West Bengal: An Alternative Government

WEBEL (West

Bengal Elec-tronics Industry Deve-lopment Corporation has implemented a

map-based GIS project in Mahesthala Municipality on a pilot basis. After the

successful implementation of this project in Mahesthala, WEBEL has carried out a

similar project for 20 municipalities in the state. Nine have already been

completed in the first phase and the remaining will be completed by January,

next year. The entire project, when completed, will cover almost 10% of the

state’s population.

The user can choose any area of

concern from the map of the given municipality. From this area, one can choose

the block whose information is required. Once chosen, the block map appears on

the screen. It marks the residential areas, commercial zones, hospitals, police

stations and other emergency services available. All details regarding the

chosen fields appear on screen. For example, if a certain household is clicked,

details pertaining to the number of residents, age of these residents, number of

people who are educated, taxpayers in the house and also medical condition of

the members are available. If a police station is chosen, one can assess whether

the police station is equipped to meet emergency situations. One can gather

details on the number of jeeps, policemen and wireless sets that police stations

have. One can also detect the addresses of people who have not paid tax. This

will help the income tax department in regular follow-up of taxpayers and update

their records.

Web and kiosk-based education

information system

The education

information system (EdIS) has been designed to cater to needs of the student

community. EdIS would provide information to students on demand, based on their

specific needs, thereby saving valuable time and energy. The objective of EdIS

is to act as a friend, philosopher and guide to the students and guardians, by

providing an easy and structured approach while making their academic plan. When

implemented completely, students and guardians do not have to run any more from

pillar to post, for various education related information.

To start with EdIS would serve

the incoming and outgoing graduation level students of various streams like

arts, science, commerce, vocational and professional streams. Considering EdIS

as a technology demonstrator pilot project, the functionality of EdIS is mainly

confined to queries on subject, cut-off marks for eligibility, teacher strength,

hostel facility, scholarship schemes and library facilities. Also, particulars

of courses, fees, affiliation programs, infrastructure, books, internet

facilities and college profiles will also be available.

Vernacular interface project

The vernacular

interface project aims at facilitating the use of computers in rural and

semi-urban areas, for access to information pertaining to public interface such

as tax payments, electricity and telephone bills. All important information will

be available in Bengali to involve the citizens in rural and semi-urban areas.

The software enabling this project has been

developed using Access and all functions of MS Office like MS Word, Excel and

PowerPoint which can be used with the Bengali font. This project is important

keeping in mind the government’s decision that all official documentation and

services will be in Bengali in the years to come. The project makes it possible

to make calculations and data entry in Bengali.