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Filing tax is getting less taxing day by day. E-return is a step taken by tax department to ease the tax-filing process for traders, who used to wait in long queues and file return manually.
The decision will be implemented state-wide in Uttar Pradesh. Now a registered trader can file return through his digitized signatures. For this he will have to log on to http.//secucomtax.up.nic.in and get a print-out of his filed return.
To use the benefits, traders should have a valid TIN No. Traders will also have to maintain their digital signature in a pen-drive with an accredited firm.
All the district headquarters will be able to exchange information through State Wise Area Network (SWAN) and can update the record through LAN (Local Area Network). This will help the officials to access the information.
However, e-return is not mandatory and traders can continue to file returns manually. [Via]

All 2,566 gram panchayats in north Gujarat have undergone a transformation from simple panchayats. On Friday, 724 gram panchayats in Sabarkantha, 595 in Mehsana, 783 in Banaskantha and 464 in Patan became e-gram.
It was a new experience for people living in villages near Pakistan border in Banaskantha and those at Ratanpur in Patan and at Amirgagadh in Mehsana.
District collector Banaskantha, RJ Patel, who was camping in Iqbalgadh said, “As many as 500 people could not hide their surprise when Chief Minister Narendra Modi began giving replies to their questions online.” [Via]

In order to bring transparency in the tendering process, the Punjab Agricultural Marketing Board, also known as the Punjab Mandi Board, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state-run Indian Telephone Industries Ltd for implementing e-tendering. With this, the board became the first oraganisation in Punjab to implement the internet-based tendering.
The system will be functional from February 15. It is worth noting that board receives tenders to the tune of Rs 300-400 crore every year for construction and maintenance of mandis and rural roads. The proposed move is likely to benefit the contractors, who previously had to procure the tender documents by visiting the respective offices. [Via]

Reliance Communication, plans to make headway in the hitherto unexplored mGovernance (mobile governance) sector by launching the service in select rural pockets. While Reliance Communication is already working with the West Bengal government to provide various e-governance services in semi-urban and rural markets in the state, the company is soon expected to launch the service in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, said a senior official of the company.
The mGovernance services the company intends to offer will help the rural folks to communicate with agricultural experts; obtain information about the fertiliser; find out the prices of various agricultural products in nearby mandis; weather report and local helplines for various requirements. The company is also developing local applications including group messaging to facilitate panchayats and or district level bodies to disseminate information of local importance to rural people. Since most of the local applications require local contents, the company has partnered freelancers and developers as part of the Reliance Development Programme.
The mobile value-added services (VAS) market is estimated to be close to Rs 5,000 crore of which the entertainment applications constitute close to 35 per cent of the market. The contribution of VAS to the telecom service providers’ revenue in India varies between 5-13 per cent. [Via]

For India’s 375 million-and-growing mobile phone users, 2009 holds the promise of third generation (3G) mobile and WiMax services.
The new technologies bring with it an exciting array of services —super fast internet on the mobile, video calls, interactive gaming et al. But far more important, these will enable rural India to access facilities such as e-governance, e-education, and tele-medicine among others.
The superior connectivity offered by these platforms can be used to bridge the digital divide and provide internet and data services to those who have no access to landlines.
The year 2009 is also set to herald the entry of a slew of WiMax enabled handsets, which will enable consumers to use this platform and internet telephony calls on their mobile. Exploiting WiMax for voice will push mobile tariffs in India, which are already the lowest in the world, to further lows.
However, experts caution that the opportunity lies in seeing WiMax as being complementary, rather than competing with 3G. The battle lines have been drawn — it is no secret that some of the leading names in the global telecom space have intensified their efforts to prevent WiMax platform from taking root and spreading its wings in India. Read on …

e-procurement, the process of online tendering has gained widespread acceptance in a short span of time and it is now being used by 20 State departments, said Secretary e-Governance B L Sridhar.
Delivering a talk on e-governance in the City on Tuesday he said, “The e-procurement programme when implemented fully will result in a saving of Rs 1,000 crore for the Government. It started with three departments and now 20 departments have adopted e-procurement platform. Already Rs 1,000 worth of Government funds have been approved through the e-procurement process,” he said. [Via]

In what could possibly be one of the best e-governance initiatives for the police department, Wipro Infotech has developed an integrated police information system, which will cover day-to-day administration of the department, as well as back-end processes.
The process had been automated to ease the tasks of administration and record keeping, thereby bringing in operational efficiency throughout the police department.
The application is also incorporated with a citizen interface, through which complaints can be raised and status of an already lodged FIR could be known. The user interface can display content both in English and local language.

The benefits include:

1. Faster public response
2. Maintenance of details of criminals
3. Keeping track of the status of cases
4. Monitoring and enhancing departmental performance
5. Significantly reducing paper work and manual register maintenance
6. Eliminating duplicate and inconsistent record keeping
7. Providing quick and easy access to historic data, thus enabling accurate forecasting [Via]

To streamline and improve the civic administration, the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) will be activating its e-governance by encouraging people to post their problems and seek solutions by sending their queries to the e mail id: mmc@gmail.com.
MMC chairperson Savio Coutinho said on Friday that the service will be functional from next week and hoped that it would go a long way in solving the problems of the people who often have to come to the
council to seek solutions to their problems.
Now, queries about documents required for any particular purpose, procedures for obtaining licenses or keeping abreast of the status of certain applications etc., can be provided directly to the people. The queries/information sought will be forwarded to the concerned department/section and the details shall be forwarded on mail, Savio said and pointed out the mail service will be a window to correspondence and redressal of grievances but for actual work to be done, the concerned persons will have to come to the council. [Via]

Government on Friday approved a central scheme to use the Information Communication Technology (ICT) in providing personalised and interactive knowledge modules to students, a step aimed at increasing enrolment rate by five per cent in higher education in the 11th Plan.
The HRD Ministry scheme would cost Rs 4,612 crore in the 11th Plan, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said, with budgetary provision for the scheme for this financial year at Rs 502 crore.
As per the scheme, ICT potential will be used to provide high-quality personalised and interactive knowledge modules over the Internet and intra-net for all learners in higher educational institutes in any time and any where basis.
The mission will generate content and provide connectivity to institutes and learners. It will extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 18,000 colleges in the country, including each of the department of 419 universities, deemed universities and institutions of national importance.
The scheme is expected to increase enrolment rate in higher education from 10 per cent currently to 15 per cent by 2012. Read on …

With the chairman of board of revenue of Uttar Pradesh, Vinod Kumar Malhotra, Friday inaugurating the e-governance centre (Jan Suvidha Kendra) on a public-private partnership basis, Ghaziabad has become Uttar Pradesh’s first electronically governed e-district.
This district-level centre run by SGS InfoTech Private Limited has a direct link with the various government offices like tehsil (sub-district) and block development offices.
The required verification for issuing certificates would be made through the internet from the concerned offices, thus also saving the effort and time of the applicant.
A fee of Rs.15 would be charged for a certificate. At present caste certificates, domicile certificates and income certificates will be issued from this centre.
Later, 32 facilities including services for RTI, bank information and even railway booking would be included. [Via]