NIC Assam State Centre started its operations in 1986. Since then, it has been the ICT backbone for the State by connecting various state government offices with the rest of the world through NICNET and NKN nodes. It oversees 33 District Centres, which act as the incubation ground for new ICT initiatives across the districts. It also manages the Regional Centre of Excellence for Application Security (RCoEAS) in Guwahati, which aims to strengthen and accelerate application security adoption by ensuring the security of web applications and server infrastructure across all North Eastern states.
NIC Assam State Centre was established with a goal of writing an inclusive and sustainable growth story for Assam - the land of red river and blue hills - through the effective use of information and communication technology. Since its inception in 1986, the State Centre has collaborated with the State Government to formulate ICT strategies for developing an efficient, effective, and robust eGovernance system for the state and achieving a common dream of Digital Assam.
ICT Initiatives in the State Some of the major ICT initiatives implemented by the NIC Assam are:
Mission Basundhara (https://basundhara.assam.gov.in/) Mission Basundhara is a flagship program launched by the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Assam in a bid to digitise and integrate maps and land records of Assam under the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP). It aims to aid in securing the land rights of indigenous population, especially poor and disadvantaged sections and get their land related works done. For this purpose, 672 non-cadastral villages were surveyed and 18,789 cadastral villages of 27 districts were re-surveyed. Further, a portal of the same name was launched to streamline land revenue related services. In the first phase, citizens could apply for 10 services. Out of 8,13,981 applications received, 5,82,688 were successfully processed by the set deadline of 8th May 2022. The phenomenal success of the first phase prompted the State Government to launch Mission Basundhara 2.0 on 14th November 2022 with the addition of seven new services. Since the launch of the second phase, a total of 2,54,250 applications have been received till date. Further, the online payment of land revenue for multiple properties using a single payment window was promoted in the second phase. These services are also integrated with the Assam Right to Public Services portal. In addition to the Mission Basundhara, SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) – a Centrally Sponsored Scheme by Ministry of Panchayati Raj – for mapping of land parcels using drone technology and providing Record of Rights to village property owners has also been implemented. As of now, 96.48% of non-cadastral villages have been surveyed and 36.86% non-cadastral villages have been re-surveyed under this scheme.
Project Sadbhavana (https://sadbhavana.assam.gov.in/) In an effort to provide responsive administration to the citizens, the State Government initiated Project Sadbhavana to clear pending cases opened prior to 10th May 2021 across all state government departments. This ambitious project aimed to make governance more citizen-friendly by ushering in a new era of eGovernance. It had three primary objectives:
- disposal of old pending cases (prior to 10th May 2021) through applications received within a 3-month window from citizens through the Sadbhavana Portal.
- closing of all physical files which were opened prior to 10th May 2021 by closing all pending matters in those files.
- migration of all Departments to eOffice by 2nd October 2022.
The project was closely monitored by an Interdepartmental Coordination Committee chaired by the Chief Secretary Assam, with the ARTP & PG Department, which was responsible for its implementation and review of the disposal of applications. After the successful completion of the initial phase, the Sadbhavana Portal is being made available as a permanent platform for citizens to seek a resolution to files pending in any Department, Directorate and Deputy Commissioners Office by submitting a request to the concerned office through the portal.
eOffice (https://eoffice.assam.gov.in/) eOffice implementation in Assam first started in the year 2017. As a result of Project Sadbhavana, all departments at the Assam Secretariat have been completely migrated to the eOffice by 2nd October 2022. In its latest phase, Offices of Deputy Commissioners in all districts of Assam were boarded to the system by 1st January 2023. Further, in subsequent phases, the system will be rolled out to the Directorates, Commissionerates, District offices and Sub-Divisional offices with the goal of achieving 100 percent electronic file movement by 30th June 2023. The implementation of eOffice has paved the way for a more efficient and transparent governance in Assam.
Fig. 1.1: Hon’ble Chief Minister, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma during an interactive session with various state government officials to ensure the readiness and smooth operation of Project Sadbhavana
Chief Minister’s Transport Randomised Allocation Networked System (CM-TRANS) CM-TRANS is an online work allocation system that aims to improve service delivery and eradicate corrupt practices across all District Transport Offices (DTOs) in the state. The novel system is conceptualised by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and implemented by the State Centre in collaboration with the Assam State Transport Department. It covers all contactless transport services being offered by the State Transport Department. The system does away with the concept of verifying and approving applications in a local DTO, but instead, allocates the application randomly across 32 DTOs based on their individual workloads. The applications are automatically routed to DTOs with less work, thereby, ensuring greater efficiency and faster service delivery.
Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in Assam Portal (https://eodb.assam.gov.in/) Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in Assam is a single window clearance system, which has been developed as a consequence of ‘Assam Ease of doing Business Act 2016.’ It facilitates an all-inclusive mechanism for investors and acts as a single authoritative source of information for investors on government policies, incentive schemes and the availability of infrastructure. As of December 2022, 69,833 new Common Application Forms (CAFs) had been registered on the portal for a total of 1,50,552 service licences. Out of which, 67,882 CAFs have been approved and 1,26,828 licences have been issued.
Kritagyata (https://kritagyata.assam.gov.in/) Kritagyata is an offering of the Hon’ble Chief Minister to the State Government Pensioners as a mark of gratitude towards their long service to the Assam Government. It is an all-comprehensive pension sanction and payment tracking system, which aims to streamline and simplify pension processing in the state, thereby ensuring smooth disbursement of pensionary benefits to the retirees. Kritagyata is based on the Bhavishya Platform, developed by NIC for Central Government employees. It has a user-friendly interface which provides all required information, automates calculation of pension benefits, enables real-time application status tracking, and initiates activity and status alerts. Till date, a total of 10348 pension cases have been processed and 7166 PPOs have been generated. Further to augment the Kritagyata services, Jeevan Pramaan (Digital Life Certificate System) has also been rolled out in the state around July 2021 to facilitate retirees to give life proof online through registered devices instead of having to personally visit disbursing banks. Till date, a total of over 6,000 DLCs have been generated and 2,500 DLCs have been successfully processed.
Assam CM Dashboard (https://cmdashboard.assam.gov.in) Assam CM Dashboard is an all-comprehensive dashboard developed to assist the Office of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, in order to assess and evaluate the performance of various eGovernance schemes in real-time to the level of Gram Panchayats. It has helped the government to become more productive, efficient and transparent. The dashboard fetches data dynamically through APIs from all eGovernance schemes and reflects the data against predefined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in a visually-appealing manner. As of now, the dashboard displays data from 50 projects, with 22 more schemes in the near future.
Assam Right to Public Services (ARTPS) Platform (https://rtps.assam.gov.in/) The ARTPS platform is a noteworthy initiative by the Government of Assam to provide an end-to-end citizen-centric service delivery. It draws its power from the Assam Right to Public Service Act (2012) and aims to provide citizen services in a time bound manner. Around 128 services of 20 state government departments, three autonomous territorial councils, and one municipal corporation have already been brought under this platform. The platform includes the Service Delivery Portal, Grievance and Appeal Management modules and a comprehensive MIS Dashboard. The platform is going to be renamed as “Sewa Setu”, marking the efforts by state government to provide all-inclusive governance. It will be a single-entry point to access a variety of digital G2C (ARTPS, non-ARTPS), G2B, B2C, B2B services, as well as utility services.
Fig. 1.2: Hon’ble Union Minister of Finance, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in the august presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma launching the ARTPS Portal to facilitate digital citizen services by the various state departments under one roof.
Niyukti (https://niyukti.assam.gov.in/) Niyukti is a comprehensive web solution developed for recruiting agencies to advertise and fill up vacancies in their respective departments. It is developed using the open-source technology stack and audited for security. As of December 2022, a total of 37 recruitment drives have been made for the total posts of 46 vacancies, for which the portal has received 74,476 applications.
eRupantor (https://erupantor.assam.gov.in) eRupantor is an end-to-end monitoring system that monitors the physical and financial progress of all development projects under various state government schemes and programs, viz. MLAADS, United Fund and SUHRID. Till date, under these schemes, a total of ₹1615.47 crore have been sanctioned at the state level and ₹897.64 crore have been sanctioned at the district level through the system. In future, two more schemes viz. “Assam Darshan’’ and “Axom Adarxo Gram Yojana” will also be boarded to the system.
