Bihar - the twelfth largest state in area and third largest in population is divided into two unequal halves by the holy river Ganga, which flows through the middle of the state from west to east on the banks of which, the capital city of Patna earlier known as Patliputra is situated.
The state has been the cradle of many religions, art & culture flourished with Madhubani paintings in Mithila region while Nalanda and Vikramshila universities were major centers of learning in the ancient times.
Santosh Kumar, STD & SIO, Bihar sio-bih@nic.in
NIC Bihar State Centre, established in the year 1988, has been successful in fostering ICT culture at different levels of governance over the last two decades. With areas like, Finance, Treasury, Transport, Rural Development, Property Registration, PHED, Judiciary etc. under its fold, the center has earnestly embarked on e-governance, which has resulted in transparency and efficiency in the government, while turning government programs & services citizen centric.
Important Projects Implemented by NIC Bihar, are:
Bhu-Abhilekh (Land Records Computerisation): A software was developed using SQL server database and Visual Studio 2005, incorporating security features like user-id, password along with different level of roles and privileges. The software captures data relating landholders, land details, agro parameters etc. It keeps track of mutation processes like application submission, order and generation of notices by circle officer, records the report given by to project karamchari, mutation of land holding and the history of the concerned land. The process of renumbering of khesra (plot no.) its publication, updation, generation of Khesra panji, Register II (Tenant Ledger Register) and printing of all schedule register has been incorporated. A concept of land passbook has been introduced which contains lagan demand its collection, mutation details, load details apart from the details related to land. The passbook is treated as ROR (Record of Rights), which helps in getting loan from bank the details of which can also be recorded in the passbook.
RACE (Revenue Administration through Computerised Energy Billing): A client-server software for Revenue Administration, designed & developed using Oracle10g and Developer-2000 for “Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB)”, Patna was implemented at Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (PESU). All the 10 Divisions of PESU are providing 100% billing to more than 3 lakhs consumers through RACE running at its all thirty Collection Counters. Recently, a new tariff and Barcode Interface has been incorporated in RACE to facilitate 'Any-where Bill Payment'.
Bihar's Official Website: A website (http://gov.bih.nic.in) was launched, to project the state's achievements to the cyber world. The website gives
PC Sahoo, Informatics Correspondent, Bihar, pcsahoo@nic.in
Home page of gov.bih.nic.in
information regarding Governance, Departments, Budget, Tourism, Public grievance etc. The other important features are Governor Online, CM Online, and an embedded Public Grievance Handling System.
The website also contains information on History, location, Natural Resources, Climatic conditions, people and Culture, Festivals, Soil, Art and Craft etc. Under Tourism, all the tourist spots have been illustrated.
Mudra (MUnicipal corporation towards Digital Revenue Administration): A G2C Software for Holding- Tax assessment and revenue management of Municipal Corporations, Councils and Nagar Panchyat was developed and implemented.
The system “Municipal Corporation towards Digital Revenue Administration (MUDRA)” is useful for Holding owners, Tax collectors, officials at headquarter levels and Circle levels. The system computerizes Bill generation, dispatch, Demand note generation, and facilitates Online tax collection, Receipt generation etc.
Vahan-Sarathi: SMART Card based Driving License under Vahan-Sarathi project of NIC Hq. has been implemented at District Transport Office (DTO), Patna. The delivery of SMART-Card based Driving License with Bio-metric authorization module has been enhanced by NIC Bihar. It displays the Name, Photograph and Signature of the applicant depending on his inward number to verify his pre-registered thumb impression for secure delivery of card to applicant.
Hon'ble Chief Minister Bihar, Sh. Nitish Kumar, discussing over implementation of Vahan Sarathi at DTO, Patna
ELECON (Election Confidential): The ELECON software was developed for monitoring the overall election process of the state. The software is widely used at all the levels of elections namely Loksabha, Assembly, Panchayat, and Municipal Corporations elections. The software presently running under version 7.0 has been the favorite of many Chief Election Officers (CEO's). The photo features of software attracted the attention of CEOs of many states, which went to the polls recently. This feature provides the option of printing photo of the polling staff on the appointment letter to prevent any impersonation during duty. The software has been developed under Window-XP with MS-Access as backend and Visual Basic as front-end. Crystal Report 7.0 is used for reports.
The ELECON ver 7.0 won 11th National e-governance award (Silver Medal) in year 2008.
Sh S Kumar SIO Bihar receiving the “e-Governance Award”
The overall project objectives are to maintain the secrecy of Polling Booth, conduct elections in a transparent, efficient and fair manner with the help of ICT tools thereby minimizing the time and cost and Photo Identity card to voters to control the fake voting.
e-Khazana (Treasury Revenue and Accounting Management System): To computerise the entire accounting activities of the State's Treasury at HQ as well as at the District Level and to provide a backward link with Department of Finance and the office of Accountant General for continuous monitoring and information flow, a software solution e-Khazana was designed and developed to assist the Treasury Officers to manage their day to day activities much more efficiently. The entry of bills/challans is required and the accounting, is done
automatically for them by the software.
e-Khazana can verify, cross check and post the bills / challans details into the appropriate accounts by itself. This not only simplifies the processes for the Treasury Officers but also frees them from the worry of human errors. Built in on-line query facility can fetch details concerning any bill.
Bhawishyanidhi (State General Provident Fund): A fully computerised solution to simplify the management of General Provident Fund (GPF) of the state government employees has been developed and implemented in the state. As per the rule, the GPF accounting is made on the basis of treasury schedule. After the computerisation of treasuries, the GPF computerisation was a logical consequence.
