National e-Governance Plan

Over the years, a large number of initiatives have been undertaken by various State Governments and Central Ministries to usher in an era of e-Government. Sustained efforts have been made at multiple levels to improve the delivery of public services and simplify the process of accessing them. e-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency. Lessons from previous e-Governance initiatives have played an important role in shaping the progressive e-Governance strategy of the country. Due cognizance has been taken of the notion that to speed up e-Governance implementation across the various arms of Government at National, State, and Local levels, a programme approach needs to be adopted, guided by common vision and strategy. This approach has the potential of enabling huge savings in costs through sharing of core and support infrastructure, enabling interoperability through standards, and of presenting a seamless view of Government to citizens. The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), takes a holistic view of e-Governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared cause. Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is evolving, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy, reliable access over the internet. The ultimate objective is to bring public services closer home to citizens, as articulated in the Vision Statement of NeGP. "Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets, and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man"

The Government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects and 8 components,on May 18, 2006. In the year 2011, 4 projects - Health, Education, PDS and Posts were introduced to make the list of 27 MMPs to31Mission Mode Projects (MMPs). The Government has accorded approval to the vision, approach, strategy, key components, implementation methodology, and management structure for NeGP. However, the approval of NeGP does not constitute financial approval(s) for all the Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and components under it. The existing or ongoing projects in the MMP category, being implemented by various Central Ministries, States, and State Departments would be suitably augmented and enhanced to align with the objectives of NeGP. In order to promote e-Governance in a holistic manner, various policy initiatives and projects have been undertaken to develop core and support infrastructure. The major core infrastructure components are State Data Centres (SDCs), State Wide Area Networks (S.W.A.N), Common Services Centres (CSCs) and middleware gateways i.e National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG), State eGovernance Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG), and Mobile e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG). The important support components include Core policies and guidelines on Security, HR, Citizen Engagement, Social Media as well as Standards related to Metadata, Interoperability, Enterprise Architecture, Information Security etc. New initiatives include a framework for authentication, viz. e-Pramaan and G-I cloud, an initiative which will ensure benefits of cloud computing for e-Governance projects.

e-Governance Infrastructure

State Wide Area Network (SWAN)

Introduction
The Government has approved the Scheme for establishing State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) across the country, in March, 2005 at a total outlay of Rs.3,334 crore to be expended by the Department under Grant-in-Aid of Rs. 2,005 crore, over a period of five years. Under this Scheme, technical and financial assistance are being provided to the States/UTs for establishing SWANs to connect all State/UT Headquarters up to the Block level via District/ sub-Divisional Headquarters, in a vertical hierarchical structure with a minimum bandwidth capacity of 2 Mbps per link. Each of the State / UT can enhance the bandwidth up to 34 Mbps between SHQ and DHQ and upto 8 Mbps between DHQ and BHQ depending upon the utilization. Steps have been initiated to integrate all SWANs using the National Knowledge Network (NKN). Four States namely Gujrat, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been integrated using NKN. SWAN is envisaged as the converged backbone network for data, voice and video communications throughout a State/UT with the following salient features: One PoP at each State / District / Block Headquarter Each PoP has Configurable Aggregation Equipment to enable vertical & horizontal connectivity Gateway to NICNET (National Backbone) for Inter-State connectivity State/ NIC would receive discounted price for BSNL BW cost (MoU signed)

Implementation Model

There are two Options for SWAN implementation as detailed below: Option I Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model State identifies a suitable PPP model (BOO, BOOT etc.) and selects an appropriate agency through a suitable competitive process for outsourcing the establishment, operation and maintenance of the Network. Option II NIC Model State designates NIC (National Informatics Centre) as the prime implementation agency for SWAN for establishment, operation and maintenance of the Network.

CURRENT STATUS The SWANs in 28 States/UT i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram have been operational. The SWANs in and Nagaland are in advanced stage of implementation. Rajasthan has identified the Network Operator and implementation is underway. J & K have initiated the bid process to identify the Network Operator for implementation. Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Andaman and Nicobar are in RFP/BOM finalization stage. It is expected that all State SWANs would be operational by September 2012 The following will give a glimpse of current Status across the country:

Third Party Audit To monitor the performance of SWANs, the Department has mandated positioning Third Party Auditor (TPA) agencies by the States/UTs. As on date, 23 States i.e. Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tripura, Orissa, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, West Bengal, UP, Lakshadweep, Andhra Pradesh,

Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizorum have empanelled the TPA agencies for monitoring the performance of the SWAN in their respective State. Remaining States/UTs are in the process of empanelment of TPA.

State Data Centre

Introduction
State Data Centre (SDC) has been identified as one of the important element of the core infrastructure for supporting e-Governance initiatives of National eGovernance Plan (NeGP). Under NeGP, it is proposed to create State Data Centres for the States to consolidate services, applications and infrastructure to provide efficient electronic delivery of G2G, G2C and G2B services. These services can be rendered by the States through common delivery platform seamlessly supported by core Connectivity Infrastructure such as State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and Common Service Centre (CSC) connectivity extended up to village level. State Data Centre would provide many functionalities and some of the key functionalities are Central Repository of the State, Secure Data Storage, Online Delivery of Services, Citizen Information/Services Portal, State Intranet Portal, Disaster Recovery, Remote Management and Service Integration etc. SDCs would also provide better operation & management control and minimize overall cost of Data Management, IT Resource Management, Deployment and other costs. Department of Information Technology (DIT) has formulated the Guidelines to provide Technical and Financial assistance to the States for setting up State Data Centre. These Guidelines also include the implementation options that can be exercised by the State to establish the SDC. SDC scheme has been approved by Government with an outlay of Rs. 1623.20 Crores over a period of 5 years. It is expected that the State Data Centres shall be set-up and operationalised in all the States/UTs by March 2011.

