Delhi targets hot new objective: E-citizenship

A year and a half after the Delhi Government’s announcement

of the IT Policy, it would be fair to have a report card on its implementation. Given the unique political and geographical compulsions of Delhi, the Government’s priority here was to usher in the concept of e-citizenship, which would use IT to make the life of the common man easier.

The IT initiative in the state is headed by Chief Minister,

Sheila Dixit. This being her ‘pet project’, she is impatient with the 2003

target. Dixit says she is "not happy" with the speed of implementation

but hopes the project will gather momentum soon.

The government is aware that its target involves much more

than just spending big bucks. It involves changing people’s attitude.

"And that takes time" says S Regunathan, Principal Secretary to the CM

and Principal Secretary, IT. "But government employees have begun to accept

computers as part of their life and that is a huge achievement. Spending money

to install computers and deploying technology does not take too long" he

adds.

The Delhi Government has "ordered" its

administration to use computers in its day to day working. It has sent

directives to all the departments to spend 4% of their budget on

computerization. The Secretariat has installed a file monitoring system, a

bulletin board, and an email system. The CM has asked all employees in the

Secretariat to communicate via the bulletin boards and emails.

The Government has recently launched a pilot project on video

conferencing between the offices of the Transport Commissioner and the Delhi

Vidyut Board Chairman.

According to Regunathan, at least eight government

departments are at an advanced stage of computerization and will soon have video

conferencing facilities.

The Excise department has installed bar code readers in all

its outlets so that every bottle of alcohol sold in the state can be tracked.

The Government has recently allocated Rs 2 crore to the Delhi High Court to

begin with its computerization program. The blood banks of 12 hospitals in Delhi

are expected to be networked within the next three months to track the

availability of blood. The next phase would enable hospitals to coordinate on

the availability of beds and make purchases online. The Education Department has

initiated its computerization program in a big way. It has installed computers

in 115 schools last year and plans to cover 203 schools by the end of this year.

The government has a target of covering all the schools by 2003. It has also

signed an MoU with NIIT to help train its teachers.

NDMC schools have also kept pace with computerization

according to the corporation’s expressed intent of computerizing all its

secondary and senior secondary schools. The process is already on at 16

secondary schools and five Navyug schools. These schools are equipped with

computers, Internet facilities, and even LAN servers. Computer facilities are to

be extended to primary school children as well.Although the Delhi police

department does not fall under the ambit of the Delhi Government, it has been

pursuing its own program of computerization. The accounts and personnel

management systems are in place. The crime department and the traffic police

have implemented IT in a big way with the department’s IT expenditure running

into several crores by now.

The Delhi Government has recently announced the setting up of

a hi-tech city at Dwarka and a biotechnology park in South Delhi. The Government

has allocated a 100 acre land to that effect and the estimated cost is said to

be Rs 235 crore.

The Government has been accused of falling behind other IT

savvy Governments in its efforts to set up the hi-tech park. The main reason for

this according to Dixit is that land allocation is under the purview of the

Central Government, and thus the delay. Besides, there are other issues like

availability of housing facilities and the demand for such a facility in the

city (in the wake of satellite cities like Noida and Gurgaon). "A

feasibility study has been conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle, which recommended

the setting up of the hi-tech park," informs Regunathan.

The Government’s strategy in attracting investments is to

educate citizens and make them IT-savvy which in turn will create the demand and

attract investments to the state. Other government initiatives that are expected

to spur the industry include allowing cyber cafes in residential areas and

setting up computer access centers in slums to expose slum children to the use

of computers.

Balaka Baruah Aggarwal/CNS

In New Delhi