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Extending Bhoomi

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Bhoomi has been out of the key e-governance project handled

by Comat. What is the status of the project and what are the new challenges?



The key challenge ahead is to bring Bhoomi to the village

level. Bhoomi project is implemented in 167 taluk offices spread across

Karnataka's 190,000 square km. For a rural family wage earner to travel from the

village to a taluk Bhoomi kiosk and back can cost a day's labor. Now if we

multiply that by 7 million farmers, we can make a fairly straightforward assessment of economic

impact on each family in this state.

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We must now rise to this following challenge. In the first

instance, there is a fragile eco-system between all infrastructure requirements

to provide a service at acceptable levels, and the appropriate community to

nourish and sustain that service. Karnataka officially counts some 5,567

villages. That is over 33 times the current number of taluk Bhoomi offices. It

would be naive to expect to simply place 5,567 Bhoomi kiosks in distant

villages, in harsh conditions, and expect an identical performance as Bhoomi.

Secondly, we must model for entirely different financial

realities. Using simple numbers for the sake of illustration: 20 mn land records

divided by 167 taluk offices is 1.2 lakh records per office. Priced at Rs 15 per

RTC certificate, would average roughly to Rs 18 lakh per office in revenues.

This is sufficient over time to cover operating costs, provide a modest return

to state revenues, and ensure good service levels.

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How can one optimally replicate projects like Bhoomi?



Well, while it would be a complex proposition to maintain a

proper structure to support infrastructure in 5,567 villages, such a project

cannot simply be a mechanical extension of Bhoomi. We would have to continue to

apply our analytical skills and culture of working closely with all

stakeholders, to harness and integrate best resources from around the world and

pioneer innovative e-governance best practices.

In the next phase of Bhoomi, the challenges are multiple,

dynamic, complex and inter-dependent. The solution is not simply an ICT

breakthrough: it lies in interplay of people and cultures.

Comat has been in an interesting "pressure cooker"

role for many years to co-ordinate extraordinary demands. From a logistical

viewpoint, we have been forced to grapple with and overcome many of the

obstacles that plagued decades of previous efforts to provide Bhoomi services.

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What are the challenges that public sector IT executives

face today?



The biggest challenge is their continuity in a position till

projects are completed. The second challenge is the reuse of efforts made in

successful states.

On a more general note, IT issues tend to be increasingly

generic and 'blind' to public or private spaces. Most executives face the

challenges of budgets that are typically insufficient to cope with the vast

potential IT demands and opportunities. I think it is fair to say that for most

executives, IT has become more than a full-time job. Managers increasingly need

to have polyvalent skills.

What role is an external provider playing in today's

environment where IT budgets are being constantly scrutinised?



It is important to distinguish between external providers

positioned as 'commodity suppliers' versus external providers positioned as

'strategic partners'. Commodity players will be edged out or absorbed. All

suppliers must adapt and add value, or lose to competitors.

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I definitely do not see external suppliers disappearing: it

is not viable or efficient for a non-ICT core-business organisation to make

strategic choices or manage ICT infrastructure without specialised third-party

expertise.

As for IT budget scrutiny, there is the trend towards new

management tools, increasingly better equipped to monitor, generate more secure

audit trails, and produce faster and more complete management reports to

identify fraud, corruption, negligence, or other issues. Over time this will

help root out budget mismanagement.

How have you coped with IT budgets and management agenda,

which changes with each election?



It would thus be fairer to turn the question around and say

with all respect this is a mixed blessing. Our vibrant democracy creates the

landscape where miracles of e-governance will contribute significantly to

strengthening our social and economic well being.

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We have been a significant direct contributor to the

electoral process. For several years, Comat has been serving Election

Commissions of several states, preparing tens of millions of Election Photo ID

Cards (EPIC), as well as assisting in maintaining electoral roles and even

developing software. We have literally had face-to-face contact with millions of

voters.

We cope with the realities of change by addressing

fundamental social issues. For example, Bhoomi is a manifest success so most

political parties strive in one way or the other to leverage goodwill from it.

Given our expertise with land records in rural India, there is a persistent

ongoing demand for our services.

How promising are state and local government data center

spending trends, especially on the open source front?



It's better to adapt solutions, and not be dogmatic about

any particular trend. For different state governments, we have innovated and

deployed several generations of Bhoomi solutions, ranging from two-tier

client-server to three-tier Web-based proprietary solutions to totally open

source systems.

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The auspiciousness of a spending trend will vary depending on

the sector or niche in which a supplier has their core competence and business.

Companies like Comat are greatly encouraged by the approval of the National

E-Governance Action Plan (NEGAP).

Which areas provide the highest scope for e-governance

service providers, besides systems modernization? How are you helping the public

sector and government IT officers keep up with best practices and understand new

technologies?



We are all racing to keep up and to help each other! In my

view, robust commitment to partnership and stakeholder ship is the key to

surviving challenges and storms.

As for the first question, like most people we believe the

future will be shaped tremendously by innovations in mobile computing,

convergence, and decentralisation of services, as well as efficiencies which

drive down costs to bring goods and services to market. Mobility includes

innovations such as Wi-Max, which Comat is architecting in Bhoomi village

solutions. Such mobility innovations have the potential to contribute to rapidly

and efficiently connecting rural India to the Internet, reduce the digital

divide, and make dramatic changes in empowering citizens with new services.

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