Governance2.Org

The Centre for Development and Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has developed a software (called Cure@Home) which can be loaded on your personal computer and prescribe you remedy for diseases, besides guiding you on symptoms and lifestyle corrections you need to make to prevent future advents. Most importantly, the software is powered by the combined knowledge of allopathy, ayurveda, homoeopathy and yoga to give you maximum and best options to treat your ailment.
Most of them are household remedies for diseases and symptoms besides advice on diet and lifestyle according to constitution, diseases, seasons etc. The software can be loaded at public kiosks (citizens’ facilitation centres) and used at home and clinics. The C-DAC also plans to tie-up with schools and colleges to promote use among students. Continue Reading »

Propelling itself into an era of e-Governance, the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) is fast implementing the IT solutions software, the e-Urja project. This software will not only increase GUVNL’s operational efficiency, but also improve its customer service.
An integrated solution and aims to share a centralized database with all users, The e-Urja project is expected to make the organisation’s functioning more transparent, organised, integrated and efficient.
Human resources, payrolls, e-procurement, accounting, budget, and other departments will be served by the same database through a single entry point. The software will also help the GUVNL in reducing errors and save time and labour. Continue Reading »

About 38 traffic rule offenders, including 26 on the opening day, landed in police net after the city police have started using the Blackberry mobile phones, implemented as a pilot project.
Under the project launched by Kerala Government, complete information about the vehicle and its owner can be instantly accessed by policemen using these mobile phones. Three complimentary Blackberry handsets had been handed over to the police personnel recently. Continue Reading »

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]

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]

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 …

The Estonian Parliament approved a measure allowing citizens to vote by mobile phone in the next parliamentary elections in 2011. This is a step up from from Internet ballots that Estonians were allowed to cast in last year’s parliamentary vote.
The mobile-voting system, which has already been tested, requires that voters obtain free, authorized chips for their phones, which in turn, would  verify the voter’s identity and authorize participation in the electronic voting system.
Kaidro, spokesman of the SK Certification Center, which issues personal ID cards in Estonia, said he expects the 2011 vote to be the first of its kind, though he said neighboring Finland and Sweden possess the software and technical capabilities to conduct a similar “cellular election.”
Estonian officials said the Internet voting system in 2007 proved secure despite worries about hacker attacks, identity fraud and vote count manipulation. [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]