The NIC Hooghly District Centre is providing ICT support and services to various departments of the District Administration as well as to the Central Government Departments. This endeavour has made Hooghly one of the leading districts in the state in terms of IT enabled service delivery to its citizens. NIC-Hooghly has developed and successfully implemented many ICT projects and initiatives for the benefit of citizens.
Hooghly, with its headquarters located at Chinsurah town, lies within the Burdwan division of the state of West Bengal. History suggests the name Hooghly is derived probably from the word 'Hogla', a tall tree, which grows in abundance on the river banks and in the marshy low lands below them.
Unity among diversity is the spirit of India since time immemorial. There are so many religions, languages and cultures among its habitants. Hooghly in West Bengal is like miniature India. This is the district where the Father of Renaissance of modern India, Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born. This is the district where the modern prophet, Sri Ram Krishna, the great novelist, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the great poet, Mohitlal Mazumdar were born. This is the district where the great writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote and proclaimed the pledge of the freedom movement of India “VandeMataram”.
NIC District Centre, Hooghly
While the District has a glorious history and is considered among popular destinations in West Bengal, it has also witnessed great strides in the field of technology. Established at the Treasury Building under District Administration in the year 1988, the NIC Hooghly District Centre has been serving as a platform for promoting ICT initiatives in the District, thereby fostering the facilitation of technology-driven solutions to citizens. Presently, the NIC District Centre is newly constructed in the new Administrative Building of District Magistrate Office.
Key ICT Initiatives
e-WBPPMS (www.wbppms.gov.in)
Elections in Indian democracy have their own uniqueness. The most crucial part of their entire mechanism is probably the human mobilisation exercise. The magnitude of the exercise is best felt at the Electoral Districts from where the polling officers are trained and their duties are allotted. In this process, NIC plays an extremely important role through its District Officers. They are the ones who make this process digitally viable and coordinate with Election Officers and observers to get the best view of the vast data generated from various events involved.
In the polling personnel management as it is officially named during the elections, DIOs are engaged in preparing this database of personnel working within their districts. The database is collected from the respective office master in physical forms or digital forms. The criteria for categorising the personnel are determined on the basis of availability and requirement and then the data gets processed for training appointments. The completion of training calls for grouping of data to be sent to polling station to conduct the actual polling.
A need was felt for a long time to centralise the data management operations under a single web application to harmonise the efforts put in by different districts, which are most of the times repeated and redundant from the organisation’s viewpoint. NIC Hooghly District Centre has come up with a complete Polling Personnel Management System (PPMS) to solve some of these issues.
To reduce cost involvement in connection with smooth and speedy collection of polling personnel data, NIC Hooghly District had started the journey of capturing data from root/ office level directly since Assembly Election 2016 through the development of an online web application. Later, this was also successfully used in the Panchayat Election 2018. Presently, as desired by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, this web-based online application will be used throughout Bengal of twenty four districts for the ensuing General Parliament Election 2019 through the portal, wbppms.gov.in. NIC Hooghly District Centre was entrusted to design, develop, perform security audit and also to host the web application to the NIC Cloud.
Campus LAN & VOIP
With continuous ICT support and supervision of District NIC Centre, the District Administration has implemented the Campus LAN among 13 buildings through the laying of OFC. More than 500 nodes are working within this LAN in the first phase. The entire LAN has been integrated with NICNET through WBSWAN. Installation of BSNL PRI circuit at the NIC District Network-Server room has enabled setting up of about100 Cisco VOIP with LAN Node at different sections of the District Administration. All BSNL landline phones at different sections of the District Magistrate Office have now been replaced by VOIP phones. They are also being used as intercom within the sections.
L-MAMS
Miscellaneous Application Monitoring System for District Land and Reform Office is an online web-based application, designed and developed by the NIC Hooghly District Centre. Its objective is to monitor, track all types of miscellaneous applications, which are submitted every day at Block Land and Land Reforms Office (BLLRO), Sub-divisional Land and Land Reforms Office (SDLLRO) and District Land and Land Reforms Office (DLLRO) levels and for speedy disposal of applications. The online system is capable of uploading the original application, permission seeking order, enquiry report and final order sheet of the case.
Various types of report on the submitted applications are generated including a search option for tracking a particular application through generated application ID as well by name. Duplicate applications are checked using Khatian Number and Dag Number of the land.