Public Distribution System (PDS) Assam PDS aims to facilitate the supply of food grains and distribution of essential commodities to a large number of poor people through a network of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) at a subsidised price on a recurring basis. In Assam, NIC has provided all centralised software solutions for smooth functioning of the system. It hosts and maintains several ePDS software and provides all technology support for the digitization, in addition to handling massive data generated by the system. As on 29th December 2022, Assam has over 56 lakh ration cards with 2.02 crore beneficiaries. Among 34,095 FPSs across the state, 98.68% of sales transactions of food grains are carried out through ePoS devices. Among the Ration Cards, 98.6% are Aadhaar-seeded.
One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) ONORC is an ambitious technology-driven endeavour of the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India to ensure seamless delivery of subsidised food-security entitlements to all beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, irrespective of physical location anywhere in the country. In order to provide the same facilities to migrant workers, the State Government implemented the system on 1st June 2022, in the state as well.
State Public Procurement Portal of Assam (SPPP Assam) (https://sppp.assam.gov.in/) State Public Procurement Portal of Assam (SPPP Assam) is an all-comprehensive platform to access tender related information issued by the state government departments, state public sector enterprises, and every other organisation covered under the ambit of the Assam Public Procurement Act, 2017. The portal is developed by NIC Assam in collaboration with NIC Chennai and NIC Delhi Headquarters and aggregates tender related data from Government eProcurement Assam (GePNIC), Government eMarketplace (GeM), and Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana Portal using APIs.
Fig. 1.3: Hon’ble Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma launching CM-TRANS at Guwahati
Jal Tarangini Jal Tarangini is an Internet of Things (IoT)-based platform developed with the objective of automating the conventional river gauge into a modern river water level monitoring system. It offers a low cost, portable, energy-efficient, and reliable system that can continuously collect data from remote locations and relays it to a cloud-based infrastructure to monitor, process, and analyse. Jal tarangani was first tested in Chirang District for monitoring the water level of the Aie river. Based on the experience gained during the testing a refined model has been developed with financial support from the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA). The new iteration was deployed at the bank of river Brahmaputra in Dibrugarh district in May 2022 for PoC. ASDMA is now in the process of replicating this model across various river locations in the state, based on the successful outcomes.
eHospital eHospital is a one-stop system which helps in connecting the patients, hospitals, other health-care service providers and doctors on a single digital platform. It is a cloud-enabled and web-based Health Level Seven International (HL7) compliant application available through Software as a Service (SaaS) model for managing health-care service delivery in government hospitals across the country. In Assam, the system is implemented across one urban and 23 district hospitals. Further, it is aimed to implement the system across 14 more hospitals covering 12 districts by January 2023.
eTransport Assam is one of the best performing states in terms of transport computerization. The State Centre helps in managing all eTransport services such as registrations, driving licences, permits, enforcement, pollution control, accident management, etc. through its software application solutions such as Vahan & Sarathi, eChallan, Virtual Courts, eDar and PUCC across the State. It is the first state to implement e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) and Speed Limiting Device to augment road safety. The state also leads the country in implementation of Aadhaar-based contactless services. As of now, the State Transport Department offers 45 contactless services.
Integrated Land Revenue Management System (ILRMS) (https://revenueassam.nic.in/ILRMS/) Assam is the one of the first states to have taken a major stride towards eGovernance in the management of Land Records processes by implementing the ILRMS system in the state. It added a much needed layer of transparency, efficiency, and accountability to the system. The system delivers the entire range of citizen services to users through ARTPS Portal. This was only achieved with combined efforts from NIC ILRMS Team and Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Government of Assam. At present, these services are operational for 25 districts: Dharitree: facilitates online updation of Land Records and streamlines RoR data NOC: issues No Objection Certificate for transfer of immovable property e-Panjeeyan / NGDRS: reduces waiting time for deed registration by auto calculating the eStamping fees and scanning of documents and biometric inputs
ePrastuti (https://eprastuti.assam.gov.in/) ePrastuti is a web framework developed by the State Centre for the Government of Assam in order to establish a uniform identity across state government websites. Currently, there are 212 departmental and 29 district websites running under ePrastuti. Assam State Portal (https://assam.gov.in) is also using the ePrastuti framework. The portal aims to provide a single window access to the information and services being provided by the State Government to its citizens and other stakeholders. It aspires to be a comprehensive, accurate, and reliable source of information on Assam and its many facets.