Service Delivery Gateway NSDG

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of the Govt. of India aims to make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man. One of the goals of the Government to meet this vision is the need to cooperate, collaborate and integrate information across different departments in the Centre, States and Local Government. Government systems characterized by islands of legacy systems using heterogeneous platforms and technologies and spread across diverse geographical locations, in varying state of automation, make this task very challenging. The National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG), a MMP under the NeGP, can simplify this task by acting as a standards-based messaging switch and providing seamless interoperability and exchange of data across. Vision The emergence of many e-governance applications for different departments to provide online services to citizens, businesses and government would require increasing interactions amongst departments and with external agencies at various levels in Government. Departments would need to develop connectors/adaptors for point to point connections between departments creating a mesh as shown in figure and also tight coupling between applications. This would lead to applications difficult to maintain and upgrade in case of version change and change in government policies and business rules. The National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG) is an attempt to reduce such point to point connections between departments and provide a standardized interfacing, messaging and routing switch through which various players such as departments, front-end service access providers and back-end service providers can make their applications and data inter-operable. The National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG) aims to achieve a high order of interoperability among autonomous and heterogeneous entities of the Government (in the Centre, States or Local bodies), based on a framework of e-Governance Standards.

Objectives The objectives of the NSDG are : To act as a core infrastructure for achieving standards-based interoperability between various eGovernment applications implemented at various levels and geographically dispersed locations. To evolve Gateway messaging standards and build a government owned Central Gateway based on these standards. Act as a catalyst in enabling the building of Standards based e-Governance applications with Gateway as the middleware to ensure interoperability. Enable integration across Centre, State or Local Governments there by enabling Integrated Service Delivery and a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) leading to joined up government. Help protect the legacy investments in software and hardware by easily integrating them with other technology platforms and software implementations. De-link the back-end departments/Service Providers (SP) from the front-end Service Access Providers thereby Ensuring separation of concerns of service access from the service implementation i.e. separates the Portal, CSC, Kiosks etc from the government services which reside in the backend departments. Encouraging competition at the front-end by allowing independent service access providers to provide services with varying levels of complexity, cost and service quality levels. Shared services can be added on to the core services as and when required, as special common services of the Gateway without affecting the core functionality of the Gateway, thereby providing flexibility and modularity. encourage back-end services to be plugged into the infrastructure as and when they are ready, Reduce the cost of e-Governance Projects by rationalizing, distributing and optimizing the services framework Use PKI infrastructure for secure transactions. Provision exists for encryption of department payload to ensure confidentiality of department data. The gateway provides digital signature and certificates to all stakeholders interacting with the gateway for identification, authentication and authorization. Transaction and audit logs help track government data. Enable transaction logging and time stamping for tracking of transactions and centralized control. Help the Departments backend workflow evolve gradually as the Gateway acts as a middleware delinking the backend from the front end. This means that even the Departments which do not have the complete automation or work flow at the back can still deliver e-Service to the citizens in a limited manner through the Gateway. To cite as an example, a server may be put up at the department for message exchange with Gateway in absence of readily available infrastructure at the department.

SSDG
The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of the Govt. of India aims to make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure

efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man. One of the goals of the Government to meet this vision is the need to cooperate, collaborate and integrate information across different departments in the Centre, States and Local Government. Government systems characterized by islands of legacy systems using heterogeneous platforms and technologies and spread across diverse geographical locations, in varying state of automation, make this task very challenging. The State e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG), a core component in e-Governance infrastructure under the NeGP, can simplify this task by acting as a standards-based messaging switch and providing seamless interoperability and exchange of data across. Vision The emergence of many e-governance applications for different departments to provide online services to citizens, businesses and government would require increasing interactions amongst departments and with external agencies at various levels in State Government. Departments would need to develop connectors/adaptors for point to point connections between departments creating a mesh as shown in figure and also tight coupling between applications. This would lead to applications difficult to maintain and upgrade in case of version change and change in government policies and business rules. The State e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) is an attempt to reduce such point to point connections between departments and provide a standardized interfacing, messaging and routing switch through which various players such as departments, front-end service access providers and back-end service providers can make their applications and data inter-operable. The State e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) aims to achieve a high order of interoperability among autonomous and heterogeneous entities of the states based on a framework of e-Governance Standards.

Objectives The objectives of the SSDG are : Act as a catalyst in enabling the building of Standards based e-Governance applications with Gateway as the middleware to ensure interoperability. Enable integration across Centre, State or Local Governments there by enabling Integrated Service Delivery and a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) leading to joined up government. Help protect the legacy investments in software and hardware by easily integrating them with other technology platforms and software implementations. De-link the back-end departments/Service Providers (SP) from the front-end Service Access Providers thereby Ensuring separation of concerns of service access from the service implementation i.e. separates the Portal, CSC, Kiosks etc from the government services which reside in the backend departments. Encouraging competition at the front-end by allowing independent service access providers to provide services with varying levels of complexity, cost and service quality levels. Shared services can be added on to the core services as and when required, as special common services of the Gateway without affecting the core functionality of the Gateway, thereby providing flexibility and modularity. encourage back-end services to be plugged into the infrastructure as and when they are ready. Reduce the cost of e-Governance Projects by rationalizing, distributing and optimizing the services

framework Use PKI infrastructure for secure transactions. Provision exists for encryption of department payload to ensure confidentiality of department data. The gateway provides digital signature and certificates to all stakeholders interacting with the gateway for identification, authentication and authorization. Transaction and audit logs help track government data. Enable transaction logging and time stamping for tracking of transactions and centralized control. Help the Departments backend workflow evolve gradually as the Gateway acts as a middleware delinking the backend from the front end. This means that even the Departments which do not have the complete automation or work flow at the back can still deliver e-Service to the citizens in a limited manner through the Gateway. To cite as an example, a server may be put up at the department for message exchange with Gateway in absence of readily available infrastructure at the department.

