The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet will soon pass a resolution on BharatNet and accordingly we will put it before the Government of India, says Bhupinder Singh, Minister for Information Technology, Madhya Pradesh, in an interview with Gautam Debroy of Elets News Network (ENN)
What is the status of IT implementation in Madhya Pradesh?
Madhya Pradesh is doing very well in the implementation of IT projects. We have already taken the decision to connect even the remotest corner of the State through IT. We will definitely connect all the villages and panchayats in Madhya Pradesh by internet to accomplish the Digital India mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by 2017.
How will you implement BharatNet in your state?
The Government of India’s initiative on BharatNet (earlier known as NOFN) is very much welcome and our State will definitely do well in its implementation. BharatNet will definitely help in implementing all projects whether it is related to health, education or to reach the remotest corner of the State with high-speed broadband connectivity. The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet will soon pass a resolution on BharatNet and accordingly we will put it before the Government of India.
Through BharatNet, we will provide 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats. We have a total of 23,000 panchayats across Madhya Pradesh.
What are the major initiatives of the Madhya Pradesh Government in terms of eGovernance?
There are several areas where the State has worked in terms of eGovernance. We have IT parks in four different cities (Bhopal, Indore,Gwalior and Jabalpur) to cater to the needs of the IT sector.
Apart from the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), we have the State Data Centre (SDC) for hosting and managing eGovernance applications of the State, its constituent departments and various other organisations.
We have State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) to fulfill the vision of providing easy and convenient services to the citizens through remote access primarily through Common Service Centres (CSCs) and enabling the State Portal by implementing the key components of the portal.
We are soon going to have two Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) schemes for Bhopal and Jabalpur, aiming at creation of world-class infrastructure for attracting investments in the Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector. EMC is also one of the major pillars for achieving the vision of Digital India.
Madhya Pradesh is soon going to have two Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) schemes for Bhopal and Jabalpur, aiming at creation of world-class infrastructure for attracting investments in the Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector
We also have MPOnline Ltd to provide citizen services at their doorstep with special emphasis on the rural community and avoid citizens’ visit to the government offices.
Tell us about the Madhya Pradesh State Wide Area Network (MP-SWAN)?
In order to get financial and social benefits of IT, SWAN has been envisaged. The project is to provide bedrock of communication through voice, data and video throughout the State and is an effective tool for implementation of eGovernance projects. SWAN is to ensure the dissemination of government services and information anytime and anywhere.
It is a reliable network for vertical and horizontal connectivity throughout the State and will reduce the cost of communication between government departments at different locations. It will also provide secure network infrastructure to enable electronic transfer of sensitive data, payments, etc., with improved capacity for disaster management.
MP-SWAN is a highway of connectivity between G2G, G2C and G2B concerns providing round-the-clock connectivity of minimum 2 Mbps between 50 districts and 313 blocks/tehsils.
How do you intend to reach out to the rural areas of Madhya Pradesh?
We have around 12,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs). Our reach to the citizen is basically done in two ways: we can directly reach the citizens through internet, wherein they can use computers, laptops or tabs; and the second source is CSCs, through which we can connect to the citizens. So, in the rural areas, we have CSCs and in the urban areas we have MPOnline kiosks.
CSCs are envisaged to be a medium to improve the living standard of common man in the rural parts by enabling electronic delivery of information, knowledge, skills and services, which they need the most. CSCs are expected to reduce the time and cost involved in obtaining some of the rural services.