Orissa has been in the news for investments in the recent past. Also, IT major Infosys' only campus in eastern India is in Bhubaneswar. The state is also trying to get active on the e-Governance front. So what is Orissa doing to attract IT investments: to take IT to its citizens and use e-Governance to bridge the digital divide in this disaster-prone state? Surendra Nath Tripathi, commissioner-cum-secretary, IT, Orissa talks to Bhaswati Chakravorty in his first-ever interview to Dataquest.

Orissa is one of the least talked about states as far as e-Governance is concerned. Can you share with us the roadmap that has been chalked out?
The Orissa Government has engaged the National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG), Hyderabad, to prepare an e-Governance road map for the state last year. We have also engaged Wipro as a partner to create the roadmap, which is expected to be ready in the next 30-45 days.

We have identified e-Governance as a priority area and have been pursuing several initiatives that were aimed at taking it to the masses.

There are six to seven major projects that are currently on. The state treasury is being automated. The automation of land registration is underway under project BHULEKH. Out of the 1,311 tehsils, automation has already happened in 159 tehsils. In addition we have brought the Panchayat Raj Department under e-Governance. Under the Gramsat initiative, all 314 blocks in the state are being linked to the district and state headquarters.

Project e-Shishu is one of our most ambitious e-Governance initiatives, which aims at tracking each child, whether in school or out of school, in the state of Orissa, by demographic attributes, educational status, financial status and many such minute details.

OCAC, the nodal agency for IT and ITeS of Orissa has signed an MoU with Microsoft for developing the MS Office Software in Oriya. The work is likely to be completed within the current calendar year.

We are also setting up common service centers (CSCs) in all the panchayats of the state. The CSCs are part of the Mission Mode project under the national e-Governance plan. These centers will be single-point shops for delivery of all government services and will encourage other value added services such as agriculture-based information/transactions, banking, insurance, micro-credits, telemedicine, e-learning and entertainment. The scheme would be implemented through a three-tier structure. At the grassroots there will be a village-level entrepreneur akin to a franchisee. At the middle-level there will be a service centre agency (SCA) and at the apex level Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC)-the state level agency-will facilitate implementation of the scheme. The scheme, which begins in June, is expected to be complete within the next two years.

In addition, the VSAT network has been taken up to the block level, and is up and running now.

Where does Orissa stand with respect to the mission mode projects under the NeGP?
There are three steps required before one can go ahead and implement the State Mission Mode projects. The first is to have an e-Governance roadmap in place. The next step is to convert the roadmap into projects. The final step is to decide the budget required for connectivity, content and create computer literacy. We have started work on some of the projects that have been identified on a priority basis. Once the e-Governance roadmap is in place, we would begin work on the computerization of the other departments.   

Orissa is one of the most disaster prone states in the country. How can you facilitate e-Governance to bridge the digital divide in disaster-prone areas of Orissa?
We believe that disasters can be managed by free flow of information. Currently, the VSAT network in the State is up and running. While SWAN is being implemented in six states under Phase I, Orissa has been identified as one of the 14 states to be covered in Phase II. The Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority is using technologies such as video conferencing to provide specialized training to the state administrative heads.

The District Control Room or District Disaster Management & Information Center has been strengthened with the advent of VHF Set, Fax, Computer with Internet facility. Almost all the Blocks are directly accessible through VHF sets. Process is on to have the same facilities in the other vulnerable areas over and above the seven blocks. One SAT phone has been supplied to the District Administration by OSDMA. IDRN (India Disaster Resource Network), a newly developed website, has been launched, which contains inventory of resources available throughout the state as well as the nation. 

As the IT Secretary of the state, what are some of the key challenges that you face at this stage?
We have a long way to go. Not every initiative is a success in e-Governance. There are a number of projects that have not been successful in India. We are trying to take a leaf out of the successful projects in the country. We do not believe in pilots. If we agree on a project, we try to scale in up right from the beginning.

We are also aiming to be one of the chief labor suppliers to the IT industry. We currently have five government colleges and hope to take this number to 33. In addition, there are private engineering colleges, which are also expected to go up in the next couple of years. We are encouraging a higher degree of collaboration between the industry and the academia. We have devised special courses in order to fine-tune soft skills according to industry requirements.

We have also engaged IT professionals to train and make government employees computer literate at the block levels.

What initiatives is the government taking to attract investments to the state?
We see huge potential. In 2004 the IT and ITeS units have been declared as Public Utility Services under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947. Under this, they are exempt from the clearance and routine inspections of the controlling and regulatory authorities of the state government; they are also exempt from payment of sales tax for a five year period from their date of first billing. IT Parks and STPIs shall be free from power cuts and IT and ITeS units would be exempt from payment of electricity duty as per provisions of the Industrial Policy of the State,  

We have also devised special concessions to be offered to Mega IT Projects involving cost of Rs 10 crore and providing employment opportunities to more than 500 persons within a period of two years.

Which are the key IT players to have invested in Orissa so far? How much investment do you see coming in over the next couple of years?
Most of the big players are already here: Infosys, Satyam, TCS. In fact, TCS is setting up a larger facility at Bhubaneswar. Wipro bought land in January this year. We signed an MoU with Mindtree in March this year. We are expecting investments from Flextronix, Hexaware, Genpact, Syntel, among others by 2008.

One really cannot quantify the investment that would be coming in to Orissa, but all are very upbeat about the future. In the first place, huge investments are coming in to the core sector. Both Posco and Tata Steel are setting up manufacturing plants in the state. Balco, Nalco and IOC are also making investments. In fact, total investments in the core sector have been to the tune of Rs 200,000 crore. We believe this would boost investment in tertiary sectors like IT.

Secondly, the IT parks. DLF is setting up the Info Park. Another 200 acres of land has been identified for the setting up of InfoCity II around 15 kms from Khandagiri Junction. We are also coming up with STPIs at Rourkela and Berhampur. The Berhampur STPI center will be operational from January 2007. We expect these initiatives to further boost investments in Orissa.

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