Page 1 includes a graphical representation under 'In Focus' depicting key components of eTransport: National Register, mParivahan, Analytics, e-Challan, and Homologation, indicating that citizens can now avail RTO services through web portals and Mobile Apps.
The Transport Mission Mode Project (eTransport MMP), driven by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and executed by NIC, has successfully automated the operations of Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) across the country. The project has set up a consolidated nationwide transport database with real-time update and availability, and has launched a host of citizen-centric and trade-centric applications, contributing greatly towards the country’s e-Governance initiative under the Digital India Programme.
The genesis of the eTransport MMP goes back to the year 2000 when Vahan and Sarathi were conceived in response to the recommendations of the Smart Card Operating System for Transport Application (SCOSTA) Committee set up to study how to define standards for Registration Certificates (RCs) and Driving Licences (DLs) respectively, on a pan-India level to ensure interoperability, accuracy and timely availability of information.
As on date, the project is an extensive array of G2G, G2B and G2C services, benefiting citizens, transporters, vehicle dealers, manufacturers, police & security agencies, banks and insurance companies, along with various Government Departments at the State and Central levels. The project has reached a high maturity level, and centralised, web enabled versions, Vahan 4.0 & Sarathi 4.0 have already been implemented in close to 95% transport offices of the country. Further, the project has a repository in the form of National Register hosting 25 crore+ vehicle records and 15 crore+ licence records. A successful foray has also been made in the area of traffic enforcement solution through eChallan, a web as well as Mobile App, and mParivahan, which is a mobile extension of various transport services.
Objectives
Primary objectives of the project are to:
Modernise the IT infrastructure and service delivery model in the entire sector. Bring in efficiency, transparency, accountability and reliability in services. Minimise RTO footfall by maximising online service facilitation to citizens. Extend range and quality of G-C, G-B and G-G services. Promote better synergy through integration with stakeholders. Facilitate secure data sharing with approved users as per policy. Bring in transformative change in the entire ecosystem.
Key features & functionalities
Vahan and Sarathi applications provide complete functionalities of RTOs, viz. Vehicle Registration, Taxation, Permit, Fitness, Enforcement, DL/LL/CL Licensing and allied services with state customisation.
Centralised hosting is done at National Data Centre in Delhi and DR Site in Bhubaneswar. No need to maintain servers, storage etc., at state level.
Integration is done with state-specific payment gateway (Bank/ Cyber-treasury), smart card vendor, HSRP vendor, Postal Dispatch system and so on.
Close to 100 online citizen-centric and trade-centric services with facilities like e-payment, online appointment, document uploads etc., are provided.
Integrated Dealer Point Application with configurable work-flow for vehicle registration, tax/ fee collection, number generation etc., is provided.
Vahan Homologation Application allows integration with automobile manufacturers’ inventory, facilitating automatic data-capture of technical parameters and sale price during registration process.
Vahan CNG/ SLD/ VLT Homologation Applications also provide similar end-to-end integration, covering Type Approval, Inventory Upload, Retro-fitment and RTO approval process for relevant automobile components.
Vahan Fancy Number Auction Application allows citizens to choose, bid and pay online for fancy/ choice registration numbers as per state policy.
Vahan Border Check Post Application allows online tax collection from other state vehicles entering state border.
Vahan National Permit System is integrated with RTO authorisation.
New online application for Pollution Under Control Centres with real-time data integration is provided.
Sarathi Driving School Application automates complete operation and monitoring of processes in driving schools with Aadhaar based biometric attendance option.
Sarathi online learner licence knowledge test module allows configurable, randomised and multichoice knowledge test for applicants.
Integration with third-party Fitness Test Centres, Driving Test Tracks etc., is done.
Upstream integration with IRDA/IIB (for insurance data), NCRB (for stolen vehicle data) and Aadhaar (for authentication) is done.
Downstream integration and data sharing with Govt. Agencies/ Police, NCRB/ CCTNS, Banks/ Insurers, Transporters, UMANG, DigiLocker, eDistrict, CSC, CM Dashboard etc., for data sharing are done.
eChallan Mobile App and web portal provide a sophisticated, holistic traffic enforcement solution for Transport Enforcement Wing and Traffic Police Departments with a nationwide common database of offences and challans. These are also integrated with courts.
mParivahan Mobile App for citizens, with 4.5 million downloads, features virtual DL/ RC with encrypted, enforceable QR Code and other services/ tools, option for road accident and traffic violation reporting by citizens.
