In a major step towards taking FIRs and other police data online, the State Government in Rajasthan has launched the ambitious Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & System (CCTNS) in Jaipur and Jodhpur on 1st February 2013. The CCTNS, a landmark e-Governance Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan(NeGP), has been initiated by the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Centre for enabling the sharing of information on crime and criminals among nearly 16,000 police stations in the country.
The current issue of eGov is our annual special on homeland security, defence, enterprise security and cyber security. In this issue we have covered the status of implementation of CCTNS in full detail. There is no doubt that once CCTNS gets fully implemented across the country, it will lead to a vast improvement in way of law and order machinery is being managed in the country. However, we also cannot afford to loose sight of the fact that with our society’s increasing dependency on ICT, the consequences of security breach can be extremely grave.
At stake are not just the monetary losses, the security breaches of information systems can potentially lead to disruption of internal processes and communications, loss of sensitive and classified information, and cause catastrophic damage to the functioning of many industries like banking and others. In this issue of eGov magazine, we have examined the area of security from every possible angle, with a special emphasis to ICT deployment. We have interactions with senior officials and experts in the areas of defence, policing and administration. Views from of private industry players have also been taken to present a comprehensive picture.
Beyond security, this issue of the magazine also takes an in-depth look at the work in e-Governance being done by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), and the IT departments in different states. We have coverage of NeGD, NIXI and some key Mission Mode Projects. The interview of Jiwesh Nandan, Principal Secretary, Information Technology & Electronics, Government of Uttar Pradesh, presents a succinct picture of the range of ICT initiatives that are being taken in Uttar Pradesh. On 8th March 2013, we would have the event SecureIT 2013. This annual must-attend event will examine the new technology applications and services that are already in existence or will be deployed in future, to improve national security and to moderate the aftermath of natural and manmade disasters. In many ways this issue is an attempt to initiate a new kind of discussion on security related issues. These discussions, we hope, will be further deliberated at the SecureIT 2013 event and will essentially lead to logical conclusions.
I would also like to inform you that on March 6, 2013, we are organising the eOdhisa event in Bhubaneswar. This is a national level event, where the important officials from major government departments from the centre and the states will be participating. The Government of Odhisa is the Host Partner to the eOdhisa event. We look forward to seeing you at both the events. After all, it is very essential that all sections of society participate in the discussions on the ways by which all the security related issues can be deliberated and reached some logical conclusions and the scope of e-Governance can be further enhanced in the country.
Dr Ravi Gupta
Ravi.Gupta@elets.in
