Jharkhand, formerly a part of the State of Bihar, was formed on 15th November 2000 with Ranchi as its capital. Jharkhand is one of the richest states in mines and minerals in India.
With the formation of the State, NIC (National Informatics Centre) Jharkhand State Centre also came into existence in the year 2000 which ever since has been providing valuable ICT support to the government departments at various levels in coordination with the Department of Information Technology, Government of Jharkhand. The State is in the throes of achieving many feats in the field of e-Governance.
Network infrastructure
Network Infrastructure is the backbone for all IT enabled services. NIC Jharkhand took up the challenge to connect 12 administrative buildings of the secretariat including the 2 main buildings – Project Building and Nepal House. A Campus Area Network of more than 500 nodes with its hub centre at Nepal House has been established to provide Intranet and Internet connectivity to the State Administration through NICET. The hub centre is equipped with high-end Routers, managed switches, Antivirus servers, Firewall, NMS etc to provide a secure connectivity. The government is already on the verge of commissioning a very ambitious SWAN (State Wide Area Network) Project – JHARNET– extending the connectivity further to all the districts, blocks and panchayats.
The State of Jharkhand, which came into existence on 15th November 2000, is moving towards the adoption of e-Government at a fast pace. Jharkhand is on the verge of commissioning the ambitious JHARNET project that would extend the connectivity further to all its panchayats, blocks and districts
Video conferencing
In November 2001 four Commissionaries of Jharkhand got connected through Video Conferencing (VC). The initiative of NIC Jharkhand to bridge the digital-divide bore fruit when the then PM of India A. B. Vajpayee inaugurated the ‘Sarvasiksha Abhiyan’ and interacted with the villagers of a remote Koinjhari village through Video Conferencing. Subsequently, the VC facility was extended to the Governor, Chief Minister, Ministers in the State Cabinet, senior bureaucrats, district officials, and is currently under installation at the Jharkhand Bhawan, New Delhi. The Chief Minister now regularly interacts with the remote villagers through his office VC or Mobile VC facility.
Web services
By developing the websites of various departments, the Government has tried to Some of the developed websites are as follows: http://jharkhand.nic.in – The official website of Govt. of Jharkhand; http://jharkhandhighcourt.nic.in – The official web site of Jharkhand High court is very popular for cause list generation; http://jharkhandcomtax.nic.in – the official site for the Department of Commercial Taxes; http://cipranchi.nic.in Central Institute of Psychiatry started its Electronics patient care through this website; http://sisiranchi.nic.in The official web site for Small Industries Service Institute Ranchi; http://kvsurda. nic.in/ – the official web site for the All India Soil & Land Use Survey, Ranchi, etc.
Besides, almost all the districts of Jharkhand have a website furnishing details of the districts. The websites are available at http://districts.nic.in. Results of various examinations conducted by Jharkhand Academic Council and Central Institute of Psychiatry are published on the Internet by NIC, Jharkhand. In some cases, the admit cards are also made available on the web.
Patient registration and enquiry
In an attempt to extend the benefits of ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) in the health sector, a single window system for registration and enquiry of patients was developed and implemented at the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Jamshedpur, in August 2003. The features of the software include outdoors patient registration, indoor patient registration, enquiry on indoor patient and generation of discharge certificate for indoor patient.
Treasury computerisation
Treasury Computerisation in Jharkhand started in 2005. A LAN based solution has been designed and developed on a 2-tier architecture (VB/Oracle 9i on Linux server) incorporating a tight role based security for different types of users. The application has automated all the major processes of the treasury functions and authentication procedures. While transactions through Bank have been made online using Dial up connectivity or LAN. The application has helped in timely generation of accounts, reduced paper work and removal of offline entry of vouchers. The system also facilitates GPF accounting and is fully operational at 17 locations and will soon be extended to all treasuries and sub-treasuries of the state. A centralised web based interface (http://jhr.nic.in/treasury) has been implemented to monitor the daily transactions being made in the districts through user-id/password authentication mechanism. The State government officials are extensively using this interface for monitoring the financial health of the state.
GPF computerisation
The Directorate and all the District GPF (General Provident Fund) offices are computerised for maintaining the subscribers details, their contri-butions, advances and refunds and generates the necessary accounts and reports as and when required. A web interface has also been developed for the subscribers of the Directorate.
Transport computerisation
NIC, Jharkhand, in coordination with the State government has successfully implemented VAHAN and SARATHI software in all the 18 District Transport Office (DTO), 4 Regional Transport Authority and State Transport Authority offices. The Registration of vehicle, Tax realisation, Issue of Permits and Vehicle fitness details are done through VAHAN software whereas SARATHI is used for issuing Driving License, Conductor’s License and License to Driving School. In six districts, namely Dhanbad, Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Koderma, the Registration Certificate Book and Driving License are being issued in smart card medium. Efforts are being made to extend this facility to all the 18 DTOs by the end of this financial year. For VAHAN software, Jharkhand has won Silver Icon award at the 9th National Conference on e-Governance under Service Delivery category.
Land records information system
A Unicode-based application software has been developed in VB.Net on MS SQLSERVER for the Land Record Computerisation in the State. The pilot implementation is being carried out in East Singhbhum district to maintain the information regarding the KHATIYAN and REGISTER-II in digital format. Once the pilot is successful the application can be rolled out in the entire state.
Budget preparation for the State Government
NIC has been providing necessary support for the computerisation and preparation of the State Budget every year. The Budget is also uploaded on the state website and a budget CD is released.
Election support system
NIC provides active support to the State Government during the Parliament and Legislative Assembly elections. This includes management of entire range of pre-poll and post-poll activities, data transmission, website management etc. An application software has been developed to take care of activities such as personnel deployment in booths, management of booth information, support in counting processes etc.