MSDG
Mobile e-governance Service Delivery Gateway:The MSDG delivers Government services over mobile devices using mobile applications installed on the user's mobile handsets. MSDG provides different set of mobile based services to the backend departments and citizen. As MSDG is developed based on IIP/IIS (Interoperability Interface Protocol / Interoperability Interface Specifications) standards of government of India, it provides seamless integration with backend department through existing NSDG/SSDG eGov exchange infrastructure. Backend departments will be connected to MSDG for mobile based services.

Common Services Centers

Common Services Centres The CSC is a strategic cornerstone of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), approved by the Government in May 2006, as part of its commitment in the National Common Minimum Programme to introduce e-governance on a massive scale. The CSCs would provide high quality and cost-effective video, voice and data content and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment as well as other private services. A highlight of the CSCs is that it will offer web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including application forms, certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone and water bills.In addition to the universe of G2C services, the CSC Guidelines envisage a wide variety of content and services that could be offered as listed below: Agriculture Services (Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Veterinary) Education & Training Services (School, College, Vocational Education, Employment, etc.) Health Services (Telemedicine, Health Check-ups, Medicines) Rural Banking & Insurance Services (Micro-credit, Loans, Insurance) Entertainment Services (Movies, Television) Utility Services (Bill Payments, Online bookings) Commercial Services (DTP, Printing, Internet Browsing, Village level BPO). The Scheme creates a conducive environment for the private sector and NGOs to play an active role in implementation of the CSC Scheme, thereby becoming a partner of the government in development of rural India. The PPP model of the CSC scheme envisages a 3-tier structure consisting of the CSC operator (called Village Level Entrepreneur or VLE); the Service Centre Agency (SCA), that will be responsible for a division of 500-1000 CSCs; and a State Designated Agency (SDA) identified by the State Government responsible for managing the implementation in the entire State. CSC Online Monitoring Tool The four key applications developed and currently implemented which form part of the CSC monitoring solution include: CSC SMART Solution: This application tracks CSC roll out progress at block level up to the stage CSCs are finally commissioned. The application tracks CSCs over stages, such as selection of SCAs, selection of CSC locations, identification of VLEs, setting up IT infrastructure, Internet connectivity, commissioning, final certification of CSCs, the system also tracks status of BSNL connectivity at various CSC and provides useful performance information of CSCs. http://www.cscsmart.in CSC Online Monitoring Solution: Post CSCs are commissioned; the online monitoring tool helps in registration of CSC IT terminals and tracks uptime of IT terminals. Each CSC PC is required to install and register online monitoring tool. The online registration process serves a proof of availability of CSC IT terminals as validated by their unique machine ID (Mac ID) and internet availability for delivering digital

services. CSC Online Dashboard: This tool provides executive MIS on registration and uptime status of CSCs on Pan India basis and tracks the performance of CSCs, SCAs and States based on uptime logs generated and disseminated by the online monitoring tool. http://www.csclive.in/dashboard. CSC Connect: CSC Connect is a facility available to various Service Access Provider (SAP) Portals to allow CSCs to login into their portals using their unique CSC ID / password combination defined under CSC Online Monitoring System. This facility would save CSC the trouble of registering their profiles and remembering their IDs and password with multiple SAPs. The CSC Connect mechanism would make it possible for CSCs using their unique CSC ID / Password to gain access to the SAP Portal and will also help DIT to measure the usage of services of various SAP sites at various CSCs. http://www.csclive.in/cscconnect The solution currently serves the following purpose Provides unique identification of a CSC based on their geography Maintains a centralized database of CSCs, VLE with their addresses, email and contact details. Enables online registration status of CSCs Reckons uptime performance of CSCs which have been registered online on a daily basis Maintains uptime Performance of a CSC, SCA and States based on CSC performance in their respective territories Provides role based access to all the stakeholders based on their privilege geographic usage Provides single waterfall view of CSCs from Pan India-State- District-Block to the ultimate CSC Enables recording of BSNL connectivity status at each of the CSCs

Internet Proliferation & Governance

Internet Governance encompasses all activities pertaining to the management of the Critical Internet resources and other Internet Protocol related technologies, applications, resources and services. This implies formulation of regulatory and governing policies of shared principles, norms, rules, decision making procedures and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet by Government in cooperation/consultation with the private sector and civil society concerning their respective roles.

Some of the significant initiatives of DIT in this area include:

Research & Development Initiatives in the areas of Next Generation Network, Application Development, Multilingualisation of the Internet, Web Accessibility for all, Infrastructure establishment, International representation of Indias public Policy Concerns etc. 1. Pragmatic Efficient Reliable Internetworking Solution Using Consumer-Centric Omnipresent Ethernet by IIT Bombay, Mumbai. The project envisages development of Next generation Internet design, deploying the technologies of Optical Networking, Carrier Ethernet, and high-speed communication systems. In its 1st 12 months the project team has already developed prototypes of Ethernet switch, which has been accepted by MTNL for establishing two of its data-centers. The technology developed is not only indigenous but 1st developed in India. 2. Develop a Self-Managed Network Solution Research & Development in Network to Measurement and QoS An adaptive, self-configuring network solution and named it EDGE (Enterprise Wide Self-Managed Network Solution) which works with the TCP/IP protocol, applicable to LAN, WAN, Intranet, Extranet and Internet networks. An IDS (Intrusion Detection System) called N@G integrated with EDGE has also been developed. The project is being processed for closure. 3. Migration to IPv6 from IPv4 DIT is supporting workshops and seminars on the need for early adoption of IPv6, training of professionals and network operators in deployment of IPv6 and dual stack architectural setup of existing IPv4 network to make the network IPv6 ready and the development of applications and services that would increase the demand for IPv6 in the country. 4. Mobile IPv6 by ERNET and IISc Bengaluru

