District Collector Digital Champions

Introduction

Identifying the Champions of  ICT in India from all the districts
District Collector Digital Champion Award Session was organized by Digital Empowerment Foundation during the 10th Manthan Award Asia Pacific. The Summit focused on providing a platform to 10 district collectors from India making their efforts to make the district ICT empowered and share their initiatives and developments, thereby strengthening the governance of the nation.
The Session included Case presentations from 10 District Collectors* of India on ‘How the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) can help in empowering masses through various project implementations, aligned to the flagship programs of Government of India”.
*Only 8 District Collectors were present for the final presentation

Jury Panel

• Mr. Ashis Sanyal, e-Governance and ICT4D Consultant
• Mr. Sheo Shekhar Shukla, IAS, Government of Madhya Pradesh
• Mr. Amitabh Singhal, Board member, PIR.ORG
• Mr. Deepak Maheshwari, Public Policy Professional, Mastercard Worldwide

 Presenters

• Mr. J .B. Vora, District Collector, District Patan  (Gujarat)
• Dr. Roshan Jacob , District Collector , District Gonda (Uttar Pradesh)
• Dr. Ashok Kumar Bhargava, District Collector , District Shahdol (Madhya Pradesh)
• Mr. Dahanaraju (Representative of Mrs. Jaishri Kiyawat, District Collector), District Jhabua(Madhya Pradesh)
• Mr. Avinash Lavania (Representative of Mr. Vivek Kumar Porwal, District Collector), District Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh)
• Mr. J.K. Jain, District Collector , District Raisen (Madhya Pradesh)
• Mr. Prashant Sharma (Representative of Mr. Rajkumar Beniwal, District Collector), District Mehsana (Gujarat)
• Dr. J. Ganesan, District Collector , District Sirsa (Haryana)

Summit Bytes

Mr Ashis Sanyal introduced the District collectors to the session format & expressed his views on what parameters all the District Collectors are expected to present their work on ICT initiatives & developments in the presented districts. He explained the parameters & asked all the District collectors to stick to the time given for each presentation & marks will be allocated to them on the basis of the presentations only followed by a question round by Expert Jury panel.

Mr. J .B. Vora, District Patan (Gujarat) :
Mr. J.B. Vora expressed his views and spoke about his work on ‘Implemented ICT projects’ in his district. There were numerous projects running under his district namely Resurvey Project, Bar Coded Ration Card Project, Jan Seva Kendra : ATVT(Aapno Taluko Vibrant Taluko), Central Registry Application, E-Dhara Project, Record Room Computerization and ‘e-Committee’ District Committee Monitoring System. The Conventional methods associated with the Resurvey were reengineered and thus they have provided a better access apart from that the data process is done online by different agencies and government machineries. He insisted that ICT played a vital role to educate citizens for their fundamental rights and door steps delivery of Govt. services through e-Gram vishva gram. He mentioned about the various steps involved in Re-Survey Activity particularly necessary sanction from government ,formation  of 4- tier  resurvey  committee for district, documentation of ground control network, Gram Sabha, Detail ground survey activity, After the survey,distribution of LPM to land holders, Redressal of  objections in presence of government  surveyor & land holder ,Processing of survey data and preparation of spatial and textual records, Promulgation of records by revenue officer and Certification of records by Sub-Divisional Magistrate is done. Due to bar coded ration card system diversion and leakages has been stopped . With the help of ICT implementation they have improved social and economic condition of the backward people of their district.

Dr. Roshan Jacob, District Gonda (Uttar Pradesh) :
Dr. Roshan Jacob expressed her views and spoke about her work on ‘Implemented  ICT projects’ in her district. She has implemented two programmes in her district- (1) Easygas and (2) Kisan.
Online LPG booking and delivery were the keypoints which attended the public attention in Gonda. In this service, consumer has to go to CSC (Common Service Centre) and register themselves for the same. This is an online system which ensures each consumer should get the delivery of LPG cylinder within 7 days. Kisan offers 6 services to the farmers: (1) Seed booking (2) Fertilizer booking (3) Soil testing (4) Farmer Loan (5) Agriculture Implement Subsidy (6) e-Procurement. This is followed by the registration which is free to the farmers and they need to register themselves in the department to avail the above mentioned services. According to her, both EASYGAS and KISAN have provided a useful model of improving governance and service delivery in the district by creating entitlement rights for consumers as an additional interface between the beneficiary/customer and the existing mechanism of delivery. Easygas won the “eINDIA Award 2013” which also helped boost its popularity and public acceptance. Easygas and Kisan concept note was chosen ‘BEST PAPER’ for 2012-13 in the National e-governance seminar held at Jaipur, February 2013. She stated that efficiency is using the ICT tools in a manner so that all stakeholders can be engaged and effective monitoring can be ensured..

Dr. Ashok Kumar Bhargava, District Shahdol (Madhya Pradesh) :
Dr. Ashok Kumar Bhargava expressed his views and spoke about his work on ‘Implemented ICT projects’ in his district. He has implemented many ICT projects in the district namely: e-FMS, Voice based SMS, Forest Fire Alert Messaging System, Jan Sunvai, Janpad Sanchar ,Mother & Child Tracking System, Vehicle Tracking System for PDS and E-Uparjan. By Electronic Fund Management System(e-FMS), laborers get their wages timely and twenty one crore and sixty lac –fund has been distributed by this system. By e-FMS, accounts were opened in core banking network. By Voice based system, 107583 calls made to gram rozgar Sahayk regarding direct transfer of wages. By Forest Alert Messaging System, 181 incidents were tackled. By Jan Sunvai, action taken report was submitted within 7 days. Mother & child Tracking system ensures better delivery of maternal health services and timely and complete vaccination of child. By Vehicle Tracking system for PDS, timely supply of goods through constant tracking of vehicle using GPS technology is ensured. By E-Uparjan System, 14468 paddy farmers were registered which resulted in the direct transfer of amount to their account. According to him the ICT projects have developed a cadre of IT literate people at each village and social and economic upliftment of villagers through direct payments and delivered a good governance across the district..

