ICT for Development

Village Information System

Implementing Agency: Gujarat Informatics Ltd., GoG
Executing Agency:

NISG

Project Sponsor:

UNDP
Neeta Shah, Director (e-Governance)
Gujarat Informatics Ltd.
18th October 2005

Presented at: Conflux 2005 (www.conflux.csdms.in)

www.conflux.csdms.in

Overview of VIS
Project
ICTD Project Proposal for Village Information System (eGram) was approved by NISG vide letter dated 27th
October 2004
Details of approved project is as follows:
Funding Approved for Project: 1.4 Crores
Target Population: Pilot Project in 100 villages of 2
Districts (Patan and Mehsana)
Suggestion Received: To explore the feasibility of using
the software packages developed by NIC for the PR & RD
sector
www.conflux.csdms.in

Components of VIS
Project

Identification of 100 Villages

Need Assessment
Application Development & Deployment
Procurement of H/W & System S/W
Connectivity
Training, Change Management & Capacity
Building
Selection of Operators
Content Creation
Launch of VIS
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Identification of 100
Villages
Identification of 100 Villages Done on
following criteria:
Population > 1,000
Village covered under Jyoti Gram Project
Availability of Internet Connectivity
Village not covered under e-Gram Project

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Need Assessment
Inputs were received from North-Gujarat
University, NGOs and CMC regarding the
Need Assessment for ICTD Services
Open Tender Procedure followed for
selection of vendor
Interim Report and Final Report received
for the Need Assessment Exercise carried
out
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Objectives of Study

Understanding the region and people

Assessment of information and communication
needs of local people
Assessment of status of present support
infrastructure available in the region
Study of other ongoing ICT projects of the
Government
Study of successful case studies world over
Report on proposed information needs of
people
www.conflux.csdms.in

Methodology
Selection of 20 villages
from list of 100 villages

Data Collection from

Secondary Sources

Reconnaissance survey

Selection of local
Survey Team

Orientation of Survey
Team
Preparation of Data
Entry Forms

Data Entry

Survey Form Design

Village Profile Design

Primary Survey

Database Generation

Discussions with
service administrators
Discussions with
service Providers

Data Analysis
Study of successful
case studies
Final Report

www.conflux.csdms.in

Bhatsan
Jangral
Morpa
Bhutiya Vasna
Bepadar
Ajimana

Kharivavdi
Matpur

Umta

Jakhana
Khari Dhariyal

Pindharpura

Davada

Jhiliya

Kuvasana

Gunjala
Hebuva
Mulsan

Juni Sedhavi

Selected Villages
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Process

Reconnaissance Survey

Meeting with various class of people

Selection of Survey Team

Orientation of Survey Team

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Methodology Data
Collection

Meetings with Service

Administrators

District Development
Officer

Taluka Development
Officer

Talati

District Collector

Mamlatdar

Sarpanch

District Level

Taluka Level

Village Level

Gramsabha

Group Meetings with

various groups of
local people

Data Collection
Study of Ongoing Govt.
Programs

Individual Survey
Training Institutes
Govt. and Pvt.

Hardware and
Software suppliers,
Cyber Cafe

N-Logue and Chirag

Meetings with Service

Providers

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Meetings with Service

Users

Study of successful
case studies

Discussions with Service Users

Gram Sabha
1.

Attended by Mamlatdar, Dy.

Mamlatdar, Talati, Sarpanch,
Dy. Sarpanch, committee
members of Panchayat, local
people

2.

Introduction to the project and

our objectives

3.

Need to provide various

records and certificates at
village level

4.

Eager to know modalities of

the proposed system

5.

General information on types

of contents required from the
proposed system

6.

Feedback on existing systems

of procuring records from
various sources
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Discussions with Service Users

Individual Survey
1.

Keen on getting ICT based

services at village level
especially for procuring
various certificates

2.

Concerned about proposed

rate of getting this information
through ICT based services

3.

Eager to know about latest

technological development in
various sectors by different
groups of people

www.conflux.csdms.in

Discussions with Service Users

Group Meetings
1.

Current sources of
information

2.

Suggestions to make existing

systems more user-friendly

3.

Specific requirement of type

of information required
periodically by them

4.

Suggestions on proposed rate

of getting information through
ICT based systems

www.conflux.csdms.in

Summary of Selected Samples

Gender-wise Selection
Male 73%

Female 27%

Caste-wise Selection
SC 11%

ST 3%

OBC 59%

Minority - 0.9%

General 27%

Others 0.1%

Occupation-wise Selection
Farmers 29%

Agri. Labours 27%

Animal Husbandry 5%

Artisans 1%

Govt. Service 3%

Pvt. Service 1%

Business 4%

Students 8%

Household 8%

Others 14%

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Discussions with Service

Administrators
Need to extend the systems up to village level

The decentralization of the process of distribution of land records from

taluka to villages needs to be accompanied by decentralization of
powers and scheme for revenue sharing

Convergence and coordination among revenue and development

administration at village level to facilitate one point service to information
users

Talatis feel that with computerization of information and convergence of

services of revenue and development departments, their role and
responsibilities would increase many folds and hence they suggest to
have separate operator or sharing of responsibility with other village level
functionaries

All officials feel that there should be connectivity between village and
taluka centers. This would need commensurate technical and physical
infrastructure and services

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Discussions with Service Users

Response of users (village people) towards computer
based systems

Village people are satisfied with computerized records but they have
to come to taluka headquarters to get these records, which is more
time consuming.

Differential pricing of services in favour of poor people

Information related to various government schemes, income

generating activity and special groups like students, unemployed
etc. should be made available at village level

Consultation facility with doctors, agriculture and veterinary experts

www.conflux.csdms.in

Sources of information

Newspaper
16%

Traditional
24%

Magazine
5%

Internet
1%

Radio
8%

STD
20%
Mobile
1%

TV
18%
TEL
7%
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Scope for Strengthening of Current

Systems
1.