Comprehensive dashboard, analytics and advanced search options are provided.
New initiatives
In the last three-four years, a series of new initiatives has been launched under this project, keeping in view its given objectives in mind. These include:
Shifting the delivery platform to a centralised, web-enabled infrastructure. The flagship applications Vahan and Sarathi, which were already running in distributed mode across the country, have been redesigned into web-enabled versions and relaunched through a centralised portal (https://parivahan.gov.in) to enable a full set of G-G, G-B and G-C services.
More than 1,100 RTOs have already shifted to the new Vahan 4.0 and Sarathi 4.0 versions, along with complete migration of legacy data.
A comprehensive set of configurable options have been incorporated in the centralised applications to cater to state-specific needs and variations.
Almost 100 online citizen-centric and trade-centric services have been launched with facilities like e-payment, online appointment, document upload etc.
A comprehensive Traffic Enforcement Solution – eChallan – has been developed with mobile and web components, which has been adopted by both Transport and Traffic Police across 14 states.
The mParivahan Mobile App for on-the-go services and information for citizens has received wide popularity with 4 million downloads till the end of 2018. It features virtual Driving Licence and Virtual Vehicle Registration Certificates, which are now legally valid electronic documents.
Homologation Application integrates the complete life cycle processes of an automobile – starting with Type Approval of new models, inventory upload by manufacturers, registration by dealer and integration with the Vahan database. Similar life cycle integration applications have also been developed for CNG Kit, Speed Limiting Devices and Vehicle Tracking Devices as per the mandate of MoRTH.
Online Fancy Number Auction and Allocation System has been implemented in most of the states to bring in transparency and citizen facilitation.
Online National Permit Application has facilitated ease-of-business to transporters and also stemmed leakage of government revenue.
Countrywide data comprising 25 crore Vehicle Registration records, 15 crore Driving Licence records and all other relevant information have been consolidated in a central database, which is shared with thousands of authorised stakeholders such as the Police, government agencies, banks, insurers and transporters through various mechanisms such as API and portal access.
A centralised application for use of thousands of Pollution Check Points across the country has been developed to enable real-time update of vehicular pollution control status and allow its enforcement.
A number of other applications like Border Check Post, Online Letter of Intent, Backlog Module, Driving School Module etc., have been developed as per the requirements of various states.
API-based data integration with Insurance/ IRDA, NCRB, State Police, CSC, eDistrict, SARAL, UMANG, DigiLocker, Banks, FASTag etc., has been implemented to facilitate a connected ecosystem.
Elaborate dashboards, analytics, MIS Reports, fast search options have been implemented.
Major impacts
Eliminating/ Minimising RTO visits
Like all government endeavours, target beneficiaries are only the citizens, and the driving principle is to facilitate better, efficient and timely services to them. With the implementation of a large number of citizen-centric services, adoption of e-payment and online appointment facility, citizens have the option to carry out a major part of the transactions involved in all processes from the comfort of their homes, and need to visit RTOs only for essential functionalities such as appearing in learner or driving tests, authenticating documents, or getting physical fitness of vehicles done etc., and that too, as per pre-scheduled appointments. Some services such as tax payment, getting specific certificates etc., require no RTO visit at all. Many State Governments are further aligning their business processes with the new techno-logical options to further reduce/ eliminate RTO footfall and relieve the citizens. Although it requires a systemic change, starting with enabling legislation down to the implementation details, the Transport Application is equipped to play a significant role in enhancing the quality of services rendered to common citizens through the intervention of appropriate technology and processes.
Making payments online
Most of the states have adopted e-payment facility and some have totally abolished cash payment. About half of the total receipts made through eTransport applications are through e-payment, giving a big boost to the government’s stated objective to move to a digital payment platform. Another major upshot of this whole initiative is a sharp rise in the transparency and accountability in the system. Although there is a lot of ground yet to be covered, in most cases, citizens are facing less hassle in getting their services. Leakages in government revenues have substantially reduced and overall environment in most of the RTOs has become more transparent and citizen-friendly.