The project envisages demonstrating the mobility supported by IPv6 Protocol for seamless transfer from one form of network to another such as LAN to WAN, etc. 5. Development of Information Forensic Framework for Secure E-Voting System by Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai The project envisages investigating the various aspects of creation, operation and evolution of Internet Governance System and evolving a new methodological approach for authentication, authorization and access control for facilitating e voting. The framework has been developed and some samples have been demonstrated. Some additional validation features and field tests are under process. 6. Development of Intelligent Search Engine for Concept Extraction Contextual Data Retrieval CDAC Bangalore and IIIT Bangalore The project envisages development of an Intelligent Knowledge backbone that would help academics, including researchers, students, teachers, academic committees, academic institutions etc. The System framework was developed and demonstrated, content populating and field tests are under process. 7. Internationalized Domain Names Implementation for Indian Languages India has submitted to ICANN its request for Country Code Domain Names in 7 Indian Languages and scripts namely Hindi (Devanagari), Bengali (Bengali), Gujarati (Gujarati), Punjabi (Gurumukhi), Tamil (Tamil) and Telugu (Telugu) under ICANNs Fast Track Process. The IDNccTLD strings have passed the string evaluation test. It has been published and is now under the Root Zone delegation process. All processes and evaluations are underway for B test of the domain registration process. The Domain Name Policy for registration of Domain Names has been drafted in consultation with States and is published on the website of DIT & C-DAC. Internationalized Domain Names (351 KB) 8. Development Implementation of IDN Policies (ABNF & Language Tables) for Registrars and Making IDN 22 Official Languages Compliant by CDAC Pune. The project is to develop and test all the backend registration processing tools for registration of Domain Names in Indian Languages by Registrar/registry and front-end GUI for registrant and registrar. IDN floating Keyboards, language Lookup tables, software for registration of valid domain names without replication worldwide will be developed under the project. 9. Open Source Web Browser for the Blind People The project envisages the development of an open source web browser with voice feedback for the blind with speech facilitation for navigation or data entry in a web page. Tools developed include Text extraction engine; Text to Braille transliteration system in Linux platform. Integration with Braille Devices and open source English TTS engine to the web browser is under process. 10. Establishment of a National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) Five additional Internet Exchange Nodes have been operationalised at Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Mohali (Chandigarh) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) to add to the existing NIXI hubs at Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Noida. The Internet Exchange nodes have been successful in ensuring that the Internet traffic originating within India and also with destination as India, remain within the country, thus resulting in improved traffic latency, reduced bandwidth cost and better security. 11. Establishment of .IN Internet Domain Registry The Registry for the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) Name .IN is being managed by the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI). Presently, more than 73 Registrars have been accredited to offer .IN domain name registration worldwide to customers. In turn, it has also helped in proliferation of Web hosting in the country and Indian language content in the Internet. 8 lakh .IN Domain Names have been registered till November 2010. Two Data Centers have been established in Delhi and Chennai towards disaster management with an uptime of maximum 5 minutes. 12. Awareness Programmes

Workshops, Trainings for Registrars, Internet Service Providers, Network Service Providers, Technology developers, Human-Machine interface developers, Users, etc on the following issues: IPv6 concerning deployment and application oriented projects. .IN Domain Name Registration registry process and policies, dispute resolution policy, etc. Domain Names in Indian Languages - registry process and policies, dispute resolution policy, etc. Internet Governance Issues of Access, Security & Privacy, Openness, Diversity, Critical Internet Resources and their Management principles, Child Online Protection, Capacity Building, Open Standards, etc. 13. ICANN - Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Secretariat in DIT, New Delhi A Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Secretariat of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has been set up in the Department of Information Technology. The GAC is an Advisory Committee comprising representatives of national governments, multinational governmental organizations and treaty organizations and distinct economies. It is the key forum for discussing the public policy issues relating to the Internet concerning the standardization, protocols and technology and affecting the social and economic life of the countries. 14. Internet Governance Forum (IGF) India is a member of the Multi Stakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum of the United Nations. Indias concerns on the issues of public policy on Internet and its Governance is appropriately voiced in the meetings of the IGF through regular participation, holding workshops and Dynamic Coalition meetings and multi-lateral and bi-lateral meetings.

New R&D proposals initiated

15. Virtualized Cloud Computing Infrastructure Using Light-trails and Very Fast Switching The project envisages integrating and deploying innovations at the physical and data layer to meet stand-alone, end-to-end service manifested for cloud computing needs. Two technologies of light-trails and Omnipresent Ethernet are proposed to be integrated. Light-trails technology platform can provide for optical layer multicasting, dynamic bandwidth allocation and sub-wavelength granular support at low price points making it an ideal transport layer technology for cloud needs. 16. Global Internet Governance and Advocacy (GIGA) The project envisages to initiating and conducting fundamental and applied research to state and restate Legal Systems and Instruments and its interface with Internet Technology in every branch of LawCivil, Criminal, Evidential, Fiscal and International and its dissemination amongst Policy makers in Executive/Judiciary/Legislature/ Academia/Industry. 17. Deploying Omnipresent Ethernet Based Data-Centers in Actual Networks - Validation of Project Periscope The project envisages validating Omnipresent Ethernet Switch developed through the DIT funded project PERISCOPE (Pragmatic Efficient Reliable Internetworking Solution using Consumer centric Omnipresent Ethernet) in a real network through deployment. MTNL Mumbai has agreed to deploy switches made using the Omnipresent Ethernet technology in setting up two of their data-centers in Mumbai. 18. India the Impact of Broadband Assessment Report The project proposes to study the Impact of Broadband/Internet on the economy, especially to GDP growth, social empowerment including education, healthcare, rural commerce and government services, bring out Case studies on what is working and what is not working based on samples from States and Union Territories.