Mr. Dahanaraju (Representative of Mrs. Jaishri Kiyawat, District Collector), District Jhabua(Madhya Pradesh) :
Mr. Dhanaraju expressed his views and spoke about his work on behalf of Mrs. Jaishri Kiyawat on ‘Implemented ICT projects’ in the district. They wanted to create that we e-services which are cheaper, accountable and easy to understand. At present they have 16 Lok Sewa Kendra to deliver e-services in the district. He said that by EFMS (E-Fund Management System) wages worth Rs. 10 Crore has been transferred to laborers. He said that each panchayat has a dedicated website and weekly monitoring of the progress through video conference is done regularly. As on date 47 services from 16 departments are delivered at LSKs (Lok  Sewa Kendra).This initiative has empowered the citizens to get services as an entitlement. In the EFMS regime wages transferred to beneficiary directly from the nodal account through e-gateway. The new EFMS is effective, transparent and accountable. All land records are digitized and maps are available over the counter. In the field of education, best faculty available in the district to teach students appearing for board examinations through video conference. He explained their initiatives for farmers like Kisan Pathshala. By Kisan Pathshala VC(Video Conference) sessions are taken once in a month. For law and order, he said the district has patrolling vehicles fitted with GPS system and exchange of phone numbers between the complainant and investigating officers has started..

Mr. Avinash Lavania (Representative of Mr. Vivek Kumar Porwal, District Collector), District Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) : Mr. Avinash Lavania expressed his views and spoke about his work  on behalf of Mr.Vivek Kumar Porwal on  ‘Implemented  ICT projects’ in their district. He explained about the initiatives which have been taken by them in the district Balaghat: (1)NIDAN -Network for Immediate Disbursal at Neighborhood  (2) Work Management System (3) Certificate Management System
By NIDAN software all the benefits of the govt. scheme should reach to each beneficiary. According to him in Balaghat, Online entry of execution of various stages of civil works in the district is performed and Self calculation of payments is done  on the basis of SoR / generation of reports and graphs followed by the online monitoring of  all civil works of the district. In Jabalpur, they have performed detailed study on unnecessary delays in the award and execution of Government contracts and they rely on online monitoring of various stages of contract. According to him, 129 crore has been transferred by this initiatives to laborers. He mentioned about Process simplification, Minimizing human interface, Reduction in procedural delays, better monitoring and implementation of schemes, Information Symmetry, Social Control and Outreach are the major factors for ICT Impact in mass empowerment.

Mr. J.K. Jain, District Raisen (Madhya Pradesh) :
Mr. J.K. Jain shared his views on ‘Implementation of ICT Projects’ in his district. He mentioned about the services like e-FMS, SMS based information for farmers, E-payment, Public Service Management System  which is e-District Lok Seva. He said that there is direct transfer of wages to beneficiaries account through e-FMS, making the system transparent. Payments are being transferred through RTGS in the field of agriculture and education. Through Public Service Guarantee act services to public are provided within a given time frame. The applicant has to submit the application at Lok Seva Kendra from where the service is provided. In Agriculture we are having database of farmers which is useful for conveying messages to farmers about different useful technical interventions through SMS. He also mentioned benefits and impact of the implemented projects : Transparency,Video Conferencing through State wide area network (SWAN) ,Use of Digital Signature for making easy payment to beneficiaries, Communication  with farmers has improved  by use of SMS., Knowledge sharing that focused on division in groups for easy purchase at support price. Payment directly goes in farmers account..

Mr. Prashant Sharma (Representative of Mr. Rajkumar Beniwal, District Collector), District Mehsana (Gujarat) :
Mr. Prashant Sharma explained on behalf of Mr. Rajkumar Beniwal on various IT tools established in their district Mehsana . They were: (1)EWMS (Employee Work Management System) (2)Digital Record Room (3)DGMS (District Grievance System) (4)CCTV at all Tehsildar offices. He  said  by Employee Work Management System(EWMS), tracking of real time location of files becomes easier as well as get information of list of ‘longest pending files’. By this service, work load can be managed. He said Record rooms are now digitized with the modern equipment where in a digital record room, the process is like file received at record room after disposal then file scanned in pdf format then file uploaded in server with EWMS id and finally file can be viewed from EWMS from disposed file option. By District Grievance system(DGMS) citizen don’t need to visit offices several times and location and duration of each grievance is monitored. CCTV cameras have been installed at various offices..

Dr. J. Ganesan, District Sirsa (Haryana) :
Dr. J. Ganesan expressed his views on empowering the citizens in terms of education. He said that Sirsa is a backward district in terms of literacy and therefore his aim is to educate people .He has started two programmes in his district : a) e-Library  b) Digital Smart Classrooms
He said that the literacy rate is very low in Sirsa. About 75% of the population is rural. Only 16% of the population recognized numbers from 1to 9 and only 14% of the population recognized alphabets from A to Z. He Dr. J . Ganeshan :has started digital programmes in his district. He has started ‘Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra’ which provided books to the people. According to him 85% of books are in English, Hindi and Punjabi. It offered e-resources and thus provided e-learning. The Library has about 10000 books. Digital Smart Classrooms helps students as well as teachers to customize their own content. The programme also motivate teachers to teach and tells how to use digital and multimedia content..