COVID-19 has been an unexpected pandemic that allowed very little reaction time to the Govt. of Bihar. To reach and control different divisions of govt. machinery, there was very little option but to rely on state-wide network and massive computing force to come up with a precise set of directions for officers playing the valiant role of Corona Warriors. All this had to be done while lockdown was in force!
In these demanding situations, NIC Bihar ensured that its officers remained fully operational and its NICNET continued to facilitate unhindered Video Conferencing between State Govt. and District Administration as well as with different departments like Health, Labour Resources, Social Welfare, Cooperative, Food & Consumer Protection and so on. Even when NIC officers were locked down and unable to move, work on the development of multiple Mobile Apps continued in WFH mode. These apps proved to be critical when it came to creating a database of migrant population returning to Bihar to facilitate the transfer of much-needed funds granted by State Govt. directly into the accounts of citizens of Bihar via DBT. NIC Bihar not only accepted these challenges but it also successfully delivered an IT Support that remained available 24x7 from 21st March 2020 till date.
Mukhyamantri Vishesh Sahayata Yojana Bihar Tatkal Sahayata Mobile App based registration was introduced for Migrant Workers stranded outside Bihar due to Lockdown. The applicants were facilitated to provide Aadhaar, Bank Account (belonging to any branch in Bihar) and Mobile Number. A geo-tagged selfie was taken to verify the actual location of the applicant and identification against Aadhaar. A sum of Rs. 1000 was transferred to about 19.63 Lakhs workers out of 29.13 Lakhs registrations. A sum of Rs.196.50 Crore was transferred through PFMS.
Bihar Migrant Labourer Evacuation Aid: The details of labourers arriving by special trains, buses or other means and staying at quarantine centres were collected and assistance of at least rupees 1000 to such evacuated labourers were given. The beneficiary needs to have a valid rail ticket, bank account by his name in Bihar and minimum age of 18 years to get enrolled on this portal. The facility to enter the details of such labourers has been provided at the respective quarantine centres.
Bihar Aapda Sahyog Portal This portal has been developed as part of DBT operations to give financial assistance of Rs.1000 to 1.2 Cr PDS beneficiary across State using Aadhaar and PFMS platform. Financial Assistance to Ration Card Holders due to ongoing lockdown, the State government decided to transfer Rs.1000 to each family registered under National Food Security Act. 1.68 Crore families have been registered on the portal and 1.03 crore beneficiaries have been paid through APB.
Krishi Jal and Medha Soft Mobile Applications
Shram Sadhan Portal The skill-mapping of migrant workers has been done to provide suitable job opportunity within Bihar. The workers can register their Job-requirements, Skills, Work Experiences and preferred location using the portal. Another section of the portal facilitated the Govt/private employers/contractor to register and post the vacancies for a particular skill-set. The facility to notify the labourers as soon a new vacancy comes up is being provided. Apart from that, the employers can also scan the labourers possessing a particular skill-set and interested to work in a particular location. The employer can send job-offer to the labourer and also a record number of days the job provided.
MedhaSoft Portal The Education Department, Bihar decided to have a centralized student’s portal for distribution of various kind of financial assistance under different schemes such as Dress, Scholarship, Cycles, Napkins and Books etc. This is to facilitate the conditional transfer of funds directly to the student’s/parent’s bank account using PFMS. This covered around 1.8 crore students from Primary, Upper Primary, Secondary and Senior Secondary. A total sum of Rs.3120 crore has been transferred during Covid period.
Social Security Pensions Under e-Labharthi umbrella, seven social security pensions have been distributed to 86 lakh pensioners. The state government released 3 months advance payment of April, May and June to the tune of 1200 crores in March 2020. Also, Rs.500 was released to 37 lakh central social security pensioners as per central government guidelines. Currently, monthly pensions are being disbursed to their bank account.
Aangan-Labharthi During Covid period, it was decided by the state government to close down Aanganwadi Kendra to contain the spread of the pandemic. However, it was decided to pay money of Poshahaar to pregnant, lactating and infants up to 6 years through DBT. About 90 lakhs beneficiary attached to 1.14 lakh Aanganwadi Kendra have been paid Rs. 1200 crores for 3 months during Covid period.
Video Conferences Government of Bihar relies extensively on NICNET Video conferencing Services as it facilitates secure, high-quality video/ audio and multi-point connectivity. NIC video conferencing studios are available across government secretariats and district administrations as well as with Hon’ble Chief Minister, Hon’ble Chief Justice (Patna High Court), and Chief Secretary. Approximately 1,421 Video Conferencing sessions were conducted between April and September 2020, extending over 15,408 sites and consuming 26,297 video conferencing hours in total.
ePDS No other activity within the government sector has been as stressed as timely distribution of ration based on Aadhaar ID from any outlet irrespective of the original place of residence/ creation of the card. Not only lakhs of new ration cards were generated using Ration Card Management System (RCMS), but using One Nation One Card platform, the ration was also made available from PDS outlet nearest to each family with the help of AePDS solution.
e-Pass After the announcement of lockdown to contain Covid-19 pandemic on 24th March 2020, there was a huge pressure on District Administrations to allow movement of citizens, stranded persons, officials and vehicles for essential and emergency purposes. District Magistrate, Patna took initiative for contactless issue of intra-district, intra-state and inter-state e-Pass for such cases. NIC Bihar developed an e-Pass system and launched it online on Bihar ServicePlus Portal (https://serviceonline.bihar.gov.in) on 25th March 2020. Soon it became operational in 37 out of the 38 districts of Bihar. The e-Pass system has undergone several changes due to frequent changes in Standard Operating Process (SOP) of central and state governments during the lockdown and un-lockdown periods and a total of 13 versions were launched subsequently.