Set in the valley of the meandering Barak, against a backdrop of lofty mountains, Cachar is a district tucked away in the southernmost tip of the State of Assam. The District headquarters, Silchar, is at a distance of about 400 km from the State Capital, Guwahati. When Mr Deepankar Sengupta joined as the District Informatics Officer (DIO) at Silchar on March 9, 1990, he knew that his assignment of setting up and running a district computer centre of the National Informatics Centre would by no means be an easy one.

RIGHT FROM SQUARE ONE

The first few days were hectic. The initial task was to literally sell the NIC concept. District officials had to be convinced of the utility of computers before they came forward to co-operate. And their co-operation was what the DIO needed most. But the response was good. The District Administration alotted a room for the computer centre, and site preparation work was taken up in right earnest. By March 31, 1990 the District Centre was ready for computers. However, at that time, since work was being taken up simultaneously in most of the districts of the State, computer systems and micro earth station equipments were not readily available for some districts. Unluckily enough, Cachar was one such district.

MAKING A DETOUR

Undaunted, the DIO decided that he would start work for DISNIC-PLAN implementation while waiting for the computer systems to arrive. Accordingly, an implementation team comprising of senior district officials along with the DIO was formed on May 2, 1990. The approach of the team is praiseworthy. Taking no chances, they started data collection only in one administrative block selected as the pilot block. Based on the experience in the pilot block, they then formulated a data collection procedure, and implemented it in the whole District. As the data from the entire District started flowing in, special care was taken to ensure authenticity through constant monitoring and random sample checks carried out by the implementation team from time to time. If it was a classic case of putting the cart before the horse, there could not have been a more practical decision.

Meanwhile, the computer systems had arrived, and the Centre was hooked up with the satellite-based computer communication network of NIC, NICNET on May 10, 1990. Two data entry operators were subsequently trained for data entry work and data entry for DISNIC-PLAN was started on November 10, 1990.

Latest status reports say data collection has been completed for all the 1,057 villages of the District, and data entry work is also nearing completion.

ONGOING ACTIVITIES

A district centre can at no stage be idle. As people realize the utility of computers they ask for more and more service. The DIO is kept on his toes. The Cachar District Centre is presently engaged in:

  • Data entry for DISNIC-PLAN
  • System study for the District Agriculture Department.
  • Data updation for Elementary Education Information System (EEIS)
  • Transmission of the "Price Position of Essential Commodities" to the Ministry of Agriculture.
  • Transmission of the progress reports for the "National Watershed Development Programme for Rainfed Areas" to the state nodal centre.
  • System study of immunization monitoring for the office of the Chief Medical and Health Officer of the District.

TAKING THE NEXT STEP

Gaining confidence and momentum, the implementation of the Elementary Education Information System (EEIS), based on the DISNIC education package was taken up next. This was a state-level project. An implementation committee for the project was formed on July 27, 1990. Data entry forms were distributed in all the schools of the District, and data entry operators trained. Data entry for EEIS was finally started on October 15, 1990 and completed by April 26, 1991. A total computer time of about 1,250 hours in 145 working days was required to complete the data entry for the 1,741 elementary education schools in the District.

ROLE DURING THE ELECTIONS

NICNET services for election work was made available to the District Administration from June 5, 1991 to June 15, 1991. Initially starting with a 12-hour-a-day service schedule, the District Centre switched on to round-the-clock service from June 18, 1991 onwards. As in all over the Country, NICNET services were used for bidirectional message communication between the Returning Officer, Chief Election Officer and Chief Election Commissioner. Counting updates for the Lok Sabha seat were also regularly transmitted to the Doordarshan.

INFODESK : BREAKING NEW GROUNDS

Information into District Economics and Statistics Kernel (INFODESK) is a project taken up by the Cachar District Centre to provide ready information to decision makers for day-to-day administration. Taken up on the suggestion of the State Administration, the project envisages the creation of a data bank in every district of Assam for storing and processing block level data for different sectors of the economy. The data banks are to be maintained by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics. Cachar has been chosen as one of the pilot districts for the project. With the District Centre involved in feasibility study, the project is still in its infancy.

National Informatics Centre's Cachar District Centre is a typical example of how the Organization has built inroads into areas hitherto untouched by informatics culture. A new trend has been set. People even in the remotest of districts now know what the computer can do for them. The sense of awe has been broken. They have been familiarized with the so-to-say intrigues of information technology. These, thanks to people like Deepankar Sengupta and others who helped and guided him, are the first steps towards a better, brighter and more informed future.