Situated in the extreme south east of Jharkhand state, East Singhbhum district is quite rich with its mineral as well as cultural heritage. Legendly it is said that in the past, large number of lions were found in this area. Subsequently this geographical area was named as Singhbhum - "Land of Lions."

The district holds a leading position in respect of mining and other industrial activities in the state. Jamshedpur, the district headquarter, is a leading industrial city of the country and became famous world wide with the establishment of Tata Steel in the year 1907.

NIC district center, established in the year 1993, has offered extensive ICT support and services to the district administration since then. The center has played a leading role in inculcating ICT awareness in the district, which has resulted in greater transparency and efficiency leading to good governance. The website (http://jamshedpur.nic.in), e-mail and video conferencing facility has brought the district administration closer to the world and more responsive to its citizens.

The major e-governance projects implemented by NIC East Singhbhum district center are -

— Land Records Computerisation (LRC): The LRC project was initiated with an aim to reduce inconsistency of land records data and promoting e-Governance. A unicode based application software VASUDHA developed in VB.Net and MS SqlServer maintains information regarding land records Register (Khatiyan) and REGISTER-II. Along with facilitating easy maintenance and updation of land records including transfer of ownership etc, it also generates notices to be served to the parties concerned. Various MIS reports are generated in tabular and graphical formats. The computerisation of all the nine circle offices (Anchals) of the district, have been completed and online mutation facility has also been implemented. The major achievement of the project include complete replacement of manual land records, automation of mutation work, setting-up kiosks in Anchals, for providing the land holders the Record of Rights (ROR) at a very nominal fee.

— Jail Computerisation Project: Video Conferencing between District court and Jail has been successfully established as a part of the Jail computerisation project, which also includes PMS (Prison Management System) software for maintaining prisoner details, their court cases and movement from one jail to another etc. The software has provision for biometric authentication (Thumb impression & Photograph) of prisoners.

— CONFONET (Computerisation of District Consumer Forum): The computerisation of consumer forum in the district has been done with the implementation of CONFONET project. The software provides consumer case monitoring, judgment / order entry, daily/weekly cause list generation besides backlog case entry and generation of necessary MIS reports. The cause lists are uploaded on http://confonet.nic.in for the benefits of litigants as well as their counsel.

Sunil Kumar Verma DIO East Singhbhum sunil.verma@nic.in

— Official Website of East Singhbhum: A website (http://jamshedpur.nic.in) of the district has been launched with the aim of providing necessary information about the activities and achievements of the district administration to the citizens and wider dissemination of information.

— Commercial Tax Computerisation: For enabling registration of commercial establishments, PIN generation and other allied activities a web enabled, VAT software, developed by NIC Jharkhand has been successfully implemented in six commercial tax circles of the district. The software has ensured better and prompt G2C services, with the traders/dealers on one hand while increasing the revenue collection through “Value Added Tax” (VAT), on the other. This has also helped the district administration in tracking the commercial tax defaulters.

Sh Madhu Koda, Hon'ble CM, Jharkhand, inaugurating a “Revenue Kiosk” at Jamshedpur

— Online Treasury information system: A secure and integrated web-enabled “Treasury Information System” was developed for automation of district treasuries, sub-treasuries and DDO level payroll system. About 1300 drawing and disbursing officers are using the system for on line submission of salary bill at Jamshedpur treasury and at Ghatshila sub- treasury. The bill transaction, accounting process and generation of report viz. Cash Book, Posting Register etc. of the district treasury is prepared using the software. The SMS Module of the software alerts the subscribers about their monthly GPF subscription.

— GPF Computerisation: Software has been developed and implemented for computerising the GPF (General Provident Fund) contribution of all groups of employees of the district. The software has features to generate broad sheet, annual ledger, annual GPF statement, missing credit and debit adjustment, final payment processing besides maintaining the up- to date GPF accounts.

— Transport Computerisation: The computerisation of the transport department in the district has been carried out with an objective to enhance tax collection by compulsory registration of vehicles, issuing driving license to the concerned person thus facilitating G2C services. The Vahan and Sarathi software for registration of vehicles and driving license respectively have been implemented. The issue of registration certificate book and driving license on smart card has been started. Both of software has led to adherence to the motor vehicle act and rules.

— Arms License Computerisation: Software for maintaining the details of arms issued by the district administration has proved to be highly beneficial as it has removed inconsistency of arms records data. Various MIS reports related to issue of new, surrendered arms etc. has helped in monitoring and controlling the overall crime in the district.

— Training: The district has a well established “Training Centre”, conducting regular training programs for the district employees on various e- governance projects, customised application software, office automation tools, internet / email as well as general computer awareness program for the government officials.

Various other major activities viz.. Election Support System, NREGA Software implementation and support, Instant Money Order System for Post office at Jamshedpur, Revenue Court Cases Monitoring System, Mother & Child Care Program (MAMTA Software), AGMARKNET, IDSP (Integrated Disease Surveillance Project) support, Cattle Census Monitoring has also bee implemented within the District

For more details contact - District Informatics Officer NIC, District Unit, East Singhbhum Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) sunil.verma@nic.in

Story Edited by: Prashant Belwariar