Other ICT Initiatives
e-DEOEMS
District Election Officer Expenditure Monitoring System is an online SOR (Shadow Observation Register) monitoring system for the Assembly and Parliament Elections. The system was first developed by NIC Hooghly District Centre for Assembly Election 2016 through the web portal wbems.gov.in. Now, as desired by the CEO, WB, it will also be implemented for the ensuing General Parliament Election 2019. The necessary upgradations and customisations have been started as per the guidelines of CEO, WB. The system is capable to generate PC-wise, AC-wise, Item wise SOR reports instantly with Annexure-21 report generation after one month from the date of result declaration. A statistical report of maximum or minimum expenditure items during the election period can also be generated from the system.
Central Government e-Governance Projects in the District
Vahan-Sarathi
Through continuous support of NIC, District Centre, Vahan-4 has already been implemented and online Sarathi has also been implemented in the district including subdivisional ARTO offices since July 2018. Online permit for goods and contract carriage with temporary registration have already been implemented. Initially, the online learner test is conducted through the NIC, IT training hub.
NDAL-ALIS
Through proper training at NIC District Centre, NDAL-ALIS has been implemented at the District Magistrate Office as well as at the newly created Chandannagar Police Commissionerate Office.
E-Tendering and e-Auctioning
E-Tendering and e-Auctioning system are being implemented in the District for which technical support and training are being provided by the NIC District Centre. After intensive ICT training programmes for DLLRO/ Additional District Magistrate (Land Reforms) (ADM (LR)) office, e-auction has been implemented at DLLRO office.
eCourt
It has been implemented at the district and subdivisional court with NICNET connectivity through NIC District Centre.
DBT
Through continuous training on POS, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for fertiliser, has been implemented at the District.
IVFRT
Immigration, Visa and Foreigner’s Registration and Tracking(IVFRT) has been implemented at the District Police Commissionerate Office and Hooghly Rural Superintendent of Police Office after thorough technical training to the staff.
Videoconferencing
The installation of videoconferencing system at the NIC District Centre has facilitated remote meetings of Central, State Government Departments and CIC hearings.
e-Sparrow
Technical support is being provided to the Divisional Commissioner and District level Administrator on online sparrow.
NICNET
NICNET connectivity has been established at different Central and State Government Offices.
In addition, technical support is provided by NIC Hooghly District Centre for other Central Government e-Governance projects like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Animal Disease Reporting System (NADRS), Agricultural Marketing Information Network (AGMARKNET), Computerisation and Computer Networking of Consumer Fora in Country (Confonet).
State Level Projects
Important state level projects have been initiated at Hooghly district for which the NIC District Centre has played a leading role in terms of organising training and providing technical support to resolve local issues.
E-District Services under MMP
Through successful e-Governance initiatives, more than 68 e-district services are running in the district for citizens. Regular District e-governance Societies (DeGS) meetings are being conducted at the District for smooth running of the E-District Services.
Kanyashree Project
This flagship project has been implemented in the District for which training programme for the staff of DI school and District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO) are conducted by the NIC District Centre.
LAND Record
Banglarbhumi and e-Bhuchitra have been implemented at18 BLLRO offices under the District Land and Land Reform Office.
CORD
Computerisation of Registration of Documents (CORD) under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has been implemented at all the property registration offices of the district through district level monitoring team and with an active involvement of the NIC District Centre.
OSCAR – OBC & SC-ST Application Review
It is a web-based application for the online application of SC, ST, OBC caste certificates. The online system has been implemented in the district with IT and training support to officials of the user department by the NIC District Centre.
District level projects
Online Recruitment
District NIC is providing technical support to the District Administration in organising online recruitment against vacancies at different departments. Besides, the system enables generation of online admit cards for written or computer tests.
District Website
The official website of Hooghly District (http//hooghly.gov.in) is developed for providing information like profile of the district, key contacts of administration, circulars, recruitment notifications, news, events etc. The website is updated regularly.
Panchayat Election
Exhaustive technical supports have been provided to the District Administration for Panchayat Election 2018 with respect to online polling personnel data collection, three phase randomisation and appointment letter generation with training schedules.
HHIMS
An online Hooghly Health Information Management System for online monitoring of different health parameters has been designed and developed for Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) Office of the District.
District NIC IT Training Hub
To implement online projects at the district level, an ICT-based training centre with20 thin clients with smart TV has been prepared with full cooperation of the District Administration. All the devices are connected through campus LAN. This IT Training Centre has been inaugurated by the Hon’ble District Magistrate, Hooghly. It has been used for online training programme as well as for computer proficiency test for various recruitments.
Summary
Being instrumental in developing various innovative applications for the District Administration, NIC District Centre has enabled the successful implementation of State and Central e-Governance projects at the District. The centre has taken several important initiatives in developing applications related to various aspects of Election Management Process, which are successfully implemented. Effectiveness of these applications are widely appreciated and they are now being used across the state.