Keeping Tabs on MP

The Madhya Pradesh government believes that IT should benefit the masses. The

state government has made efforts to introduce technology in the life of its

citizens. It has also tried to ensure that its office bearers keep themselves

updated on technology developments as well as key projects.

Computerization of land records



The computerization of land records has been concluded in Madhya Pradesh

with the completion of data entry of land records in almost all the villages of

the state. Land records have been computerized in the state following which

farmers are now being provided computerized copies of the Government documents

like kharsa. The computerization of land records has been completed after nine

years of hard work. Of the 55,897 villages in the state, the data entry work of

land records has already been completed in 55,677 villages. Along with

computers, all the necessary equipment has been installed in all tehesils. The

pilot project for computerization of land maps has already been completed.

Incidentally, Madhya Pradesh is the first state

in the country to have done this. The data regarding agriculture, weather and

crop reports, information of rainfall, cattle census, minor irrigation projects,

statements of land settlement, tables of land inspection works of patwaris for

scientific scrutiny etc have also been computerized. A computerized copy of

khasra and B 1 is provided to farmers on payment of a fee of Rs 15. About 3.75

lakh copies had been provided by March 31 this year while 85,000 more copies

were provided on demand in April 2002. Arrangements have also been made for

providing the copies of khasra through panchayats. This old system has been

allowed to continue for the convenience of farmers. They can obtain the copies

manually from gram panchayats as well. Besides reducing the incidence of land

related disputes, the computerization of land records has eliminated the

possibilities of tampering with land records.

MANDIS IN the state AND INTERSTATE CHECK POSTS ARE set TO BE CONNECTED TO REGIONAL OFFICES, AND TO THE MANDI BOARD HQ

Digital PC party underway



Computer chipmaker Intel’s road show pushing the Pentium 4 microprocessor

attracted a stream of visitors cutting across age and professional strata to

view the power of the P4 chip and the applications that can be run on it. The

two-day ‘digital PC party’ was to showcase the utility of computers through

Pentium 4 processors. Curious visitors, from the layman to the computer nerd,

attended a number of sessions on the exciting things that can be done on a

computer and how it could play a role in making life easier and more fun. Jayant

Murty, general manager (marketing), Intel said that the event had been organized

with an aim of demonstrating how a PC could be used to learn and create

simultaneously.

Smart Transport



In a bid to eliminate any doubts on the Smart Card Scheme, introduced by the

Transport department recently, the department held a discussion on ‘Smart Card

via satellite conferencing’ at the State Setcom Center. Under this programme,

officials of the department looked at grievance redressal of participants of the

45 districts, who were present at the district Setcom center. There is great

curiosity about the recently launched Smart Card scheme of the State Government.

Transport secretary Dr Bhagirath Prasad has already issued directives in this

regard to all district collectors. He has asked them to ensure participation of

local people, particularly youngsters in the proposed discussions.

Representatives of the district administration transport department and public

representatives also participated in the discussions.

Accolades all around



Rajan Bharti Mittal, joint managing director of Bharti Enterprises, is quite
impressed with the style of functioning of chief minister Digvijay Singh,

especially the introduction of the three tier system of governance. Unlike many

others who criticize the lack of infrastructure development in the state, Mittal

says he would like to offer, if asked for, all possible facilities to Singh for

eGovernance–a la those provided to chief minister Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra

Pradesh. Mittal also suggested that the state’s modern telecom network be

highlighted to woo industrialists, rather than allow poor infrastructure to

drive them away. Mittal was vocal about the readiness of Touchtel to provide

services like e-governance and tele conferencing to the state government. He

said Touchtel was providing all such facilities to Andhra Pradesh and Naidu

conducted his daily teleconferencing in the morning with various district and

divisional level officials. By implementing these facilities in Madhya Pradesh,

even panchayats could be brought online with the State Administration and this

would save lot of time and money for easier governance.

E-agriculture



MP’s Agriculture Minister Mahendra Singh has announced the ‘e

agriculture marketing’ scheme for effective marketing of agriculture produce

in the State. As per the scheme, all mandis and interstate check posts would be

connected to seven regional offices and mandiboard headquarters through

computers and the BOT (build, operate and transfer) formula would be adopted for

this purpose. Singh said that the scheme would benefit both farmers and traders.

Besides, the trader would get all documents from one place. Singh said that the

Agriculture department has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the

Madhya Pradesh Agency for Promotion of Information Technology. He added that

initially, some mandis would be selected as part of the pilot project and they

would be linked through computers.

Aditya Malviya In Bhopal