eGRAS Assam (https://assamegras.gov.in) eGRAS (electronic Government Receipt Accounting System) is an online system that facilitates creation of eChallan and online payment by citizens anywhere, anytime. It also takes care of the accounting needs of the State Government for government receipts. The revenue received through the system is first pooled in the participating banks and then transferred by them to the Consolidated Fund of Assam maintained by RBI. It functions along with e-Scroll to RBI and Virtual Treasury (VT). As of now, eGRAS Assam has been integrated with major state departmental portals for online payment and generation of eChallan. Further, state departments without portals have been directly boarded to the system. It was originally developed by the NIC Pune Centre and has been greatly enhanced with many additional features to meet the specific requirements of the state. eGRAS Assam has also been replicated in Arunachal Pradesh, with full ongoing support from NIC Assam. Till December 2022, 48.56 lakhs eChallans have been issued through eGRAS, earning revenue of ₹35,640 crores for the State Government.
Fig. 1.4: Jaltarangini – a flood forecasting and early warning system developed by NIC Assam – being tested in the Brahmaputra River in Dibrugarh.
GePNIC (https://assamtenders.gov.in) Government e-Procurement System of NIC (GePNIC) is a centralised online solution to conduct all stages of the procurement process. The solution is running successfully across India for both Central and State Government organisations. It has all security features in place including two-factor authentication with Digital Signature Certificate. Assam was on-boarded on the system in 2015 and since then, a total of 42,550 tenders of value ₹1.86 lakh crore have been floated in the state.
ICT Application in Elections NIC Assam has been at the forefront of managing all ICT-related activities of election management for the State Government since early 1990s. Besides its flagship solution eNirvachan, Assam became the second state in the country to implement the Force Deployment Software and Eletraces for randomised deployment of security forces and tracking of EVMs during Assam Legislative Assembly Elections 2021.
Employment Exchange Portal (https://employment.assam.gov.in/) The Employment Exchange Portal is an initiative by the State Government to facilitate job seekers in the state to register for various employment schemes notified by the state departments. The portal was launched by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam in September 2022. The portal is developed by the State Centre and registers the job seekers by simply seeding their Aadhaar.
eCounselling eCounselling process for a total of 128 Government and Private Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) involving 1,56,905 seats has been achieved by the end of 2022. Further, the facility for the digital management of all ITIs of Assam will be completed in near future.
Assam State Awards Portals Two prominent award portals were launched in 2022 for State Civilian Awards and Teachers Award respectively. State Civilian Awards (https://assamcivilianawards.assam.gov.in/) State Teacher’s Award (https://shikshak.assam.gov.in)
Mobile Apps Matsya Baibhav Matsya Baibhav has been developed by NIC, Assam State Centre for Department of Fisheries, Assam to geo-tag the assets created under Ghare Ghare Pukhuri Ghare Ghare Maach (GGPGGM) scheme in the first Phase with the following objectives: To build a common platform for monitoring of the schemes To get the summary status of the GGPGGM scheme through the dashboard and graphical representation of consolidated data and detailed status through various reports To view the presence of ponds / tanks in the map with detailed parameters To build a system where dashboard and reports are accessible to public
GeoRurban GeoRurban App for monitoring physical progress of the Rurban scheme by geo-tagging the assets.
Drugsfree Assam Drugsfree Assam allows any citizen to report any suspicious activity / person like storing, selling, transporting, using or promoting drugs to the police.
COVID-19 Initiatives Corona Virus Alert Assam (COVAAS) is a one-stop mobile alert application that brings services and information alerts related to the pandemic onto a single platform for the convenience of the administration and citizens. Covid Suraksha a web-based application for managing and monitoring home quarantine cases across the state. Online ePass for inter-state and inter-district movement during lockdown. COVID-19 Advisory Portal is a web equivalent of COVAAS and provides information on all COVID-related schemes, district-wise case details, and central / state government issued advisories.
Fig. 1.5: Assam State Portal developed using ePrastuti web framework
Infrastructure Support and Network Services Regional Centre of Excellence in Application Security (RCoEAS) RCoEAS was established in Guwahati to provide state-of-the-art security solutions and services for the ICT needs of North-eastern States. It provides following services: Application Security Audit Compliance Mobile App Security Testing Automated Scan Comprehensive Security Assessments Server Compliance Continuous Assessment with Penetration Testing Propagation of Security by Design and Secure SDLC (SSDLC)
NIC Assam State Cloud NIC Assam State Cloud was launched in 2019 to accelerate delivery of e-services in the state while optimising ICT spending of the Government. It ensures optimum utilisation of the infrastructure and speeds up the development and deployment of eGov applications. It offers Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, and Storage as a Services among other services. As of 2022, the State Centre offers Cloud Services to 51 departmental users and has created 68 virtual machines.
