GUJARAT: Leveraging IT

Perceived as

the world’s largest smart card-based dri-ving license project with

biometrics, the Gujarat government has been a fore-runner in issuing

driving licenses on electronic chips. Under the project, each of the 22

RTOs of Gujarat are equipped with state-of-the-art driving license

enrolment and issuance centers. Each center has integrated facilities for

online capture of individual photographs, signatures and fingerprints

along with other identification details. The fingerprints are interpreted

for key features extracted and stored for identification purposes.

The first systems were installed

at Ahmedabad RTO, which handles almost about 30% of the state’s load. This was

followed by other major centers such as Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara and Bhavnagar.

Since then, systems have been set up in almost all district RTOs of Gujarat. The

systems can be networked locally under a local area network, as well as across

the state under a wide area network (WAN).

Currently, about 2,000 cards are

being issued per day, which is likely to double by the end of the year. It is

envisaged that about one million smart driving licenses will be issued annually,

covering transport and non-transport categories, for new licenses, endorsements,

renewals and duplicates.

During the next 24 months, it is

proposed that the existing six to eight million driving licenses will also be

converted into smart cards. The modalities for this operation are being worked

out. Thus by the end of 2003, about 10 million smart cards will be issued under

this project.

The project aims to bring down

the number of duplicate licenses and ensure a strict vigil on the offenders. For

example, traffic inspectors are provided with hand-held terminals using which

individual traffic offences are booked on the chip of the smart card. Such

records are also accumulated on the terminal and subsequently transferred to a

central database. After a particular number of offences, the license is

automatically struck off the record and the license made invalid. Also, since

the project uses biometrics, duplication of licenses will become a difficult

process. At the time of enrolment, the applicant’s fingerprints can be checked

against the existing database for possible masquerading or misidentification.

Subsequently, off-line verification of an individual’s identity is possible

using one to one matching against the chip itself, without referring to a

central database.

Gujarat also plans to introduce

smart cards for vehicles serving the purpose of an RC Book. For certain class of

vehicles, its use will be extended to fitness



certificates, permits and payment receipts. Also, a pre-paid system is likely to
be introduced for the state entry tax payments at the state border check-posts

to be linked to electronic weigh-bridges.

State-wide WAN

The

government of Gujarat has planned to implement a statewide WAN project which

will connect the various office complexes of the Government of Gujarat. It will

be set up in Gandhinagar including the Secretariat complex and the state-owned

building of the Corporation, in the vicinity. It aims to support various

services like voice, data and video traffic. Also with the WAN, the government

will implement a complete video conferencing system. The whole project will use

the backdrop of optical fiber cable to connect the various offices. In addition

to the above, the backbone network will also be extended to STPI, Info City, DSP’s

office, boards and corporations to provide telecom facilities as and when

required in future. The backbone network will cater to data communication

facility at the locations providing telephone service. It will provide cabling

for inter connectivity to any LAN established by the state government covering

its offices. The LANs will be block-wise or floor-wise and are required to be

connected through backbone network to cater to the needs of email or

internet or intranet. LANs may also have to be integrated into WAN through the

network as per need.

Disaster management system

Gujarat is prone to

disasters like cyclones and floods and the availability of communication links

is of vital importance, especially because other infrastructure like railways,

roads, bridges and power are seriously affected. A communication system, which

would remain unaffected during emergency situations is to be designed to cover

all district headquarters, which should be integrated with the proposed network

at Gandhinagar. INMARSAT-like technology which was designed to provide service

to ships in sea has now been extended to land use and is one of the options

suited for this purpose. The technology is economical as compared to VSAT and

provides good quality voice communication.