IIIT B evaluation of on early ICT4D initiatives

IIITB evaluation report on early ICT4D initiatives

IIITB had conducted an evaluation of the early ICT4D initiatives including akshaya, Rural e-Seva West Godavari, Dhrishtee centres in Sirsa, MSSRF centres in Pondicherry and SARI project in Melur. The report is not easily accessible hence posting it in this blog

Karnataka Government Releases RFP for CSC program in Karnataka

The e-Governance department of the Government of Karnataka has released the tender for establishment of approximately 5000 CSC's in the state. The tender documents have been uploaded in the  Government of Karnataka e-procurement platform. The last date of submission of tender is 17th August.

Village Telecentre program in Karnataka

Nemmadi program in Karnataka

Authors

1.    Shri Rajeev Chawla IAS Secretary e-Governance Government of Karnataka,

2.    Anirban Mukerji – e-Governance Consultant

Published “A journey through three states Common Service Centres Programme (CSC) Review, NeGP, India” for i4D Magazine August 2007 http://i4donline.net/index.asp

“Nemmadi” in Kannada means peace of mind. The Vision of the Nemmadi project is to empower rural citizens, provide direct access of government services to the citizens and bring government services to the doorstep of the citizen.

1. Introduction

Government of Karnataka (GoK) has been a pioneer in leveraging Information technology in easing the lives of both urban and rural citizens. One of the most path breaking of these e-governance applications is Bhoomi that enables “over the counter” delivery of computerized land records to farmers from the 203 taluka (Tehsil) offices of the State. 

While the Bhoomi program tremendously benefited the farmers there was a demand for establishing of delivery centres for land records at the village level itself. The need for decentralization of Bhoomi catalyzed the development of the “Nemmadi program” program of the Government of Karnataka.

The State Government understood that it could not establish and operate computer centres at every village and hence decided to establish these centres in the villages under a Public Private Partnership model. It was also apparent that these village telecentres would not be viable if only land records were delivered from these centres and for viability, other e-governance services also needed to be delivered through these village telecentres.

Overview of the Government of India Common Service Centre Project

In 2007 I had prepared a note that gives a brief overview of the CSC project and the role for IT product companies in this project. Interested readers can access the document here  CSC Note