Enhanced monitoring through dashboards
The parivahan.gov.in portal incorporates dashboards, providing a variety of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) depicted in the form of tables, graphs and charts. These live dashboards pull data from the Vahan and Sarathi databases to provide live up-to-date, easy-to-comprehend status of the projects to the entire hierarchy of decision makers, planners and administrators, enabling them to troubleshoot, course correct, plan and take decisions on the fly. This access to relevant information at a glance garners easy involvement of all stakeholders of the eTransport MMP.
Brief overview of major new initiatives
Vahan 4.0 & Sarathi 4.0
The centralised Vahan 4.0 (https://vahan.parivahan.gov.in/) is a highly flexible and comprehensive application, which aims to automate the RTO operations and citizen-centric services related to Vehicle Registration, Permit, Taxation, Fitness, and allied activities. Similarly, Sarathi 4.0 (https://parivahan.gov.in/sarathiservice) deals with citizen-centric services and back-end RTO operations related to driving licence, learner licence, motor driving schools and allied processes.
These two applications have been implemented in ~1100 RTOs across 31 States/ UTs – with state-specific rules, tax structures etc. They are endowed with sophisticated features and a huge array of functionalities. They are architected on a centralised, multi-tenanted, web-enabled platform and deployed on NIC cloud infrastructure, which provides high security, availability and data integrity. It comprises a single database and single-core application having an intelligent configuration option to address inter-state variations in the processes, tax structures, formats, payment modes and so on. The system is integrated with multiple Payment Gateways, IRDA, NCRB, CSC, Aadhaar, DigiLocker etc.
Analytics Portal
Considering the volume and complexity of data generated through various transport services, a progressive Analytics Portal has been implemented in the project. NIC has adopted open source BI tools such as Javascript Libraries, Elastic Search and Text Search. An open source database Postgres is used for all the required data repositories.
To establish the efficacy of solutions for complex Parivahan environment, NIC has experimented with multiple prototypes, viz. Alert Dashboards using Tableau and also Analytics use cases, using ‘R’.
The portal, provisioned with an aim to enable efficient decision-making and forecasting, serves the following key purposes:
Business Intelligence (BI) Portal to fulfill the analytics and reporting needs related to Vahan, Sarathi and other transport related data. Comprehensive dashboards for Vahan and Sarathi to analyse and monitor the important analytics KPIs.
Advanced, fast and comprehensive search utility to quickly access details of Vahan RC and Sarathi DL.
Leveraging Advanced Analytics to forecast the occurrence of events in future, based upon the historical data.
eChallan
This integrated Traffic Enforcement Solution has been designed primarily for the Transport Enforcement Wing & Traffic Police.
Android-based Mobile App and back-end web application.
Online payment of challans by citizens, “anytime and anywhere”.
Management of traffic violations through multiple devices such as Smart PoS, CCTV, GPS and Speed Guns.
Seamless integration with National Databases like Vahan 4.0 and Sarathi 4.0 to book online and offline challans.
Central monitoring of Road Safety Policy implementation.
No duplicate or fake challans (comprehensive monitoring, audit option for each individual challan or concerned official by department remotely).
Completely customisable as per state/ department requirements.
Blockage of transactions on concerned vehicle/ licence, in case of pending challan.
mParivahan
A mobile-based application meant primarily for citizens and transport operators for accessing various transport-related services such as payment of road tax, application related/ informational services, and other citizen-centric functionalities.
Android-based App: Easy to download from Google Play Store.
Access to all-India RTO vehicle RC number search, and vehicle information like Owner Name, Registration Date, Make, Model, Fuel Type etc.
Most downloaded App of NIC: 4.5 million+ downloads.
Virtual Driving Licence and Virtual Vehicle Registration Certificate through back-end connectivity to the Transport National Register, encrypted in QR code to replace existing physical documents/ cards with the secured, enforceable, digital identities.
Virtual DL, RC now notified as valid documents by MoRTH, GoI.
Homologation of vehicles
This application (https://parivahan.gov.in/makermodel/) allows vehicle manufacturers to get their models registered and type approved online through authorised Type Approval Agencies (ARAI, ICAT etc.), upload inventory (with chassis number, engine number, colour, date of manufacture, ex-showroom price etc.), which is later linked to the Vahan and Online Dealer Point Applications during the registration process.