G-I Cloud
Background In order to utilise and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing, Government of India has embarked upon a very ambitious and important initiative GI Cloud which has been coined as MeghRaj. The focus of this initiative is to evolve a Strategy and implement various components including governance mechanism to ensure proliferation of Cloud in government. Formulation of the Cloud Policy is one of the primary steps that will facilitate large scale adoption of cloud by government. In order to drive this initiative a Task Force was constituted by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeiTY) under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary (eGov) with a focus to bring out the strategic direction and implementation roadmap of GI Cloud leveraging the existing or new infrastructure. Objectives The objectives of GI Cloud are as follows:

of effort and cost in development of similar applications Architectural vision of GI Cloud The architectural vision of GI Cloud focuses on a set of discrete cloud computing environments spread across multiple locations, built on existing or new (augmented) infrastructure, following a set of common protocols, guidelines and standards issued by the Government of India. The GI Cloud services will be published through a single GI Cloud Services Directory. The GI Cloud is envisaged to consist of multiple National and State Clouds. The agencies responsible for operating and managing the National and State Clouds may engage Managed Service Providers (MSPs) for managing the respective cloud computing environments. These cloud computing environments will utilise the existing network infrastructure such as the SWANs, NKN, NOFN integration hubs as well as the internet.

The figure above depicts an overview of the GI Cloud consisting of cloud computing environments at the national and state levels termed as National Clouds and State Clouds respectively. While one of the National Clouds will be built utilising the infrastructure available under the National Data Centre(s), other National Clouds may also be established. These may be new or established by augmentation of the existing data centres available at state level. Based on demand assessment and taking into account security related considerations, government may also engage the services of private cloud providers. The willing state clouds built on state data centres can also associate themselves with the GI Cloud and publish their services in the GI Cloud Services Directory. Services provided by National Clouds would include infrastructure (compute, storage and network), platform, backup and recovery, infrastructure scaling of the State Clouds, application development, migration and hosting etc. Over a period of time, other clouds at the national level could also provide remote infrastructure management for the State Clouds. The vision is also focussed on national and state level shared, reusable applications and services that will allow any government department or agency to accelerate its e-Governance progress by using applications which other agencies or departments have already developed and made available in the government cloud environment. The National Cloud and each of the other clouds at the national level are envisaged to host an eGov AppStore that will act as a common platform to host and run applications at National Clouds which are easily customisable and configurable for reuse by various government agencies/departments at Centre and States without investing effort in development of such applications. GI Cloud Reports Based on various discussions and inputs provided by the Task Force and subsequent industry consultations, the following two reports have been prepared

by DeitY. These reports have been approved by the Honble Minister of Communications and Information Technology and are available for download http://deity.gov.in/content/gi-cloud-initiative-meghraj. 1. GI Cloud Strategic Direction Paper (Download) 2. GI Cloud Adoption and Implementation Roadmap(Download) Activities/Projects to be implemented under GI Cloud:The various projects to be implemented in a phased manner as a part of this initiative are as follows: - Cloud computing platforms at National and State levels -RAAS, Reusable Application Availability Store)- Common platform to host and run applications. The overall objective of the National eGov AppStore is to create a market place of customizable and configurable applications that can be re-used by various government agencies /departments at Centre and States without investing time and effort in development of such applications. There would be minimum 20 applications to be hosted annually on the AppStore. NIC has been identified as the implementing agency for eGov AppStore. - Single window or portal for GI Cloud service delivery - To operate and manage the GI Cloud environment. - For awareness building, best practices creation, providing advisory services to the departments on cloud adoption, showcasing the cloud technologies, international collaboration and research and development. guidelines and standards for GI Cloud

NIC is a Premier Information Technology Organisation in India providing State_of_Art Solutions for Information Management and Decision Support in Government and Corporate Sector. A number of Services are being provided by NIC to all the Government Ministries/Departments/States/Districts. NIC is providing network backbone and e-Governance support to Central Government, State Governments, UT Administrations, Districts and other Government bodies. It offers a wide range of ICT services including Nationwide Communication Network for decentralised planning, improvement in Government services and wider transparency of national and local Governments.

NIC assists in implementing Information Technology Projects, in close collaboration with Central and State Governments, in the areas of (a) Centrally sponsored schemes and Central sector schemes, (b) State sector and State sponsored projects, and (c) District Administration sponsored projects. NIC endeavours to ensure that the latest technology in all areas of IT is available to its users. It is one of the total solution providers to the Government and is actively involved in most of the IT enabled applications and has changed the mindset of the working community in the Government to make use of the latest state of the art technology in their day to day activities to provide better services to the citizens.

Services:
Anti Virus Services
Anti-virus servers have been deployed across NICNET in every state and Ministry called the Child Servers. They are all bound to a central console configured in NICNET HQ called the Parent Server. Each Child Server is monitored. Virus can attack a system by opening infected e-mail attachments or downloading infected files. However, this can be prevented by following certain guidelines like installing antivirus software and ensuring regular updates, using software patches to close security loopholes and installing a firewall to prevent unauthorized access to the network.

