Lush green forests, colourful tribal communities and attractive tourist spots make the Chhindwara District of Madhya Pradesh an alluring proposition. Situated in the Satpuda Hills range, Chhindwara's economy is fueled by its vast coal reserves and the many industrial giants that it houses. The District has a population of 15,68,700 spread over an area of 11,815 sq km. It has 1,984 villages distributed in 11 development blocks. The population density is 132.77 persons per sq km, and the literacy rate is 44.9 per cent.
The Inception
It was in this setting that the NIC Chhindwara District Unit was commissioned in 1989. The first move, as in all other NIC District Centres, was to familiarize the District Administration and its departments with the relevance and advantage of computers so that they would adopt the computerized way of doing things. To do so, the District Unit organized several training programmes for the staff of almost all departments.
At the District Level
The Chhindwara District Unit has come a long way since. Numerous projects were executed by NIC to extend computer support to a host of departments: the Time Limit & DO Letter Monitoring System caters to the requirement of weekly review of the disposal of time limit papers by various departments. The Zilla Nazarat is benefited by the Recurring Deposit Monitoring System, Temporary Advances Reporting System and the Database on Firearms. The project for office automation of the Satpuda Saksharatha Samiti (SSS), Chhindwara, is a major responsibility which the District Unit has taken up in the recent past. Four software packages have already been developed and implemented for the project. The Advances Monitoring System monitors the advances paid and generates monthly reports; the Expenditure Monitoring System generates expenditure reports according to minor heads every month; the Balances Reporting System monitors withdrawals and payments and generates a report on balances, from vouchers; and the Ledger Monitoring System generates the monthly Ledger Statement and the Balance Sheet at the end of each financial year. All the four software found instant success, and the District Unit became an integral part of the Literacy Campaign.
Other projects developed for local use include the Public Grievances Monitoring System and the Anganwadi Inspection Monitoring System which reviews the inspection details of Anganwadi Centres. On several occasions, merit lists were prepared for selecting candidates for different posts in departments such as Forests, Education, Land Records and Health. In tune with the Nation Several state and national-level projects have been implemented in the District. Among them are the National Watershed Development Programme for Rural Development (NWDPRA), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Prime Minister's Rojgar Yojna (PMRY), National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), Target-Free Approach for Family Welfare, MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), Treasury Accounting Information System (TRACIS), Treasury Receipt and Payment Information System (TRINFO), Death and Birth Registration System, Malaria Monitoring System, Epidemic Monitoring System, Animal Disease Surveillance Information System (ADSIS) and MLA Local Area Development Scheme (MLALADS). During Elections An integral part of the success story of the Chhindwara District Unit is the efficient computer and communication support it provided to the District Administration in the Assembly Elections of 1993, the Parliamentary Elections of 1996 and again in the Bye-Elections of 1997.
The NICNET Factor
NICNET has become an indispensable means of communication for the Chhindwara District Administration. Moreover, the District Unit has provided dial-up connectivity to OILFED and DRDA. The Central Excise Department and the Zonal Research Institute of the Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya are also to be hooked up with NICNET in the near future. The list of NICNET users in the District is growing longer and longer with time. Other Services The NIC Chhindwara District Unit is facilitating widespread use of Census-91, DISPLAN and GISTNIC data among a wide cross-section of people, viz. researchers, advocates, freelance writers and others in government departments and private offices, by providing data in user-defined formats.
Immersed in work : A day in the Chhindwara District Unit
The unstinted efforts of the NIC Chhindwara District Unit has won the confidence of not only the Government machinery, but also of people from other walks of life who had had the occasion of seeking NIC assistance. Several unexplored areas, however, still pose new challenges. Computerization is yet to lend its soothing touch to many a important development scheme and department. As Robert Frost had put it so eloquently: "... and miles to go before I sleep..." But, at the same time, the distance that the NIC Chhindwara District has covered is indeed remarkable. And it has marked the whole way with milestones of achievements.