :
The Director General will be responsible for overall management and running of
C-DAC under the overall guidance of Governing Council.

Director General shall be the Ex-Officio Member of the Governing Council.

The Director General shall exercise such executive and financial powers as
contained in C-DAC charter or delegated to him by the Governing Council.

The Director General may delegate some of his powers, functions and duties to
subordinate levels.
Job Requirements:
The ability to guide, motivate, harness and lead a group of highly specialized
and talented pool of scientific, R&D, technical and administrative personnel
towards achievement of institutional goals.

The ability to independently manage an organization of high repute and national
importance including aspects such as manpower planning, development, budgets,
finance and various other organizational aspects.

A broad scientific, R&D and technological vision and ability to keep track of
recent trends and emerging developments in the relevant technology field.

In-depth exposure and sound knowledge of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and
commercial aspects of high-end research.

The ability to effectively interface with the Government, academic, R&D and
educational institutions and the IT industry.

Experience in heading and delivering significant R&D projects in the area of
High Performance Computing (HPC) / Grid Computing / Information Technology /
Software Technology / Telecommunications / VLSI Design etc.
Desirable Requirements:
Ph.D. in Computer Science / Computer Engineering from a recognized University or
institution and should be capable of guiding Post Graduate / Doctorate degree
students in Computer Science / Computer Engineering.

Proven track record and experience in leading and delivering significant R&D
projects in the areas of High Performance Computing (HPC), Grid Computing,
Information Technology, Software Technology, Telecommunications, VLSI Design
etc.

Must have to his credit national and international publications and acclaimed
research contributions.

Experience in dealing with projects involving foreign collaboration and liaison
with Government Departments and Industry.

High visibility in professional and academic circles and should have been
involved and contributed to national and international consultative / advisory
committees.



How to Apply: Candidates meeting the above eligibility requirements may send in
their applications complete in all respects in the prescribed format along with
the detailed resume and attested copies of certificates relating to
qualifications, relevant experience, date of birth, etc., by the last date
prescribed to The Director, ABC Division, Department of Information Technology,
6, CGO Complex, Electronics Niketan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110 003.
Download the Proforma for Application

Persons working in Government/PSUs/Autonomous bodies may send their application
through proper channel, along with photocopies of ACRs of the last five years
duly attested by an officer not below the rank of Under Secretary or equivalent
and vigilance/disciplinary clearance. The integrity of the officer may also be
certified along with a certificate that no minor / major penalty has been
imposed on him.

Last date of receipt of applications: 22nd February, 2010.

Note:
Applications which are not in conformity with the requirement indicated in the
advertisement are liable to be rejected.
  Only short-listed candidates will be called for interview. Mere fulfilling of
requirement as laid down in the advertisement does not qualify a candidate to be
called for interview.
Head, Corporate HRD
C-DAC

The word satyameva jayate is missing below the National Emblem placed at the top
left corner of UID website http://uidai.gov.in/

According to the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act 2005,
Satyameva Jayate must be written under the national emblem — the Ashoka pillar.

No. 12013/21/09-UIDAI
Government of India
Planning Commission
Unique Identification of India
Third Floor Tower –II, Jeevan Bharati Building
Connaught Circus, New Delhi
Date: 14. 12.2009
OFFICE MEMORANDUM

http://uidai.gov.in/vacancies/Vacancy%20Circular%20-%20I.pdf

Subject: Filling up of various positions in Unique Identification of India
(UIDAI)

The Unique Identity Authority of India (UID Authority) has been set up by
Government under the Chairmanship of Shri Nandan Nilekani with a mandate to
issue Unique ID number to every resident in the country. UIDAI will own and
operate the UID database and be responsible for its updation and maintenance on
an ongoing basis.
The Authority is in the process of filling up various posts on deputation/short
term contract basis for its Headquarters at Delhi and the regional offices
located at Chandigarh, Lucknow,
Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Guwahati, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The initial period of deputation shall be for three years extendable by a
further period of two years as per GOI, DOPT OM No. 2/29/91-Estt(Pay-II) dated
5.1.1994 as amended from time
to time read with DOPT's OM No. AB 14017/30/2006-Estt (RR) dated 29.11.2006.
The officials appointed in the UIDAI will be eligible for General Pool
Residential
Accommodation at par with Central Government employees at these locations.
A vacancy circular for various positions in UIDAI is attached herewith. It is
requested that
the applications of eligible candidates who can be spared immediately in the
event of their
selection may be forwarded to UIDAI in the performa as per Annexure –I along
with duly
attested photocopies of ACRs and vigilance clearance of the applicants. Last
date for
receiving the applications is 8th January 2010. The vacancy circular along with
the proforma
can be seen in the UIDAI website www.uidai.gov.in / www.uidai.nic.in.
(K. Ganga)
Deputy Director General
UIDAI

NIC raises concern over privacy of UIDAI database

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/nic-raises-concern-over-privacyuidai\
-database/379497/


  New Delhi December 14, 2009, 0:38 IST
The National Informatics Centre has raised concerns over privacy and security of
proposed database of Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI), headed by
Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani.

