Data Centre Initiative as Management Approach

Anurag Jain
Secretary to Chief Minister and Secretary, Information Technology, Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh has been one of the earliest States to adopt Information Technology for improvement of internal processes and for delivering citizen services.  One of the earliest applications that was developed and rolled out through the State was Integrated Treasury Computerization [http://www.mptreasury.org/].  Under this project, all the treasury transactions and payment of bill was performed on a client server system which had a central facility at Bhopal and all the Districts [treasuries and sub-treasuries] were connected with each other.  This project was a land mark in more than one way and resulted into better financial management and control on wasteful expenditure.  Similarly, the Commercial Taxes Department [http://www.mptax.net/] was also computerized at the same time leading to a strict monitoring on the payment of taxes and control on tax evasion.  The Transport Department [http://www.mptransport.org] of the State is now in its 6th year of computerization and Driving License and vehicle registration is through Smart Card.  This project is functional in all the Districts [Road Transport Officers and Assistant Road Transport Officers] and the resultant database is useful in checking tax evasion and also vehicle theft.  From the citizen’s perspective, the portal MPOnline [http://www.mponline.gov.in] which is now in the third year of operation has proved to be a boon to citizens and the Common Service Centers of the State.  The portal services are available 24X7 and can be accessed either through kiosk, CSC or from the comfort of the home of the citizen.  Currently, 75 services of various Departments are available through the portal and the citizen need not go from one place to another for availing the services.

Data Centre Initiative as Management ApproachThe Government of India has in principle agreed to fund the State Data Center programme of the State.  The Request for Proposal is being finalized and it will soon be sent to the Government of India, Department of Information Technology for their approval.  The State Government has decided to locate the Data Center on the green field site.  A new building is being constructed in Arera Hills, a prime location in the heart of Bhopal.  The building will be supplied by two independent electricity feeders and, therefore, a 24x7x365 supply of electricity will be ensured to this facility.  The building has other features such as perimeter security, Data Center lift, claw armed roads for bursting tyres of vehicles forcing entry into the facility and separate entry and exit for all the floors apart from the standard other Data Center related facilities.  The intention is to create a near category 4 Data Center for hosting the servers of different applications.  The other interesting aspect of this building will be that it is going to also house network monitoring center of the State Wide Area Network and a Cyber Security Center which is now becoming a need of the hour. The first floor, which is going to house the Data Center, will have 18,000 sq.ft. of space which would be sufficient to cater to the needs for next 30 years.

The State Government has taken an in principle decision to co-locate servers and applications of all the Departments that have rolled out their applications across the State.  Similarly, future applications will compulsorily be hosted in the Data Center so that we are able to economise on cost.  Another interesting opportunity will be the development of Cloud Computing which will allow further reduction in the cost of development of application and optimal utilization of the hardware and software resources.

Anurag Jain

Anurag Jain, Secretary to Chief Minister and Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government ofMadhya Pradesh, He may be reached at jain.anurag@mp.nic.in

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