Existing capacities are inadequate

While the trend to move away from the metros has put Kerala
in the limelight, the state certainly has whatever it takes to make an impact.
Its human resource, good quality of life and, most importantly, great
connectivity, both data and physical, are ideally suited for the knowledge
services industry. Its performance on the governance front is another feather in
its cap. As reflected in the Dataquest-IDC e-Governance survey of Indian States
2007, Kerala ranks #4 in the overall state score among twenty others ranked. The
IT secretary of Kerala, Ajay Kumar, gives an account of the ongoing e-governance
initiatives and IT investment plans. Excerpts

On the e-gov front, you have been quoted as saying that
constraints of capital, technology and management have delayed effective
implementation. How is the state planning to overcome these hurdles?

E-governance projects require huge capital investments. A very rough
estimate would suggest that to computerize major departments in Kerala, it would
require an investment of approximately Rs 4,000 crore. In other states, the
demands may be higher. We have been spending roughly Rs 80 crore to 100 crore
per year on e-governance. At this rate, it may take 40 years to complete e-gov
initiatives. The Government of India has promised funding under the Mission Mode
Projects (MMPs). In Kerala, we hope for support for three MMPs under World Bank
funding. However, this will address only a part of the requirement. There is a
need for greater capital investment and the state and central governments will
have to jointly address this issue.

What major initiatives is the state government planning for
e-governance? What is the status of SWAN?

Kerala SWAN is at an advanced stage as compared to most other states. It covers
all district headquarters, all block headquarters, as well as ten remote points
below the block level in each block. There are three NOCs in Thiruvananthapuram,
Kochi and Kozhikode, connected in a diamond network providing redundancy and
business continuity. The NOCs are connected to all district headquarters:
Presently at 4 Mbps, it is being upgraded to 14 Mbps shortly. Several
applications are running from the district to the state level on KSWAN. These
include the commercial tax applications, transport department applications and
videoconferencing. We find that existing capacities are inadequate to cater to
the demands coming from different departments. We are therefore taking steps to
enhance the NOCs and district headquarters. UTL is the BOOT operator for KSWAN.
The connectivity at block headquarters is likely to be completed by March 2008.
The 1,500 points below the block level should be completed by June 2008.

What is the update on the mission mode projects and the two
e-district projects?

The Government of India has approved the e-district project for Kerala in
February this year. We have selected two districts for the purpose. The
implementation will begin during the coming year. We expect that using this
project we will be able to link our DC Suite project with Akshaya Centers and
provide additional G2C services based on digital databases, which have been
created in several departments.

Kerala has huge investment plans on building infrastructure,
specifically in the metros. Whats the progress on that front?

There are several big infrastructure projects underway; the Vallarpadam Port
terminal in Kochi, another port in Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram, fourth airport
in the state at Kannur, a Rail Metro project in Kochi and widening of national
highways are some of them.

Urvashi Kaul


urvashik@cybermedia.co.in