Chanakya Project (University Computerisation): The project envisages ICT support to the Universities of Bihar with respect to enrolment, processing of eligible examinees, conduct of examinations, publication and record keeping of results etc. The overall purpose of the project is to make the university administration efficient and students oriented.
VIDYA SAGAR Project -A Virtual Classroom Program: It is an on-line interactive educational activity to empower teachers, scholars and students using Video Conferencing Technology. VidyaSagar is a concept based on Communication, Collaboration and Computer Skills.
Under this program, each university has been allotted a weekday (Saturday) in a month to enable their teachers to deliver a lecture on relevant subject. Thus, on each Saturday of the month, 5 teachers of one University deliver 5 lectures in different subjects. These lectures are being attended simultaneously by students, teachers and scholars of other universities in Bihar.
COIN (Co-operative Banking In-Place): An ICT based software solution for Total Branch Automation (TBA) of the Bihar State Cooperative Bank (BCCB) was developed and successfully implemented, paving way for reforms in the State Co-operative Bank thereby enhancing its reach to the rural masses. The software enhanced citizen-centric services by quick approval of agricultural loans, automated credit and disbursement of pension to freedom fighters etc. The business reengineering with MICR interface of cheque clearing with RBI paved the way for COIN to achieve Microsoft Award in 2006.
Dr. Y K Sharma, DDG, NIC being felicitated on his visit to the Bihar State Cooperative Bank, Patna
Bihar State Data Centre: NIC Bihar State Centre, established a modern state of art Data Centre at Patna which was inaugurated by the Sh Nitish Kumar, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Bihar. The function was presided by Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, Hon'ble Union Minister of State. Dr. Anil Kumar, Hon'ble S & T Minister, Bihar and Sh Ram Kripal yadav, Hon'ble Member of Parliament were the guest of honors on the occasion. Dr. B. K. Gairola, Director General, NIC, New Delhi participated in the function as special guest.
The Data center enabled smooth flow of information between the grass-root level administration and the state capital. All the 38 districts headquarters are connected
Sh. Saurabh Gupta, during the inauguration of the Vidya sagar Project
through high-speed 2 Mbps dedicated leased line from BSNL. To provide connectivity with rest of the world, the Data centre has a central link of 10 Mbps to Internet with two additional redundant lines as backup. Different Servers available within the Data centre include Storage Area Network (SAN) of 1 Terabyte capacity, Web Server, DNS Server, Oracle/MS-SQL based Database Server, MS ISA 2006 based Proxy Server, etc. For high speed processing of information flow, these Servers are interlinked using fibre-optics.
Hon'ble CM Sh Nitish Kumar, Bihar & Dr. B K Gairola, DG, NIC during the inaugural function
SCORE (System for Computerised Registration): SCORE, a G2C software was designed and developed by the State center, incorporating all instruments under Registration Acts for property registration in Bihar and was implemented across 109 registry offices of the state through Public Private Partnership model.
The second version of SCORE renamed as “VINAYAK” uses the state-of-the-art technologies like finger print biometric devices, web camera, scanners etc. Moreover, an innovative concept was adopted by introducing the bank Challans for deposit of stamp duties/ registration fees/ additional stamp duties etc. by eliminating the use of stamp papers only.
The VINAYAK system facilitates Registration of Deeds with process re-engineering, and thus helping in better record keeping, search and copy, Encumbrance Certificate generation helps the citizens in evaluating their properties in terms of required stamp duty, registration fees and requisite enclosures.
NIRMAL (Networked Information for Rural Mass- A Landmark): NIRMAL, a web enabled application software with centralised data repository at the data center was developed under .NET Platform with Oracle 10g as backend for the Public Health & Engineering Department (PHED). NIRMAL is workflow based with component wise development, which conform to SOA (Service Oriented Architecture). The Query and reporting system of the software has greatly helped in decision making processes of the department. Altogether twenty-four sectors identified for IT support leading to efficient and effective management of the department. A few of them are listed Scheme & Program Management System, Personnel Information System, Pension & Payroll System, Departmental Enquiries, Finance & Works Accounting, Material & Store Management System, and Water Quality Management.
ISHPAT (Integrated Software for High Court Patna): A Web enabled, 3 tier architecture based application software, was developed to provide ICT support & services to the High Court Judicature at Patna. The software has facility for
§ Online Filing of Cases § Generation of cause list, orders and judgments. § Generate important statistical reports like judge wise, court wise, year wise and case type wise pending and disposed cases. § Case status available to the citizens through the Web- Site (http://patnahighcourt.bih.nic.in)
Data Flow Diagram ISHPAT
§ Help counter for advocates and litigants § Data Safety by using proper backup management and Disaster recovery management techniques.
Other Modules of the Software Implemented are Online Computerised Filing System, Cause List Information's Management System (CLIMS), Court Room Management Information System (CRMIS), Payroll Software for selected sections at Patna High Court.
Other significant projects implemented are
§ NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme)
§ Gyan Sarovar” is a software solution for online, paperless and fair conduction of examination.
§ SPECTRUM (Special Program Evaluation Customised To TRUE Monitoring) for Revenue & Land Reforms Department
§ Employment Exchange Portal of Bihar (http://rozgar.bih.nic.in)
§ Disaster Management System (Chetana)
§ DCIS (District Court Information System)
§ BSEB (Bihar School Examination Board) http://biharboard.bih.nic.in
§ Video conferencing services in Bihar
§ Panchayati Raj Computerisation
§ e-Gazette for publication of government notifications on the web
§ Training Division, NIC Bihar State Centre
For Further Information Contact: Santosh Kumar State Informatics Officer NIC Bihar State Centre, 3rd Floor, Technology Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna-800015
Story Edited by: Prashant Belwariar