Under the MahaOnline initiative, the Government of Maharashtra has formed a Joint Venture with Tata Consultancy Services for offering government services online under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has three joint ventures (JVs) – APOnline with the Andhra Pradesh Government, MPOnline with the Madhya Pradesh Government and MahaOnline – the newest one – with the Maharashtra Government. All the three JVs have been established to implement e-Governance initiatives in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Citizens have to presently spend a lot of time and money for accessing government services, getting different types of certificates, paying bills etc. To resolve these problems and to increase transparency in the working of government, the project was started. The motto of the JV is “Citizen from Inline to Online”.
The main objective of the JV is to provide all Government to Citizen (G2C) services to citizens at the nearest point from their home. For this, in Andhra Pradesh (AP), we have more than 50,000 kiosks. In Madhya Pradesh (MP), more than 2500 kiosks are working, along with 7000 Common Service Centres (CSCs), which have been linked with MPOnline. In addition to this, approximately 1000 university kiosks work exclusively for universities. In MahaOnline, presently we don’t have kiosks but we are working through CSCs which have been set up under the National e-Governanc ePlan (NeGP) of the Government of India. In all, 11,000 CSCs are to be set up in Maharashtra. Of this, 5000 have been set up MahaOnline services are being provided through these CSCs. Online delivery of services helps in massive savings in terms of time and money, generates employment and also helps increase computer literacy. In MP, we found that students save approximately Rs 150-200 per form. One organisation saved Rs 6-7 crore per year by taking the process online. In counselling, a student is able to save approximately Rs 2400-3000 due to online process.
Features of the Model
The JV model implemented as a PPP means that the Department does not have to pay for anything. Services are made available online and costs are recovered through sage charges from the citizens. The charges are shared between the JV and CSC/kiosk operator. The JV has a lifetime of 10 years beyond which the government can choose to continue it or take it over. The data, services and people employed are all safe in this manner, and the model is financially viable.
Important Initiatives under MahaOnline
One important initiative which is under implementation in MahaOnline is DigiGov which is a file movement software. It will create a less-paper office. All the files which move from one Department to another can moved electronically. All papers will be scanned, sent electronically and approved electronically, with digital signatures. There would be no need to send the physical files from one Department to another and this will save time, and effective monitoring of the file movement. It is a bilingual software available in English and Marathi. Testing is already under progress in the IT Department and the Raj Bhawan and the system should be rolled out within the next six months.
One important initiative which is under implementation in MahaOnline is DigiGov which is a file movement software
The other thing being implemented under MahaOnline is a Human Resource Management System. The service books of all Mantralaya employees are being digitised and will be available electronically within 6-8 months’ time. Approximately 1500 service books have already been digitised. The next target is to make all leaves online, so that employees can make requests for leave online and response on the same is also given online.
The third is G2C services for various departments. 40-odd services have already been enabled and trials are underway in Nagpur region where 16 forms have been implemented and service is provided through CSCs. Similar initiative is also underway for the Panchayati Raj Department under which 25000 operators would be active in Gram Panchayats and all Panchayat services and certificates will be made online. The operators have already reached the locations services would be starting shortly.
Currently the operators are working on the Gram Panchayat Accounting System PRIA Soft. Maharashtra is the only state in the country where all accounting of Gram Panchayats has been made online. The records till last week are available online. 70 lakh vouchers have been digitised and entered into the system and expenditure of around Rs 3000 crore has been tallied with the system.