In a major move to
take "IT to the masses", the Union Minister for Parliamentary
Affairs, Communications & Information Technology, Shri Pramod
Mahajan today announced, the initiation of a model district programme
in each state to replicate the "Bhoomi" project of Karnataka.
This model district would be selected by each state based on self
assessment of given indicators such as presence of IT infrastructure,
affordable connectivity, citizens’ keenness to use IT tools, presence
of technical and professional educational institutions and relevant
growth indicators. This was aimed to provide a package assistance
for capacity building within the states to deal with the various
policy and implementation issues related to land management. Shri
Mahajan made this announcement at the first National Conference
of State Revenue & IT Secretaries on Land Record Management
System, here today.
Elaborating on the
details, Shri Mahajan said that the Department of Information
Technology would fund the entire technical assistance for each
selected district in all States and Union Territories. The States
and Union Territories would have to provide the local infrastructure
and the given costs in the selected districts. The given time
frame to complete this exercise and replicate the "Bhoomi" programme
that is based on online delivery of land records in Karnataka
would be one year. The States, the Minister said, hence would
be able to provide fast, convenient and secure Government services
in identified areas. A key objective in this regard was to leverage
knowledge, experience and expertise gained by one major project
for the entire country. By initiating such a programme, people
would not only become aware of the relevance and importance of
IT tools in day-to-day life, it would also empower them and help
the administering states to move towards efficiency and transparency.
The Minister also said that he expected that the states would
be willing to replicate this model district programme to other
districts in their states in a time frame convenient and admissible.
Depending on the success achieved regarding this initiative of
the Department, the Minister said that the next focus area for
taking e-governance to the people would be E-Health. The objective
here would be to provide medical facilities through tele-medicine
and appropriate IT tools.
The Minister earlier
stated that the streamlining of E-Goernance tools across the country
also ensured the relevance of IT as a tool of governance and ensured
the logical shift from traditional governance to the era of E-Governance.
In order to ensure the admissibility of E-Governance, it was important
to ensure "speed in the decision making process". Speed created
the environment for accountability, efficiency and transparency.
This was important for a diverse country like India where people
depended on the administrative system in day-to-day life. With
the help of IT tools, people were mentally prepared to face technological
challenges. The "Bhoomi" programme was a perfect example in this
regard.
Speaking earlier,
the Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology,
Dr. Sanjay Paswan said that the introduction of digital tools
have brought about a digital integration in the country and at
the same time had helped to defeudalise the social parameters
of society. Secretary(IT), Shri R.R. Shah while welcoming the
participants gave an in-depth presentation of the E-Governance
initiatives undertaken by the Department of Information Technology.
Participants from
different states and union territories discussed in detail the
Land Records Management Systems in their respective states. The
issues discussed pertained to the necessity of creating citizens
centric projects in land management, simplification of procedures
and formats, the need to provide legal sanctity of computerized
land record documents, the streamlining of detail regarding project
management and the standardization of work flow, the very issue
of sustainability of such programmes in the long run and finally
the role and importance of technology issues in initiating E-Governance
programmes and projects.
The meeting was held
in the background of the need to bring together policy initiatives
in the e-governance agenda, to secure value added Government services
for citizens on matters affecting the common man. The focus on
the "Bhoomi" programme was to highlight the success of the Karnataka
Government in creating a self sustainable
E-Governance project
where there is an online delivery of land records. BHOOMI is a
self-sustainable E-Governance project for the computerized delivery
of 20 million rural land records to 6.7 million farmers through
177 Government owned kiosks in Karnataka. This has eliminated
red tape and corruption in the issue of land title records, and
is fast becoming the backbone for credible IT-enabled Government
services for the rural population. Rural land records have become
the central conduits for delivering better IT-enabled services
to citizens because they contain multiple data elements such as:
ownership, tenancy, loans, nature of title, irrigation details
and crops grown. The programme has been successful in creating
a hassle free mechanism for change of land titles, ensured that
the solution is tamper proof and is easy to administer.
Issues that were
keenly discussed during the meeting were effective implementation
of e-governance services. Discussions in this regard also focussed
on the gaps existing between different states regarding issues
pertaining to technology, management, financing, project structuring
and specialized manpower.
