Madhya Pradesh will implement all core projects under the national e-governance plan (NeGP)  by November this year. According to the state information technology department, the state data centre (SDC), a core NeGP project, which was initially scheduled for completion by August 2012, will be made operational by October. A state of the art building has already been set up. The state service delivery gateway (SSDG), another core project, which would offer multiple citizen services through one portal, will be operational in November.       

“The SDC project has got delayed but it will be operational by October. Presently, it is in final testing stage. We already have 12 major applications on board and a state of the art building has already been constructed. We also plan to implement SSDG by November,” Hari Ranjan Rao, secretary, IT, government of Madhya Pradesh said, while speaking at the state consultation workshop on e-government organised by department of electronics and IT (DeitY), government of India and Nasscom in Bhopal on Thursday. 

The state wide area network (SWAN) and common services centre (CSC), another two core projects, were already inaugurated and are currently in next phase of implementation. 

The state has 9,254 CSCs, which has been set up by AISECT, CMS, NICT and Reliance Communications. However, only 6,000 are operational, since they have connectivity. In terms of viability, the CSCs are doing good business after integration of MP Online, which has increased the basket of services.

Speaking about the state investment policy, he said the state released IT Investment Policy 2012 only 15 days back. The policy will ensure single-window clearance for investment proposals. The policy includes providing land at 25 % of the prevalent collectorate guidelines.  The policy also has provisions for setting up IT parks in Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior and Jabalpur.

“In MP, we have integrated the e-district project with Lok Seva Guarantee Adhiniyam 2010,” the secretary said.  When the Lok Seva Guarantee Adhiniyam legislation was passed in MP, it did not include the ‘e’ component.

Delivering the keynote address at the workshop, titled, Citizen Centric e-Government, Prem Shankar Verma, chairman, state electronics development corporation, said that more than 80 percent of people in India live in villages. “The last person in these villages has to get service for us to deem any scheme to be successful in our country,” he said.

Appreciating the call centre initiative of the state government, he said, “A farmer can call on 155343 and get his complaint registered. Through this initiative, 30 lakh grievances were resolved and it was possible through e-governance.”

He said that though MPSEDC through various consultations facilitated setting up of 9,232 Common Services Centres (CSCs), not much work is happening in these centres, due to the unavailability of services. “One still cannot get a copy of the land records or a caste or income certificate at these centres,” he said.  

Rajiv Gauba, additional secretary, DeitY, said, “We need to fully grasp the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in the context of immense dissatisfaction among the citizens due to the poor state of delivery of services. The immense dissatisfaction and disenchantment has virtually brought paralysis in the government and citizen interface; still the delivery of public service delivery is not up to the level.”

“Viewing the current state of affairs, the vision of NeGP – of delivering services at citizens’ doorstep - becomes more relevant,” he said. 

Elaborating on the status of the core infrastructure projects under NeGP, he said that the progress is uneven across states.

To increase the human resource ability, he said states have been provided with State e-Mission Teams (SeMT) and composite teams. Talking about the status of NeGP in MP, he said that in the SWAN project, the state has integrated the wide area network with NICNET. The project, for which DeitY has sanctioned Rs 170 crore, is connecting 50 districts and 313 blocks, across the states. 

He applauded the convergence of MP Online Centre with CSCs and said that DeitY is receiving such applications from other states too. “Since the goal remains the same with most of the e-kiosk projects, we need to make sure that all the outlets are brought under one umbrella, that is CSCs,” he said. 

Talking about the e-procurement project, he said the state has processed 20,630 tenders through e-procurement system and has witnessed transactions of more Rs 36,000 crore. “The government procurement continues to be a major source of leakages and corruption. This is one sector where transparency can make lot of difference,” he said.

He lauded the plan of setting up of the IT finishing schools in Madhya Pradesh, which will provide specialized IT training to the employees in the government’s e governance programme. “There are a lot of engineering graduates in the country who are unemployable at the end of the programme. The IT finishing schools with specialised IT training, as being planned in Madhya Pradesh, will solve this problem,” he said.

Talking about the Electronic Delivery of Services Bill being brought by the union government, he said it has been approved by the standing committee. He said the department is currently looking at resolving issues of alignment of the legislation with the citizen charter.

He also said that an IT policy is on the anvil. “We seek to build on India’s strong position in the IT sector so that we may become global IT power house,” he said.

Speaking about challenges, he said connectivity and power continue to be the major issues in the implementation. As a result, only 55,000 to 60,000 CSCs are currently operational out of 90,000 CSCs which are reported to be put in place across the country. He said that talks are currently on for providing alternative energy resources in areas where there is acute shortage of power.

Elaborating on the way forward, he said, “We need an HR policy in government for better implementation of e-governance. An HR policy is being formulated by a committee headed by Nandan Nilekani. It will come handy to all states, which will have dedicated people overseeing the implementation of IT projects in their departments.”

During the daylong workshop, the Madhya Pradesh Government showcased e-Government solutions implemented under the NeGP. The consultative meet is part of the 50 workshops being organised in all states and union territories (UTs) to amplify the mission and message of the NeGP – "Public Services Closer Home".

With many states in various stages of rolling out public services on the e-Government platform, the NeGP Apex Committee decided to create awareness about NeGP initiatives among stakeholders, discuss challenges in delivery of e-Services, identify state-specific issues and understand emerging technologies from industry.

The string of workshops will cover all state capitals, UTs and some important cities. The first workshop was hosted in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in July 2011 and the workshop in Bhopal was 19th in the series.

The event was attended by key stakeholders of the NeGP, drawn from central and state governments, e-Governance consultants, technology partners and implementing agencies.

NeGP, a key component of the union government's "inclusive growth" strategy, was approved by the cabinet in May 2006. It aims to deliver public services to the common man in his locality to make them both accessible and affordable.