Governance2.Org

Computerization in various government departments have proved beneficial to the citizens. The direct cost savings averaged Rs.60-110 and it has also helped reduce corruption to some extent.
These are the findings of a study on`Impact Assessment of e-Government projects’ by Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar of IIM Ahmedabad.
The report was released on Wednesday at a two day workshop jointly organized by the IIMA and Department of Information Technology, Government of India. [Via]

Majority of passport applicants in India still prefer to seek agents’ help in processing application forms, despite an online access to passport offices, according to a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
The impact study, a part of the National eGovernance Program (NeGP), DIT, found that around 23% of the online users and 28% of the offline users mentioned agents as the best source of information, with only 17% of the respondents having used the online services for registration of applications, fixing appointments with regional passport offices (RPOs), submission of application forms or checking the status of their applications.
There has been a 75% rise in total number of passport applications in five years, from 2.6 million in 2000 to 4.5 million in 2006 according to the report. [Via]
No doubt as people get used to the online process, they are going to take to adopting it in a big way. I know I would.

The Department of Elections at Puducherry has launched the website (www.ceopondicherry.nic.in) to enable people to file their applications online.
The election authorities are currently updating the voters list relating to all the thirty Assembly constituencies (as per delimitation) spread over Puducherry region ( 23), Karaikal (five), Mahe (one) and Yanam (one). Final publication of electoral rolls has been scheduled for January 10 next. [Via]
Last when I checked, the site was down.

CA, the IT management and security solutions vendor, is betting on strong demand in India and Japan to drive growth even as it seeks to increase revenues from the Asia-Pacific region, which comprises about 12% of its earnings.
Recently, CA charted a strategy for the India market wherein it aims to double its revenues every two years.
As part of the new strategy, CA was relying more on partners such as Wipro, TCS, Satyam, HCL and Infosys to drive its business in the country while targeting newer verticals such as e-governance, defence, pharmaceuticals and healthcare and retail sectors.
CA and its partners are providing solutions to nine of the 15 States in the country that are setting up state-wide area networks (SWAN) as part of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). [Via]

The Ministry of External Affairs in association with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has chosen Bangalore as one of the two cities across the country for implementing the Passport Seva project, which is meant to simplify the process of issuing passport through automation. The pilot project will kick off by mid-2009, said Regional Passport Officer (Bangalore) R Ravindra.
The project, one of the largest mission-critical e-governance initiative, envisages the setting up of Passport Facilitation Centres (PFCs) where the filled passport forms are received and processed. These PFCs will be the hub for all activities including biometric capture, photograph, payment of fees, verification of documents. Passports will be issued within three days in case police verification is not required and on the same day under the tatkaal scheme.
Chandigarh is the other city that has been selected for the Passport Seva project. The nation-wide roll-out of the project will be completed within six years and the government intends to open 77 Passport Facilitation Centres across the country. [Via]

A five-year programme to reform governance in Bihar, with support from the British government’s Department For International Development (DFID), is slated for launch.
Titled ‘Governance Mission’, the programme is meant to improve governance and administration in the state.
“The DFID will provide 18 million pounds for the programme which aims to improve governance and administration in the state,” says Chris Charmers, a senior programme manager with the DFID.
Amir Subhani, the secretary of the state’s Personnel and Administrative Reforms department, said that initially five departments including Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Land and Revenue, Human Resource, Registration and Commercial Taxes, had been selected for the programme which will foster transparency, e-governance, better delivery of government services and accounting.
Subhani made it clear that state government has formulated an agenda of its own to improve governance.
The DFID will work in partnership with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to begin its engagement with the governance reform programme in Bihar. [Via]

In a major step towards evolving a transparent system, the BMC recently floated its first online tender. Calling for a supply of 3,500 raincoats and rainsuits for civic security department, the tender invited vendors from across the country to bid on the web.
A pilot project, the online tender-floating procedure is part of BMC’s e-governance plan, which will put an end to all conspiracies to rig contracts worth crores of rupees by a handful of contractors, said additional municipal commissioner (projects) Anil Diggikar. According to civic data, as many as 2,000 tenders are floated every year for various infrastructure and civic projects, but only a cartel of contractors collude to inflate the cost of a wide range of contracts, officials said.
On the web, the procedure will be closely guarded and a vendor will not even know who his competitors are. The bidders, who will get an authorised user ID and password, can submit his amount. During the process, the vendor will be able to see all the items for which a bid is submitted and the vendor can thereafter enter the price. [Via]
Raincoats??? I guess its a start.