National Knowledge Network (NKN) NIC Assam has been managing NKN since 2011. It connects 64 educational institutes, by 12 core links of 10 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps bandwidth. The Centre also manages the NKN network for two districts of West Bengal, including Cooch Behar and Alipurduar.
Core Infrastructure NIC Assam is well equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure to cater to numerous needs of the state. NICNET has emerged as the ICT backbone for the State Government. It has been managed by the State Centre since 2003 and connects the State Government with the rest of the world through its extensive network of 606 LANs comprising 48,622 nodes. In terms of statistics, NICNET connects 210 locations under Land Revenue Project, 93 Courts and Jail Complexes, 23 APHED Sub-Divisions, 18 State Divisional Office, 53 Central and State Government offices, 11 FCI Offices, 33 District Transport Offices, 33 District Police Headquarters, alongside 7 other locations.
Fig. 1.6: Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi virtually laying the foundation stone of the National Data Centre for the North Eastern Region
National Data Centre - North East Region (NDC-NER) NDC-NER is a dedicated data centre developed to host and maintain eGovernance initiatives from the North Eastern States. It aims to expedite the implementation of flagship Government projects. Further, it aims to accelerate the socio-economic growth of the region, by enabling ‘ease of doing business’ and providing enough opportunities to the people and businesses of the Northeast to interact progressively. Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation stone of NDC-NER Guwahati on 18th February 2021 in presence of the Hon’ble CM of Assam, Dr. HImanta Biswa Sarma. (See Fig. 1.6). The data centre will be a G+5 Floor building having 200 racks expandable to 400 racks and is rated as Tier-III Green Data Centre with integrated substation, HVAC plant, Network Operations Centre and Security Operations Centre facility.
Training & Capacity Building various symposiums on Enterprise Architecture, AI & ML, and Data Analytics were organised, which were attended by over 500 senior state government officials mobile app development training organised at Assam Administrative Staff College training for departmental and district officials were organised for the implementation of ePrastuti and eOffice various training were organised for GePNIC, PDS, eRupantor, and ACS & Other Allied Services
Accolades CSI SIG eGovernance Award 2022 for Kritagyata CSI SIG eGovernance Award 2020 for Ease of Doing Business in Assam Portal CSI Nihilent eGovernance Award 2010-11 for Assam
Way Forward With its committed teams at State / District Centres, the NIC Assam State Centre is committed to making a positive contribution to digital governance. It is working toward the launch of a number of state-wide projects, including Pehchaan, eCabinet, NeVA, NGDRS, Blockchain in Land Records, and FRUITS. In addition, it is working towards implementation of enterprise architecture across various systems for effective public service innovation and better citizen outcomes.
Table 1.1: Central / State eGov Projects Report Project: eCourts; Implementation Status: 2.4 lakh court case entries from January 2022 to November 2022 Project: ePrison; Implementation Status: 31 jails covered & 1.86 lakh prisoners registered till November 22 Project: eForensics; Implementation Status: 2 labs covered & 16.6 thousand cases registered till November 22 Project: eProsecution; Implementation Status: 32 districts covered & 93,000 cases registered Project: RERA; Implementation Status: 544 projects registered Project: eGranthalaya; Implementation Status: Implemented in 6 institutions Project: eCounselling; Implementation Status: Implemented in 44 government and 84 private Institutes Project: ePravesh; Implementation Status: Over 8.8 lakh visitors & 6,000 car passes issued in Assam Secretariat Project: Online Building Permission System (OBPS); Implementation Status: Implemented in 27 Urban Local Bodies Project: MatsyaBaibhav; Implementation Status: Over 9,000 ponds / tanks covered & 8,982 geotagged Project: eGRAS; Implementation Status: 41 departments onboarded directly and 16 departments onboarded through integration with departmental portals Project: e-DAR; Implementation Status: 321 accidents registered; 317 trainings conducted Project: eChallan; Implementation Status: 4,21,332 challans issued; ₹2,54,87,55,603 fine collected