Business Intelligence
NIC is providing services in the area of business intelligence solution to users across the government. The ultimate goal of Business Intelligence (BI) is to provide people with access to the information along with analytical facilities so as to extract knowledge from the vast information base. This enables them to make better decisions, share insights with others,

collaborate throughout the organization, and, ultimately, improve its bottom line. The BI system can help to provide insight into the vast government data through an integrated, centrally managed, and trusted data source and BI provides with the reporting and analysis tools and technologies to capture both structured and unstructured information. A BI System on Foreign Tourists Arrival and Departure has been developed and implemented for the benefit of Ministry of Tourism. A BI system on Central Government Health Scheme is being extensively used by the CGHS wing of Health Ministry. A Proof of Concept was developed and demonstrated to Planning Commission for Bharat Nirman Projects catering to the Left Wing Extremists affected districts. Proof of Concept was also developed on Mother and Child Tracking system for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

CollabLand

CollabLand is a software for digitization and mosaicing of survey maps for computerization of Land Records. It can handle a variety of survey systems, extending from the conventional Chain and Theodolite method to the modern Electronic Total Station (ETS) system. CollabLand can generate maps of individual Land Parcels to traverse and Mosaic maps, surveyed in a host of units of measurement. Besides, it can import maps existing in Shape files, and few other proprietary formats. The software has a series of data-entry tables where the users can enter or import the survey data. With the data fully in place, the map can be generated with a single mouse click. CollabLand has a host of easy-to-use modification & beautification features and un-matched facility for detailing and annotation including local languages. The mutation and workflow mechanism of the software has a three-tier hierarchy to handle day-to-day land transactions. The Mosaicing module of CollabLand can generate village maps with(out) Traverse data by merely Selecting the village name. Facility exists for beautification of the maps with different color/fill patterns. The software can export these maps into various formats (like Shape files) for the use of GIS applications. CollabLand follows a database based approach, thereby ensuring access to maps from anywhere at any time. This further facilitates integration of the cadastral maps with legacy applications for ownership (non-spatial) information. The software cost would be negligible, especially in the scenario of a large scale roll-out requiring lots of installations. CollabLand is currently being used by states like Tamilnadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. Why CollabLand?

Single software for all survey systems and needs Facility to integrate with software for non-spatial data

Handles day-to-day transactions like sub-division of maps Providing citizen service for viewing / printing of Maps Database approach: Maps accessible anytime / anywhere Platform independent: Works in Windows and Linux Negligible cost due to use of open-source technologies

Integrated Network Operations

Integrated Network Operations Centre (iNOC) is responsible for the constant monitoring & troubleshooting of network devices to ensure round the clock management of NICNET. The iNOC team specialises in technical issues relating to network and guarantees a fast response time to all critical issues. Contactable by phone, fax or email 24 hours a day, all year round, for emergency cover and support, the team is geared up significantly to enhance NICNET services. Sophisticated alarm tools prioritise network related issues to ensure quick repair times. Scheduling of planned intervention and management of planned outages of the system, tending to basic daily network operation, fault handling and responding to customer queries are all tasks carried out by iNOC.

National Data Centres (NDCs)

With more and more business processes and citizen centric e-Governance applications operating over the net, demand for state of the art data centres has grown up for hosting, protection of data with efficient backup and recovery solutions. Thus, there was a need to set up a strategic infrastructure that facilitates high availability, quick scalability, efficient management & optimized utilization of resources. To fulfill the need, NIC has set up state of art Tier III National Data Centers at NIC Hq, NDC Shastri Park, New Delhi, NDC Pune and NDC Hyderabad. NIC also has setup 31 small data centers

at various state capitals to cater the services to State Governments. NIC National Data Centers combine round-the-clock system of management with onsite personnel trained in the areas of Server Administration, Database Administration, Network Administration and Storage Area Network (SAN)

NKN (National Knowledge Network)

The NKN is a state-of-the-art multi-gigabit pan-India network for providing a unified high speed network backbone for all knowledge related institutions in the country. The purpose of such a knowledge network goes to the very core of the country's quest for building quality institutions with requisite research facilities and creating a pool of highly trained professionals. The NKN will enable scientists, researchers and students from different backgrounds and diverse geographies to work closely for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas. Features: NKN is designed as a Smart Ultra High Bandwidth network that seamlessly interconnects the leading Scientific and Technological institutions - which are pursuing world-class research and development. NKN design is inherently proactive; it takes into account the requirements that may occur in the near term and long term. Some of the salient features of the NKN are: Establishing Connectivity for Knowledge and information sharing. Enabling Collaborative Research in emerging areas such as Climate Modeling. Facilitating distance education in specialized fields such as medicine, emerging high tech areas covering info-bio-nano technology. Facilitating an ultra-high speed e-governance backbone for information sharing. NKN will also act as a test bed for research in the area of network, security and delivery models for various services. As NKN is a new initiative, it will leverage existing initiatives, to ensure faster roll out with modest investment. Services: NKN network is designed with the aim of providing: Highest level of availability Robust & reliable connectivity Highest level of Scalability (specifically planned to match the unknown future demands which cannot be envisaged currently) Best Bandwidth Capacity: For NKN, various National Long Distance Carriers (NLDs) have provided 1Gbps / 2.5Gbps capacity links which can be self-healed. Further, the NLDs are in process of upgrading (using DWDM) to 10Gbps or more connectivity.

The main services of NKN can be broadly categorized under the following heads: Generic Services: Internet, Intranet, Network Management Views, e-Mail, Messaging Gateways, Caching Gateways, Domain Name System, Web Hosting, Voice over IP, Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) Services, Video Portals, SMS Gateway, Co- Location Services, Video Streaming etc. Community Services: Shared Storage, e-Mail List Software Application (LISTSERV), Authentication Service, EVO, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Collaboration Service, Content Delivery Service, International Collaborations with EU-India Grid, Global Ring Network for Advanced Applications Development (GLORIAD) etc. Special Services: Virtual Private Network Stitching Services *VPN@L2 (Virtual Private Wire Service / Virtual Private LAN Service), VPN@L3] etc.