The newly established UIDAI would be hosting information of all residents of the
country on a private data centre, which NIC believes raises concern about
privacy and security, official sources said.

In a letter dated November 6, accessed by PTI, NIC writes, "It has been proposed
to hire the data centre services for PoC (proof-of-concept) and prototype on
rental basis. It is presumed that the data related to UID will be hosted in a
government Data Centre. If not, the issues related to privacy and security with
respect to UID data may require to be taken into consideration."

UIDAI replied that hosting the data on a private network "does not necessarily
lead to violation of privacy and security".

"There will be appropriate SLAs (Service Legal Agreements — both legal and
technological) to ensure that the data is protected. It is to be mentioned that
a number of sensitive database (Income Tax and PFRDA, to name two of them,)
which ensure security and privacy, though they are not necessarily housed in the
`government' Data Centre," the Authority replied.

It said UIDAI approach envisaged 24 Technical posts (Director Technical,
Principal Systems Analyst and Senior Systems Analyst). "This will ensure
adequate technical capacity to ensure both security and privacy concerns," it
said.

riday, December 11, 2009
 	 Ministry of Communications & Information Technology


   Task Force submits report for globally competetive IT Sector

RECOMMENDS SETTING UP OF NATIONAL ELECTRONICS MISSION
17:37 IST
The Task Force has recommended constitution of `National Electronic Mission'-a
nodal agency for electronics industry within Department of Information
Technology (DIT) with direct interface to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). In
its report submitted to the Union Minister for Communication and Information
Technology Sh A Raja here today the Task Force says that the nodal agency would
help in the synchronised functioning of industry through effective coordination
across Ministries and Government Departments. The report envisions a USD 140
billion electronics and USD 105 billion software and Services industry by
2014.The other key recommendations include building adequate basic, business and
social infrastructure; favourable business policy and regulatory environment;
fostering a sustainable ecosystem for innovation, R&D and manufacturing and
maintaining globally competitive tax regime.

Speaking on the occasion Sh. Raja said that DIT will examine the recommendations
and will initiate a dialogue with other Ministries/ Departments for appropriate
implementation. Commending the efforts of the Task Force the Minister said that
It was constituted in August 2009 to suggest measures to stimulate the growth of
IT and ITES and Electronics Hardware Manufacturing Industry in the country in
the backdrop of significant challenges being faced by the Sector owing to global
economic crisis.

*********

GG/PB

Salary cut for delay in providing driving licence
Delay in providing services like ration cards, driving licences will lead to
penalties such as salary deduction of officials.

New Delhi: In what is being billed as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's next big
move after Right to Information, the PMO has decided to implement the concept of
service level agreements. This will mandate penalties to be deducted from
salaries of dealing officials if there are delays in providing citizen services
like issuing ration cards and driving licences.

It's learnt that Delhi will be getting off the blocks first in April 2010.

The PMO is targeting Delhi and then the Union Territories, and hopes other
states begin taking the initiative on their own as many of the services fall
under state subjects.

This far reaching move will essentially convert existing citizen charters, which
are largely a statement of intent, into a SLAs that make it binding on
authorities to help provide certain services in a time bound manner.

It adds teeth by levying a fine or a penalty that would be deducted from dealing
official's salary if deadlines are not met. While the fine amount is still to be
finalised, sources said, the broad consensus is on Rs 200 to begin with in
Delhi.

Against much resistance and after several rounds of consultation, sources said,
the Delhi government agreed to implement the SLAs from next April. At a meeting
with the Delhi government last month in the PMO, it was decided to initially
cover nine services.

These include: Issuing of ration cards, issuing and renewal of driving licences,
registration of voters, issuing of voter identity cards, registration of births
and deaths, registration under Department of Value Added Tax, issuing of SC
certificate and OBC certificates.

The government will issue a notification to make the SLAs statutory and just as
commercial establishments are bound by their public claims, officials say the
aim here is to bind government departments to time commitments for the service
they seek to provide.

According to SLAs, the clock starts ticking the moment the department concerned
accepts the application form for any of the above services. A dealing official
will be identified and the applicant will be informed at the point of submission
of forms about who will be handling the case.

In fact, the agreement makes it clear that the onus to help an applicant
complete and submit the form also falls on the officials of the department
concerned. Once aaccepted, it will be assumed that all formalities have been
completed and a time limit will be set for each applicant's case. If any
shortcomings are detected in the form after it has been accepted, then the SLAs
hold the official who accepted the form accountable and not the applicant.

Given that this will be all computerised, the monitoring on each official's
performance will be done electronically and if there is a delay, then a penalty
will automatically be deducted from the salary of the official responsible for
this through what are known as TR-5 (treasury receipts).

