Research Areas

My research area is combination of the following:1. e-Governance Projects Government Process Re-Engineering, Change Management & ICT infrastructure sizing 2. Portal Development and W3C Standards. The literature survey has been done based on above selected research areas.

Literature Survey
Introduction
While going through the E-governance related data on the projects G2C working or going on in state of Chhattisgarh, it was found that the Chips, CHhattisgarh infotech and biotech Promotion Society, Registered Society (Chhattisgarh Society Rajistrikaran Adhiniyam 1973), Nodal Agency in IT & BT, having Governing council under Chairmanship of Honble Chief Minister Chhattisgarh State has developed Choice centers for serving the citizens of Chhattisgarh by providing services like Birth/Death Certificate SC/ST Certificate OBC Certificate Local Resident Certificate Income Certificate NOC Of Nazul Land Ration Card Public Grievance Payment of Electricity Bill Payment of Property Tax Rickshaw License Cracker Shop License Arms License Building Construction Permission etc.

These information and services are accessible through Choice centers

Background
According to the survey conducted by ORG Centre for Social Research ( A Division of ACNielsen ORG-MARG Pvt. Ltd.) it was found that there is a low willingness to use education related services because of low literacy rate in the state but also the existing educational infrastructure is not adequate to lure students inside the classrooms. As per the data available, 131 services are offered through these Choice centers. As far as education services are concerned, vocational training, tuitions and basic computer training are being offered through these choice centers, but there are no services found, which can provide relevant information to the students who are living in interior areas and who have finished their high school education or have done graduation about the career options available, the courses they can take up, the colleges which offer these courses, important dates regarding the availability of online forms, the procedures for filling the form, avenues for starting new businesses, etc.

Problem Area
We being in education sector often come across cases where the students (rural) dont have complete information about the courses which are being offered by various colleges in the state as well as the procedure of taking admission in these courses. According to news published in a leading newspaper of the state Dainik Bhaskar on 13th July 2013, due to the CG Vyapams decision to provide on-line forms for pursuing MCA course, only 625 forms were received compared to more than 1200 forms in previous years. Only around 100 forms received were from rural areas and the rest were from students residing in urban areas. This gives a clear picture that due to lack of information as well non availability of proper guidance for the same has resulted in the loss of both the students as well as the colleges offering these courses.

Problems faced by rural students

1. Lack of information regarding colleges 2. Lack of information regarding courses offered by colleges 3. Lack of information regarding the courses they can pursue and future opportunities (CAREER GUIDANCE) 4. Lack of information regarding the procedure of admission 5. Lack of information regarding eligibility criteria for a course 6. Lack of information regarding the procedure of filling on-line forms 7. Lack of information the dates regarding start and last date of exam form filling, exam, result etc. 8. Lack of information regarding Avenues for Entrepreneurship

9. Lack of information regarding government jobs advertisements etc.

Infrastructure available
As per literature survey, it was found that The State of Chhattisgarh started the CSC implementation in September 2008 by appointing two SCAs, namely, AISECT and Zoom Developers for setting up of 3385 CSCs. 2,468 CSCs had been rolled out in the State by April 2011. The Chhattisgarh Online information system for Citizen Empowerment (CHOiCE) was started to provide citizen services and one stop solution for anywhere-anytime based government. The Government of Chhattisgarh had issued notification and rules for delivery of the G2C services through CHOiCE under the provision of Chhattisgarh Citizen Services (Electronic Governance) Rules, 2003. Presently more than 30 G2C and numerous G2B secured services for all the requirements of citizen are being provided through these Choice centers. District of Raipur was the place from where this project started and has been rolled out to five major districts of the State - Rajnandgaon, Bhilai, Durg, Bilaspur, Sarguja and Jagdalpur. In addition, few VLEs have tied up with state level universities for professional courses through the CSCs. The Banks too have come forward to leverage the CSC network to reach to the citizens as a part of the financial inclusion. Other B2C services include, insurance products, railway reservation, DTP, selling of mobiles, dish TV, etc. (http://csc.gov.in/states/chhattisgarh) The Chhattisgarh State Wide Area Network (CG-SWAN) is a project to provide the State with a basic information technology backbone which will be utilized for carrying voice, data and voice traffic facilitating interdepartmental communication and data sharing within the State. CGSWAN will be a safe, fast, reliable and cost effective network connecting all the 146 blocks of the State through a hybrid network consisting of WiMax, leased line and other network technologies on a Public-Private Partnership mode and operating on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model. The project will enable instant online interaction among government departments / agencies resulting in obtaining reports on a real time, improving the workflow processes and the pace of decision-making. The project would act as a vehicle for effective implementation of eGovernance projects across the State (www.chips.gov.in/content/state-wide-area-network-cg-swan)

Proposal
Information if not disseminated properly and timely is of no use and hence we can have an added service named e-Khabri (Chhattisgarh). e-Khabri will be an Intranet-based Government to Citizen (G2C) service delivery initiative.

The objective of this project is to provide relevant information to the educated rural population, living in areas where information is not easily accessible and help them pursue their dreams and take timely decisions and actions for realizing their dreams. The basic idea behind this project is to establish and foster a technologically innovative initiative which is operated by the community itself. It can be provided at the existing choice centers with no additional infrastructural requirements. Services will be developed which will include:-

i. Education related information related to schools/colleges/courses/exams/eligibility ii. Employment news iii. Development of e-content for avenues and guidance for Entrepreneurship/small business There will be a minimal prescribed service charge for each service which will be displayed at each kiosk. Existing choice centers can be used to run the project, capital expenditure are not involved. The system is expected to generate its own funds from the citizens and also contribute to the earnings of the Kiosk operators. Though the choice centers are currently limited to 6 districts, they will soon be rolled out in rest of the districts of the state.

Business Process Re-engineering and Change Management

No project can be successful if proper business process re-engineering and change management initiatives are not taken. Project details and outcomes depend upon its usage. The initiatives made by various governments world over for converting the existing non-electronic delivery of government services into electronic delivery have transformed the existing belief of the citizens that Information Technology incorporation can change the way of life of citizens into a firmly established faith (Tapscott, 1998, pp. 10-12). To reap benefits of the ICT, the citizens will need to use the system and for this training and change management programs will be required.

Benefit
1. This project will help the Student community of the rural as well as urban 2. It will also help colleges whose seats are lying vacant not because there are no students to pursue the course but because the students who want to pursue the course didnt get timely information. 3. It will also be beneficial for those people who are planning to be an entrepreneur i.e. will help boost self employment 4. It will also be helpful for the government as it will allow people to be self reliant and will generate employment

References
1. A.M.Parial, Chhattisgarh State e-Governance Journey, Department of Information Technology Government of Chhattisgarh 2. www.chips.gov.in/content/state-wide-area-network-cg-swan, last accessed 13th July 2013 3. Survey report by ORG Centre for Social Research ( A Division of ACNielsen ORGMARG Pvt. Ltd.), Baseline Survey to Identify Locational Criteria, Basket of Priced Services and Revenue Potential for CSCs - Chhattisgarh 4. Human Development Report, Chhattisgarh (2005) 5. Tapscott, D. (1998), Growing up digital: The Rise of the next Generation, Tata McGraw Hill, pp. 9-11.