Panelist:

• Amir Ullah Khan , Senior Policy Advisor, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Abhishek Singh, Executive Director(IT/Engg.), Food Corporation of India

Moderator: Ashis Sanyal, Independent eGov and ICT4D Consultant

Focus

• To share the most innovative practices used to bring better governance and bring sustainability in Agriculture and Ecology
• How digitization helps avoid arbitrary goals and lead to better decision making
• Future contribution of Digital tools in the Governance and Agriculture domain

Presentations-Governance

• Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana, Govt. of Maharashtra, Ajay Gulhane, Deputy CEO, RGJAYS
• eScholarship, Social Justice & Special Assistance Department
• Jail Vaarta-Prisoner Video Conference with Relatives, National Informatics Centre Himachal Pradesh State Centre,  Sandeep Sood, Scientist-D
• eXtended Green Node (XGN), Gujarat Pollution Control Board
• Mobile Inspection System for Rural Development Works, District Panchayat, Nagarajan M, District Development Officer
• Online Reporting System for Local Governments in Bangladesh, HYSAWA Fund, Nurul Osman, Programme Director
• MHADA Lottery Management System, MHADA, Niranjan Kumar Sudhansu, IAS
• Change.org India, Preethi Herman, Country Lead
• Effective & Concrete E-Governance Framework, NIC AKOLA, Nitin Vishnu Choudhari, Scientist

Presentations -Agriculture & Ecology

• Sxagro, Stesalit Systems Ltd, Dyutiman Paul, GM, Sales
• SAFAL, ITC Limited, Praneeth Kumar B, Assistant Manager, Sustainability Cell
• MPSSCA: Seed Certification MIS, M.P. Akshay Thombre, Seed Certification Officer

Mr. Praneeth Kumar B, SAFAL
Addressing the issues of limited outreach, lack of access to customized and timely information, project SAFAL tried to link with every farmer in a large community of small scale production base through a web and mobile based approach for crop monitoring & assessment. It provides an integrated IVR system with necessary support applications for customized crop advisory. It also acts as an interactive crop guide to increase the knowledge base of the operating staff and facilitate effective farmer communication through planning and distribution, crop growth monitoring, accurate crop production and quality estimation for procurement planning.

Mr. George, SXagro
SXagro is a SaaS model agro-informatics platform for real time agri-data and analytics. It uses remote sensing based satellite data and ground survey to build actionable intelligence for Agri-community. It is a significant tool to help the nation manage its land and soil resource sustainably, restoring their productivity for future generations. Information include land use, drainage, weather forecasts, soil type, soil depth, and soil chemical properties and recommendations for each type of land use. The objective is to provide an effective, economical, environment friendly Web Based Geospatial agricultural forecasting tool for Farmers and Agriculture department officials. It also works on real time Pest infestation tracking and continuous pest surveillance through pest modeling software algorithm. The Crop health monitoring and yield monitoring on real time basis are also the major functions of the SXagro.

Mr. Akshay Thombre, Seed Certification MIS
The purpose of the seed certification is to provide the quality seed to the farmers. The MPSSCA Seed Certification MIS is the highest seed certification agency in India. The objective of the project is to implement a transparent, secure and Efficient Centralized web based e-Governance System. The main beneficiaries are seed producers with the online facility for processing plant registration, Application for parent seed stock verification, Application for Seed grower registration, Online Payment of all certification charges, Availability of related documents, Processing of application from ASCO, SCO & HO, Availability of  Seed stock verification report, Availability of approved grading schedule and seed testing report.

Mr. Nagarajan M, Mobile Inspection System
The technology is used to eliminate delays and errors in inspection and monitoring the works in rural areas. The Tablet device were given to employees to capture field work/ inspection report, pervasive cellular network to send reports directly to district from the field. With other relevant data, Geo-tagging of work at various stages with GPS Coordinates, Inspection order can be generated through system which is mailed automatically to Inspecting officer and Ordering authority. Inspection report can be completed even without any mobile network coverage which can be sent immediately through GPRS connectivity & can be emailed to all concern officers in pdf format, Inspection report’s GPS Co-ordinate is linked with map and it shows the location on the map. With the help of the mobile inspection system, the citizens of the district are able to get the quick results.

Mr. Sandeep Sood, Jail Vaarta
JailVaarta is all about giving HOPE to all the prisons in a jail. It is an online end-to-end service of Scheduling and Conducting a Video Conferencing of Prisoners, lodged in any of the 14 Prisons of Himachal Pradesh, with their relatives. This facility can be availed by the relatives from their homes (or CSCs in the country) from any part of world. The relatives / visitors go to the website of the HP Prisons and Correctional Administration Himachal Pradesh, select the link JailVaarta (VC Registration with Prisoners),  enter prisoner’s and own name, visitor’s ID proof, prisoner age, prison name, visitor email, mobile and agree to the terms that recording of the entire JailVaarta will be done and kept for record. The request is received by the Jail Authorities through the online system (based on Login/password) and a decision to allow or reject the VC is taken on merit. JailVaarta initiative is the first of its kind in India and 2nd in the World (next to Singapore which also allows online Prisoner VC facility to the relatives of the Prisoners). The Investigating Officers of the Police can also question under-trial prisoners through JailVaarta without requiring any permission from the Court.

Md. Nurul Osman, Online Reporting System
HYSAWA is basically a funding agency that receives fund from different donors. This is a first kind of initiative in Bangladesh for e-reporting by local government at the rural level. It provides funds to local governments in Bangladesh and with this fund the local governments plan and implement water and sanitation projects. As provision in the project, the local government has to submit monthly financial and physical progress report to HYSAWA. Previously, these reports were manual and paper based which required plenty of time and resources to compile. HYSAWA helps in monitoring Physical and Financial progress online – ensuring transparency and also promotes E-management and governance contributing to Government’s ‘Digital Bangladesh Vision’.

Preethi Herman, Change.org India
Change.org is the world’s largest petition platform, empowering people everywhere to create the change they want to see. It is an open platform so that anybody wishing to bring about a change or get justice can start a petition, address it to a target, recruit people to sign and achieve victory. It’s now possible for anyone to start a campaign and immediately mobilize hundreds of others locally or hundreds of thousands around the world, making governments and companies more responsive and accountable. We want to accelerate this dramatic shift – by making it easier to make a difference, and by inspiring everyone to discover what’s possible when they stand up and speak out. We’re working for a world where no one is powerless, and where creating change is a part of everyday life.

Nitin Vishnu Choudhari || Effective & Concrete e-Governance
The aim of the project is to increase the study, use and analyze virtualization to facilitate the effective e-governance which involves efficient and optimum use of technical resources to provide concrete framework for e- governance. They have developed a Virtual Machine which has been using at the district. Several other districts are also using the virtual machines developed by NIC, Akola. The innovation is basically aimed at optimizing and making effective use of the hardware, software, network and human resources and technical efforts and exercises to achieve e-governance goals in targeted time.