To ensure that officials don't buck the system by delaying the submission of
forms, sources said plans are afoot to separate the officials dealing with the
case from those who would accept the forms. This way any vested interest could
be avoided at the time of accepting forms.

The Delhi government wanted to first start the process manually and then move to
monitoring SLAs on an e-governance platform. This was, however, rejected by the
PMO which has insisted on a centralized web system to monitor the SLAs.

This is now being developed at a quick pace following pressure from the PMO,
which wants the entire process to be brought on e-stream and made public on
April 1, 2010 in Delhi. To this end, Delhi government has been asked to
reengineer the identified services, if needed, which means making forms more
user-friendly, removing needless documentation requirements among other steps
before next April.

Source: The Indian Express

Monday, December 14, 2009
 	 Ministry of Labour & Employment

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55796

   Upgradation of Employment Exchanges
15:43 IST
LOK SABHA

National e-Governance Plan has identified modernization and upgradation of
Employment Exchanges as one of the Mission Mode Projects (MMP). Implementation
of this Project will help job-seekers to register on-line from anywhere and
approach any Employment Exchange for employment related assistance. Under the
Project, a national web portal with common software will be developed. This will
contain all the data regarding availability of skilled persons on the one hand
and requirement of skilled persons by the industry on the other. It will help
youth get placed and enable industry to procure required skills on real time
basis. National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), has been engaged as
Principal Consultant for the Project on Employment Exchanges who have already
conducted Survey and prepared Detailed Project Report (DPR), which is in process
for seeking mandatory approvals of the Government. The project will be
implemented in all States/UTs in the country simultaneously

This information was given by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment
Shri Harish Rawat in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

Request for Proposal for providing Consultancy Services to UIDAI for Setting up
of Central ID Data Repository (CIDR) and Selection of Managed Service Provider

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) invites eligible IT
consulting companies for providing "Consultancy Services to UIDAI for Setting up
of Central ID Data Repository (CIDR) and Selection of Managed Service Provider
(MSP)".

1) Click Here to download the "Notice inviting Request for Proposal".

2) Click Here to download the "Request for Proposal (RFP)" document.


	  Published On: 13-12-2009

http://www.nisg.org/news.php?id=182

11th Dec'2009

Sh. Wajahat Habibullah,
Chief Information Commissioner
Central Information Commission
Government of India

Sub: Electronic Submission of RTI Request with online payment

Dear Sir,

1. Whereby Section 6 (1) of the RTI Act empowers a citizen to obtain information
in electronic form.
( 6(1) A person, who desires to obtain any information under this Act, shall
make a request in writing or through electronic means in English or Hindi or in
the official language of the area in which the application is being made,
accompanying such fee as may be prescribed, to....)

2. There are very few public authorities who have listed the email addresses of
the CPIO/ Appellate Authority on their website to facilitate online submission
of RTI request.

3. As per the knowledge of undersign not even a single Public Authority
(including CIC while acting as Public Authority under RTI Act) has made any
reference to the Bank Account Number (or any alternate method like credit card )
for online payment of RTI request fees of Rs 10.

4. Therefore I would request you to direct all Public Authorities to implement
the complete provisions of Section 6(1) of RTI Act and facilitate electronic
submission of RTI request along with provisions of online payment.

5. I would also request you to direct DoPT to frame necessary rules / issue
notifications in this regard. (if required)

6. A sensatization of all State Information Commissions on the above subject may
also be considered.

7. State Governments of Bihar (through the Jankari Project) and  State
Government of Orissa (through portal http://www.rtiorissa.gov.in/ ) have already
implemented the same in a limited way.

8. With regards to technical feasibility the online submission of application
through portal http://www.rtiorissa.gov.in/ is a good example and the online
payment system has already been implemented by many Government Projects like
Online reservation of rail tickets and MCA21. Therefore there are no  legal and
technical issues in implementing the above. I believe that Department of
Information Technology (GOI) and National Informatics Centre (NIC) which are
implementing the prestigous National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) will come forward
to assist the various Public Authorities in this step towards greater
transparency. I have separately written to CPIOs in a few Public Authorities
championing e-Governance like DIT, DARPG, NIC,NISG etc requesting implementation
of the said provisions within their Departments. I will share their response
with you whenever recieved

9. Having said above I will be glad if you can direct all Public Authorities to
implement the electronic submission of RTI requests and put up the detailed
procedure for same on their websites.

10. Being the custodians of RTI implementation in country it will be a national
benchmark if CIC as Public Authority implements e-governance in  RTI request
processing and facilitate electronic submission of RTI requests. (along with
electronic payment)



With Regards,

Sameer Sachdeva
162, GH4, Meera Apartments
Pachim Vihar, New Delhi - 110063
Ph. 011-45522890; Mobile : 9999337900
http://sites.google.com/site/superwhistleblower/