Open Technology Centre

Open Technology Centre (OTC) is a Project, funded by DeitY, MCIT, Govt. of India, implemented by National Informatics Centre (NIC). OTC is spearheading identification as well as adoption of Open Technology in e-Governance applications and services managed by NIC/NeGP for both State and Central Government Agencies. OTC also functions as a National Knowledge Facility to provide Synergy in Open Technology Initiatives. OTC facilitates various knowledge-based Services & Products, National Infra-Structure facilities and In-house Capacity Building using Open Technology (consists of components like Open Source Software and Open Standards). This is facilitating e-Governance Services to reach vast majority of Citizens effectively. Key Technology Services supported by OTC 1.CMS/Portal using Drupal 2. Database Replication using SymmetricDS 3. Database Migration to PostgreSQL 4. Single Sign on Solution using CAS 5. eForms using XForms 6. Verification Services based on 2D Barcode 7. Platform independent Digital Signature Certificate 8. Development & Staging Support for Open Source Applications using Virtual Machine 9. Capacity Building & Hand holding on Recommended Open Source Stack 10. Performance Tuning of Open Source Application Servers

Remote Sensing & GIS Division

The convergence of Information Technology with Communication Technology including INTERNET, as Information & Communication Technology (ICT) has brought a paradigm shift in the approach for management of data & information for value-added services. In this context, Geographical Information System (GIS) has emerged as powerful tool which has potential to organize complex spatial environment with tabular relationships. The emphasis is on developing a digital spatial database, using the data sets derived from precise navigation and imaging satellites, aircrafts, digitization of maps and transactional databases. The power and potential of GIS is unlimited. However to exploit the technology for larger benefit through value-added services for decision-making, planning and e-Governance, there is need of integration of data from diverse and multiple sources, based on Interoperable Open Standards, specifications & formats. This process of value addition by means of integration also recognizes integrated information at different levels e.g. national, state and district or sub-district level to provide location-specific integrated services as a tool to assess, evaluate, monitor and coordinate socioeconomic development activities, with optimum and sustainable utilization of natural resources capital in an eco-friendly manner, on continuous & regular basis. National GIS is a very large repository of spatial data which incorporates images from Foreign and Indian satellites with different spatial spectral resolution along with the maps developed from survey. The National GIS Web Portal developed by NIC has been developed as a single window for value-added services over NICNET leveraging Framework Service Oriented Architecture, to facilitate sharing of data from multiple sources and extended location specific GIS services which could further be customized as per the needs of various stakeholders involved in planning and e-Governance process. It was seen that while spatial data in the form of maps have been available in different sectors in the country, these maps cannot overlay on each other in view of different scales, projections, accuracies etc. In view of this, the major objective of value-added GIS services was to create framework environment at 1:50,000 scale around SOI reference system, to enable integration of spatial and non-spatial data in collaborative mode from various organizations. The data covers maps associated with topography/terrain, administrative boundaries, village locations, soil, forest, watershed, drainage, river & water bodies, transport network and so on. The maps are in various scales (1:1 Million, 1:250 K, 1:50 K) from various sources such as SOI, NRSC, CGWB/CWC, SLUSI, FSI, RGI, NBSS&LUP and so on. It also leverage image/raster services using satellite imageries at various resolution (AWIFF 56 meter, LISS-III-23 meter, PAN 5.8 meter and Quick Bird 0.61 cm). This is the beginning to built Sharable Information Repository, so that stakeholders c an further value-add through appropriate standard procedure and receive desired information service for

decision-making and planning. In summary, it has following, National GIS Web Portal service framework has following features: ICT/GIS Enterprise Framework Architecture capable of using as well deploying value-added GIS services over NICNET using propriety as well as open source GIS technology. Largest spatial data base, known as National Spatial Database (NSDB) in the country set up with integration of raster, vector and MIS data. This serves as rich core data for the National GIS, around which Enterprise Architecture enables customization of web-GIS applications and services.. Satellite Images are extensively processed to synchronize with the base map from SOI and suitable seamless mosaic prepared. The versatile Enterprise Architecture has capability not only to store and retrieve the data but also provides an environment to share data in service mode. It is to be noted that around Framework GIS Data as organized on National GIS portal value added application services for various user communities has been developed, in the sector of rural development, watershed management, ground water, agricultural marketing, Panchayat mapping, emergency environment planning, demography and village amenities, election management and so on, and NIC is continuously evolving value added raster as well as vector GIS services as per needs of different user groups.

SATCOM

National Informatics Centre is the nodal Information Technology organization for informatics development and networking in Government and Government related Organizations NIC has established a satellite based nationwide VSAT Network called NICNET. Presently, NIC VSAT Network NICNET has been offering network services over Ku-band VSATs such as DVB Broadband and SCPC DAMA/PAMA to its user organization for data, voice and video applications. NICNET VSATs have been deployed widely in the districts of India. These district centers have been provided with DVB Broadband /DAMA VSATs. NICNET VSAT Network is used widely for the delivery of various G2G and G2C applications delivery across the country. Many nationwide projects are currently using NICNET. NIC has established Disaster Recovery Center at NIC Hyderabad to enable the continuity of VSAT operations at users premises, whenever there is a failure at Delhi. SATCOM Division is providing VSAT connectivity for delivering their e-Gov services to various State/Central Government sponsored projects like:CSCs in North East and other geographically difficult areas in the country.

NDRF Battalions for facilitating relief and rescue work in various disaster situations anywhere in the country. Department of Community and Rural Development, Government of Meghalaya NRHM, Meghalaya Taxation Department, Government of Meghalaya Treasuries and Finance Services, Government of Uttarakhand Commercial Tax Department, Government of Uttarakhand Department of Information Technology, Union Territory of Lakshadweep And many more

Few Projects:
eMojani - National Land Records modernization Program (NLRMP)
Description The process flow of Land Measurement cases has been computerized. One can now apply online for his request for measuring his land. All Fees are calculated and displayed by the application. The application allocates the cases to registered Measurement Surveyors of the department. Now the system decides the Surveyors for doing the measurement and not the individual from the department. The application generates the necessary Challans, Receipts and prints the Date of Measurement, Name of Surveyors for doing the measurement along with their contact details. This application has been implemented throughout the state. Department has banned the manual maintenance of Measurement case register. Manual applications are no more accepted. The manual calculation of the fees and assigning the cases to the individual Surveyors has been stopped. The eMojani Application is Integrated with Govt. Recipts and Accounts System (GRAS) for on line transfer and accounting of citizen payments towards various fees. The application has been awarded with the eGovernance Public Jury Award by the State Government for the year 2012..

