At your Service

Pali district in Rajasthan is well know for agriculture, agriculture-based
activities, and tourism. To tap the benefits arising from these sectors, the
district administration zeroed on IT offerings. As the driving force,
information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives undertaken under G2C,
G2B, G2G, and G2E categories provided hassle-free one-stop solution to citizens,
encouraged uniform information interchange architecture, provided employment to
youth of the district, utilized real-time, Internet, and batch processing modes,
followed a public-private partnership model for front offices, etc.

To enable the government departments to provide better services and
information to individuals and businesses, e-Mitra district data center was
inaugurated in April 2006. Starting with forty-one transactions the number
increased to 1,07,095 in January 2009. Sushasan was founded to tackle public
grievances received by the district collectors office. A single window was set
up with the purpose of issuing bona fide/OBC/SC/ST certificates within
twenty-four hours. Meanwhile, Apna Khata provides instant, accurate, and updated
land holdings record of rights (RoR). For the proper implementation of all
e-governance projects, financial resources were provided by the government.

A Closer Look

The e-Mitra initiative has been implemented using public-private partnership
model under the supervision of district e-Mitra society which is headed by the
district collector, Pali. Sushasan, single window and Apna Khata have been
implemented at the district collector office/tehsil office. To ensure smooth
operation and increase the speed of routine official work related to e-Mitra,
and the smooth flow of business between government agencies/offices, MoUs were
signed with Jodhpur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam, Public Health Engineering Department,
Bharat Sanchar Nigam, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

e-Mitra operates on behalf of the district e-governance society (under the
chairmanship of the district collector), and has two local service
providersnamely R2R Seva and Veermatithat run kiosks in urban and rural areas.
Seven kiosks are functional at Pali district headquarters, while six at the
tehsil level, and eight at the panchayat samiti level. Furthermore, a district
data center is connected with each access point (kiosk) of the district,
ensuring interactive exchange of information that enables proper planning and
smooth day-to-day operations through kiosks and availability of all the
extension and advisory services on demand. Sushasan and single window were
implemented in a phased manner in all tehsil/sub-division levels of the
district.

The district e-governance society was constituted to manage e-Mitra, which is
managed by a local service provider (LSP), while the district e-governance
society manages the common infrastructure of e-Mitra. The district e-governance
society owns the financial and physical resources made available by the state
government and earned by society as commission for rendering ICT base
e-governance services through e-Mitra. Sushasan is managed by vigilance section
of district collector office, while single window at the tehsil level is managed
by the concerned tehsil office. Meanwhile, Apna Khata at the tehsil level is
managed by trained resource person group (revenue personnel) under the
supervision of the concerned tehsildar.

The latest web server, database server, routers/switches were integrated to
extend services to kiosks related to e-Mitra. The front-end layer of e-Mitra
services is an e-enabled service delivery channel and citizens can interface
with the district data center by accessing the kiosks.

Implementation of e-governance services have ensured reduction in corruption,
increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and cost
reductions, and above all made government services available to the common man
at his doorstep.

Shilpa Shanbhag

shilpas@cybermedia.co.in