Need to conceptualize whole system comprehensively

2.

Need to provide information at village-level

3.

Need to integrate various ongoing programs to provide total services

4.

Design services keeping users in the center, particularly poor and

women

5.

Increase awareness and computer literacy among people through mass

media in order to reduce gap between the users and the system

6.

Facilitate articulation of hidden needs of the people

7.

The system should have inbuilt mechanism to use the massive data
generated for designing and monitoring of development as well as
disaster related initiatives

8.

Government should encourage integration of other stakeholders in its

efforts as well as facilitate and participate in National Alliance on ICT

9.

There is a scope to expand the goal of the programme by including

social and women empowerment objective. Encourage and give priority
to women SHGs and SC/ST youth in allocation of the kiosks in Gyan
Ganga programme to make them agents of change.

www.conflux.csdms.in

Application
One Day Workshop was held at BISAG on 1st March 05
to get the feedback from Talatis, Sarpanchs, TDOs,
DDOs & other officials for e-Gram S/W
In Phase-I the e-Gram software will be deployed in the
100 Villages to start with
Various Certificates required by the rural masses would
be available through e-Gram Software
For Phase-II, a full-fledged web-based application for the
Village Panchayats is being developed by NIC in
consultation with Panchayat Department
Double Accounting System is being covered in Phase II
E-Databank portal providing 60 Services online of 12
GoG Departments is accessible to villages
All Intranet Applications of GoG is accessible to the
villages
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Application (Cont.)
Single Window access to various applications and
information
Talim Rojgar website is accessible to the rural masses to
help in job hunting
Right To Information Act, enable even the rural citizens
access various Government information, which is being
available through departmental websites
Agricultural Mandi Rates, available to farmers
Land Records will be made available from the village
itself instead of going to the Taluka Headquarter
Integration of Gyan Ganga with e-Gram in Phase II
Consultation facility with Doctors, Agriculture and
Veterinary experts would be worked out
3-Dimensional Educational Software to be made
available
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Procurement of Hardware &

System Software
Open Tender Process has been followed to
procure the requisite Hardware & System
Software for the selected 100 Villages
Following computer & peripherals are being
procured from Acer India Pvt. Ltd.:
High-end Client with P IV 3 Ghz loaded with Windows
XP Professional (SP 2)
Line-Interactive UPS with 2 Hours Backup
Multi Function Device (Color Inkjet Printer + Scanner)

e-Gram Software developed by NIC has been

preloaded on the computers

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Connectivity
BSNL - providing Dial-up Internet
Connectivity in 64 Villages
BSNL / N-Logue - providing Internet
Connectivity in the remaining 36 villages
Internet Connectivity helps in accessing
the various Government websites and
applications
Internet Connectivity enables the flow of
information from Village-Taluka-District
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Training, Change Mgmt.

& Capacity Building
Representatives from GIL & Panchayat
Department attended the NISG ICTD
Workshops for Project Implementing Agencies
Training, Change Mgmt. & Capacity Building is
initiated in consultation with Panchayat
Department by having Workshops
Training to the Village level officials and selected
computer operator for basic computer operation
and for e-Gram Software through short listed
Training Institutes

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Selection of Operators
Committee of following 4 Members has
been formed for selection of operators:
Talati
Sarpanch
Gram-Sevak
Technical person

Operators will earn partly from nominal

monthly remuneration and partly from
income generated from providing services
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Guidelines for
Selection of Operators

Activities to be Performed
Work Responsibilities
Qualifications for Selection
Method for Selection
VIS Project - Application Form
Procedure for Selection
Draft of the MoU to be Signed

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Content Creation
Survey Form has been designed to collect
various information from rural households
Data available through Census Survey and BPL
Survey
Content Creation would be done at Village level
based on the Need Assessment Study, Survey
Form and Registers maintained at Panchayat
Open Tender floated for selection of the agency
for doing Family Survey and Data Entry
LoIs issued to 2 Agencies for carrying out the
Family Survey and Data Entry Work
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Challenges
To percolate the benefits of e-Governance and IT within
the Government Employees at Village level and among
the rural masses
To select and retain the Village Computer Entrepreneur
To motivate and train the Government employees at
Village level
To seek support from different Line Departments
To ensure active involvement of the NGOs/Local Self
Help Group
To keep on adding more and more services/solutions for
next few years
To monitor the actual usage and effectiveness of
solutions on an ongoing basis
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Issues
To address Data Authentication and Security issues
To bring together different Government Applications on a
common platform
To have Government Approval for selection and
retention of VCE on an ongoing basis
To ensure effectiveness of Video Conferencing Solutions
eg. Telemedicine, Education, etc. through Dial-up
Internet Connectivity
To ensure higher up-time for the Services to be provided
through Village Panchayat
To ensure NIC sticks to the deadlines for providing
solution for e-Gram Phase II
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Next Steps
Creation & Authentication of Village level
database
Selection and Appointment of Village Computer
Operator
Basic IT Training and e-Gram Training to Village
Officials and Computer Operators
Publicity and Awareness Creation for VIS
Project
Deployment of 3D Educational Software in all
villages
Providing Internet Connectivity in remaining 34
villages
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Next Steps (cont.)

Procurement of Digital Signatures for
Talatis
Making available the Land Records at
Village Level
Deployment of Phase II of e-Gram S/W
Integration of other Government
Applications with e-Gram S/W
Full Rollout of Project
Feedback and Enhancement
Evaluation of Project by External Agency
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Thank You
www.gujaratinformatics.com
www.gujaratindia.com

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