Anytime/Anywhere e-Services-Land Records

Description The Land Records data of the entire state has been loaded in the NIC Data Centre. 3.4 crores records of plot details and 2.5 crores records of owner details are available. This centralised data offers several citizen services. Gives details on plots of land and ownership details in Rural areas to Citizens over the Web. The services provided are : Chitta extract-owner and land details A-register extract-land details relating to the plot of land classification, Verify the land ownership of a given survey / subdivision, Verify a given extract using the unique reference number. It was Launched on 15/5/2008. Data from taluks is being updated on the centralized server using TNSWAN. More than 3.76 lakhs citizens have visited the web site since launch

BHOOMI for Revenue Department

Description BHOOMI - the land records management system is the first e-Governance project successfully implemented for the benefits of the common man, jointly by the Government of Karnataka & NIC Karnataka. It has been providing service to more than 70 lakh farmers of Karnataka since the last five years. BHOOMI has become the model for replication in many other States. It has received wide spread recognition from the public and also won the international award, Silver of CAPAM 2002. Salient features are Kiosk setup in each taluk to issue the land records documents to public on demand, Finger print (Bio-metrics) authentication to ensure fool proof system, PKI enabled BHOOMI & integration with Sub-Registrar's data, Mutation requests processed on Firstin First-out Basis. Integrated Mutation Process (IMP) is process wherein the transactions result in partition of land will under go podi transaction along with regular sale or inheritance transaction. The result would be updation of textual and spatial data simultaneously. In the absence of IMP average delay in podi after partition of land on the textual data was approximately 20-25 years. The spatial data, which depicts the ground reality, was never in sync with the textual data. Karnataka Government has brought amendment to Karnataka Land Revenue Act making pre-mutation sketch compulsory for all the transactions. BHOOMI software has been enhanced to capture the details of pre-mutation sketch and surveyor has been introduced in the mutation process to ensure that proper podi takes place simultaneously along the any other type of transaction. Premutation sketch would be used for podi and surveyor need not go to field once again for any type of measurement. Lot of changes has been carried out in software to change the workflow of request, scan the sketches, to facilitate simultaneous transaction on same land parcels after changing first one to normal transaction and subsequent one as integrated mutation taking care of podi activity of previous transaction also. BHOOSWADEENAA Computerized land acquisition system with tight integration with BHOOMI - Land acquisition is the process wherein agricultural and/or non agricultural lands are acquired by government for various activities such as village/town extension, roads, culverts, reservoirs, canals, military camps, railways, industries etc., The purpose of this project is to develop a system to automate the process Land acquisition in the revenue department and integrate the same with BHOOMI. There are 54 regular land acquisition offices, there are some special Land acquisition offices created for a projects and agencies such as Industrial development board, National Highways etc., Proposed system would get integrated with BHOOMI (Computerized Land Records System). Activities of land acquisition would be reflected on the land records with the help digitally signed XML data exchange between two systems. BHOOSWADEENA system would : Facilitating LAO in generating 4(1) notification, which is digitally signed. Facilitating LAO for generating de-notification, which is digitally signed. Facilitating LAO for generating draft 6(1) notification. Facilitating dissemination of these notifications through WEB for information sake and digitally signed and bar coded notification to citizen through village telecentres / Bangalore-one centers at price fixed by Government. Facilitating the concern authority in Government to digitally sign the 6(1) notification and dissemination of the same.

Facilitating LAO to submit court stay or vacation of stay on notification or de-notification thereby effecting the similar changes in BHOOMI database to avoid in-convenience caused to the public. Facilitating automatic initiation of transaction for transferring lands acquired to acquiring body after 16(2) notification.

Banking amenities database and integration with GIS

Description This system enables capturing of the banking amenities data (Branches, ATMs, Currency Chests and Clearing houses, business correspondents with their location details) from District Lead Banks. The repository of data thus created also enables the public to access the information related to Pan India Bank network through a separate public interface on the web site of the Department. The data was entered by lead district banks in various districts across the country. Guidance was provided to them to ensure completion of data entry in timely manner. It is integrated with GIS application to identify rural areas deficient in banking amenities. GIS can be effectively used to assist the decision makers in planning for expansion of e-infrastructure of the Banks and Insurance Companies by highlighting the pockets of the hinterland which are yet to have access to these facilities. This would also enable the Department to easily identify the areas where expansion of branch/ATM/network needs to be carried out, set the targets for Banks and monitor the progress of such expansion. The GIS application is made accessible to SLBCs and officers in the Department

Committee on Government Assurance (LS) MIS: (CGA-LS-MIS)

Description The Committee on Government Assurance (Lok Sabha) MIS enables users to maintain detailed information of the assurances given by the minister on the floor of the House in r/o debates, Calling Attention, Special Mention, Parliament Question, General, Point, Half-an-hour discussion etc. The system fulfills all the requirements of the Committee branch to maintain the details of the extension and further extensions on the assurances granted to the concerned ministry to submit the reply. The applications generate and print the letter/reminder letters for issuing to concerned ministries for the assurances whose extension date has been expired. It also maintains the records of letters issued for future reference. The system generates various types of reports as per the requirement of CGA Branch, Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Central Plan Monitoring Information System [CPLAN- MIS]

It is a web-based Monitoring Information System that has been assigned to NIC, Yojana Bhavan Unit by the Planning Commission for development so that the online-data entry/updation can be done by all Ministries/Departments for the Annual Plan discussion of Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes for 2013-14 and for the Twelfth Five Year Plan.