The Computerised Rural Information System Project (CRISP) was launched in 1986 by the Deptt of Rural Development, Government of India, to strengthen the monitoring of poverty alleviation schemes by the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs). CRISP software package, designed and developed by NIC was provided to DRDAs and is currently available in DOS (in majority of DRDAs) and Xenix (in NIC distt. centres) environments. In order to further strengthen the computing and networking environment as desired by DRDAs, the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment (MRA&E), Government of India has decided to sponsor the upgradation of the existing set up of DRDAs. Following are the major components of Phase- II of DRDA Computerisation : Adoption of Client/Server architecture Sanction of funds to DRDAs to upgrade the computing environment with one Server (Windows NT/UDB), five clients (Windows95/Visual Basic, MS-office97), one Printer and setting up of LAN Design and Development of GUI based CRISP Application software package Provide dial-up connectivity using NICNET All the DRDAs are in the process of procuring necessary hardware & software and preparing the respective sites, in consultation with NIC, to meet the above objectives. The CRISP Group, NIC has prepared a Software Requirement Specifications (SRS) document conforming to IEEE standards to define the scope of the software.The SRS document was presented in a workshop held at MRA&E and attended by officials of various DRDAs. The modifications suggested in the workshop are being suitably incorporated. On the basis of the approved SRS, NIC would take up the Design and Development of the software. The software is proposed to be designed in such a way that it covers the major poverty alleviation schemes - viz. IRDP, TRYSEM, DWCRA, JRY and EAS, sponsored by the Ministry based on the Common Minimum Monitoring Requirements of all the DRDAs / State RDs across the country, as well as the Ministry, as laid down in the SRS. The local requirements specific to each of the DRDAs/State RDs could be studied and incorporated by the respective NIC State Unit. Thus, CRISP Version 4.0 would be implemented in a centralized-decentralized manner wherein a core module would be developed by NIC and supplied to all the DRDAs and State RDs fulfilling their common monitoring needs. The software would provide an easy-to-use GUI environment to the user for developing their own small modules specific to the local needs of each of the DRDAs/State RDs, which could be suitably plugged into the core module. It is one of the pioneering attempts to carry the GUI technology centred around Windows NT/UDB to the districts all over the Country.