Prison management system
The Birsa Munda Central Jail, Ranchi, has been computerised on the pattern of the Tihar Jail on a pilot basis. The system maintains a comprehensive database about the prisoners, their photographs and biometrics, physical locations, their movements, medical history, actions taken by the court, and crimes committed by them etc. The visitors’ information and monitoring is also done through the system. ISDN based Video Conferencing facility has been set up between the Birsa Munda Central Jail and the civil court, Ranchi, for the hearing of the cases without physically moving the prisoners. On an average 50 cases are attended daily using the VC facility. Another 16 pairs of Civil Courts and Central jails are being taken up in the current financial year.
Computerisation of High and Civil courts
Jharkhand High court computerisation has been a major achievement of NIC, Jharkhand. The court information system maintains the status of cases right from its filing and generates the cause lists on Daily and Monthly basis which is uploaded on the court website. The system also maintains the judgment of the cases for future references, and the litigants can enquire their case status through the IVRS facility.
Besides, the Ranchi civil court has been taken up as the pilot site for the city civil court computerisation project. A state-of-art LAN has been established covering 50 courts and offices in different buildings in the campus. The software for maintaining the case details, judgment orders and cause list generation has already been made operational.
Appointment management system
An Appointment Management System has been implemented for the Governor and the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. The system maintains and manages the appointments and engagements and prepares the daily schedules resolving the time conflicts. The system operates on authority based security model.
NIC is also extending full support for computerisation of Raj Bhawan and CM Secretariat. A technical expert has been posted at both the locations to support their computerisation activities and a UTP/Fiber based Campus Area Network is in place to cater to the connectivity requirements.
Public grievances monitoring system
The pilot implementation of the PGMS is being carried out at the district of Palamu. The system captures the grievances from the point it is lodged till the time it is redressed. The application is used for monitoring of pendencies and helps in early redressal of grievances.
Human resource management system (e-Personnel)
e-Personnel is a web-based system that maintains the details of government officials posted in the department. The MIS supports generation of different reports based on the requirement. Pilot implementation is underway at the district of Dhanbad and some of the Secretariat departments including Industry.
DM’s court monitoring system
A web-based application has been designed for monitoring the cases in District Magistrate (DM)’s court. The application allows the DM to enter the next hearing date right from the courtroom without intervention of any other staff. The application generates date wise cause list and has been implemented in Dumka district on a pilot basis
Online project monitoring
The project, “e-Vikas”, is an application meant for district level heads like DC, DDC, BDOs and others who can monitor the status of schemes/projects being implemented under them. The highlight of this application is that State level officials can also monitor individual projects. This is a web-based application using Unicode. The individual schemes/projects can be monitored up to the village, panchayat, block and district level. This has been implemented at the district of Lohardagga on a pilot basis.
Further, the 22 district centres of NIC are broadly contributing in area like DRDA, Scheme Monitoring, Arms Licensing, Education, Health, Revenue, Recruitment and Transfer Processes, Welfare, Old Age Pension Scheme, Court Cases Monitoring, Internet and Email support through local RAS, Training etc.
Online passport
The PCIS (Passport Control and Issuance System) package has been implemented at Regional Passport Office, Ranchi, since April 2003. The entire process starting from receiving application to printing and dispatching of Passport is now online. A Computer generated file number is given to applicant during submission of application for future enquiry over telephone or through passport website (http://www.passport.nic.in). Modules covered under this include complete computerisation of applications, fees, CID reports handling, loss case entry, report generation, passport booklet and number allotment and system administration, Passport Index Retrieval System, Prior Approval Category System, and Passport Printing.
In addition to this the District Administration, Jamshedpur (East Singhbhum), launched a site (http://jamshedpur.nic.in/login.asp) where the applicants applying for passport in District Passport Cell can view the status of verification being done by the S.P. and CID office. The verification details can be viewed using the receipt no. allotted by the District Passport Cell.
FCI-Integrated information system for foodgrain management (Central Project)
It is a web-based Integrated Management Information System for FCI (Food Corporation of India) which captures the complete workflow of FCI from Depot to head office levels and extends a new way of reconciliation of stock figures thereby transforming the current depot set up into a computerised environment. NIC is supporting the computerisation activities at both the District Centres of Ranchi and Hazaribagh along with their depots.
Other activities
7th All India School Survey has been completed successfully. Support to AGMARKNET is being provided and the data is being uploaded on regular basis from the districts. It facilitates generation and transmissions of prices and arrivals of information from APMC and web-based disseminations. Farmers Awareness Programs were also organised at Ramgarh, Lohardagga, Hazaribagh etc. DACNET websites have been developed and maintained. CBSE-AIEEE – On campus online Counselling for fee collection, refund, choice submission, deletion, allotment letter generation and all technical support were provided for counselling centres officials at BIT Mesra, Ranchi.
Upcoming projects
Computerisation at RINPAS (Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied Sciences) is to be undertaken.
The modules under progress include PIS (Patient Information System), Hospital Inventory Management, Library Computerisation and PIS. CPF Computerisation for the employees under the new pension scheme of Government is being done for the Directorate of GPF. Under Cooperative Bank Computerisation, Ranchi-Khunti CCB and DCB are being taken up on a pilot basis and remaining 7 CCBs and 53 DCBs are planned to be taken up in next phases. In Stamp paper stock Monitoring system for Treasuries, CONFONET (Consumer Forum Network) is under progress; VAT (value Added Tax) Computerisation is to start in April 2006; and CIPA (Common Integrated Police Application) is likely to start soon.
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