Fancy Number Auction
e-Bidding facility for online booking of premium registration numbers by new vehicle owners.
Allows citizens to choose, bid and pay online for fancy/ choice registration numbers as per the state policy.
Introduced under the NIC flagship application, VAHAN, with a view to bringing transparency into the system of allocation of registration numbers.
Aims to avoid unwarranted pressure on officers for these numbers and contributes to revenue for the exchequer.
Minimal auction registration fee, as decided by the state transport policy.
CheckPost
It is an online solution for tax collection of vehicles coming from other states, facilitating cashless and seamless collection of taxes.
A portal has been developed to serve as a common platform for various states/ UTs through which one can deposit state entry taxes through e-payment facility rather than physically visiting the RTO.
SMS based receipt is generated as a proof of payment.
Authenticity of payment is ensured by providing login facility to transport officials to use the portal.
Applications for CNG Kit, SLD and VLT Devices
The users are CNG Kit Component Manufacturers, Dealers, Retro-fitment Agencies, Vehicle Owners and RTOs. This application allows CNG KIT component manufacturers to register, upload their models, get type approval and upload inventory. This is further utilised by other stakeholders for different stages/ points.
Similar applications are also available for Speed Limiting Devices (SLDs) and Vehicle Location Tracking Devices (VLTDs) (https://parivahan.gov.in/cngmaker/, https://parivahan.gov.in/sldmaker/).
Vahan 4.0 (RTO Application)
Online Services (https://vahan.parivahan.gov.in/vahanservice)
Online citizen-centric and trade-centric services related to Vehicle Registration, Permit, Fitness, Tax Payment etc., are accessible through this website. Option for e-payment of fees/ taxes and Appointment/ slot booking is available.
Sample list of available online services:
Pay online Road Tax.
Hypothecation Endorsement, Termination.
NoC to Other State.
Transfer of Ownership.
Change of Address.
Renewal of Registration Certificate.
Duplicate Registration Certificate.
Particulars of Registration Certificate.
Application for Fitness Certificate.
Request for Mobile No. Update.
Temporary Permit.
Pay Online Border Entry Tax.
Conversion of Vehicles.
Alteration of Vehicles.
Re-assignment of RC Number.
RC Cancellation, Surrender, release.
Duplicate Fitness Certificate.
Online Trade Certificate.
Renewal of NP, AITP Authorization.
Fresh Permit, Special Permit.
Sarathi 4.0 (RTO Application)
Online Services (https://parivahan.gov.in/sarathiservice)
New Learner Licence (LL).
New Driving Licence (DL).
New Conductor Licence (CL).
Learner’s Licence for Expired CoV.
Services on LL/ DL/ CL.
Search/ Cancel/ Modify/ Track.
Application.
Camp Registration.
Upload Documents/ Photographs.
Slot Booking for LL Test/ DL Skill Test.
Add Class of Vehicle to Existing DL.
Print Learner Licence, DL Extract.
Key Aspects
The Transport Project Applications (Vahan, Sarathi, eChallan etc.) are hosted on a centralised platform in multi-tenanted deployment architecture with all RTOs, citizens and other stakeholders connecting over the Internet.
Data Centre is at NDC, Delhi and DR site and NDC, Bhubaneswar.
The state-wise variations are addressed through an elaborate set of configuration options.
Legacy data is migrated with an appropriate mapping and transformation.
The Applications are primarily based on open source technologies/ platforms, making it replicable and interoperable.
Vahan 4.0 is currently running on 24 application servers and Sarathi 4.0 on 32 application servers. As the load increases, more application servers are added to facilitate horizontal scalability.
High-end physical servers (4 CPU, 72 core, 512 GB RAM) have been utilised with additional features like separation of the read and write requests. Functionalities like MIS Reports, Analytics, API, Data Sharing etc., are addressed through separate DB servers, which are kept in sync through streaming replications.
Way forward
The vision of the eTransport Project is to:
Bring in transformational changes in the processes, technology and mindset behind the system.
Focus on the citizen-first approach, simplified and easily accessible services, and interoperable systems.
Make the best use of emerging technologies and redefine the focus of government services.
The changes brought about in the system are already touching the lives of citizens, Trade, Departmental officials and other stakeholders in the Transport ecosystem in a very positive way and going forward, these changes have the potential to make it a true success story of Digital India.