Edited by Anshu Rohatgi The concept of good governance in modern times has gone through many phases. In the pre-independence period Gandhiji’s vision of good governance essentially meant democratic decentralization which entailed power to the Gram Panchayats (GPs) and people at the lowest level of political hierarchy. By the early 1990s, the idea of good governance was freed from the element of coercion and external force, spurring a number of policy initiatives based on the demand for participatory development, transparency in decision making and empowerment of people to decide and shape their destiny. After independence, both the Central and State Governments of India, are trying to remove inter & intra regional disparities at macro & micro levels. The 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution have bestowed greater responsibilities and powers to the local bodies, positioning them as the third tier of governance. The Planning Department of Uttar Pradesh Government (GoUP) is collecting data on more than 4,000 parameters from various socio-economic sectors like Agriculture, Industry, Social Sector, Power, Urban Facilities, Rural Infrastructural Facilities etc at village, block and district levels. These information are annually published and maintained in the form of block, district and divisional Sankhyikiya Patrikas (SPs) in more than 100 tables/sub-tables and 1000 maps, since early seventies. Naveen Chandra Bajpei, Dy. Chairman, State Planning Commission, Uttar Pradesh states: 'Meaningful planning process is the most efficacious tool for good governance as it is a sensitive instrument for removing regional disparities and redressing regional imbalances. But, in order to be effective and accurate, the planning process has to be supported by up-to-date and real time data to attain sustainable, equitable and spatially well dispersed development. Without fulfilling this imperative, the decentralized planning would lose its delivering edge. With a view to achieve this objective, ‘SPIDER’ and ‘e-Manchitra’ Geo-portals have been successfully integrated and pressed into operation by the U.P. State Unit of the NIC, with an impressive user-friendly quality. I congratulate the NIC, UP team for displaying outstanding quality of work in developing, implementing this extremely useful project so successfully, which is so very relevant to planners, administrators, public representatives and students of planning process. My best wishes to the NIC, UP team for ongoing endeavors and future initiatives.' Integrated Spider and e-Manchitra Geo Portals To overcome the maladies affecting the manual system and to reduce the workload and to increase the efficiency, transparency, visualization; SPIDER (Sankhyikiya Patrika: Internet based Data Entry and Retrieval (http://updes.up.nic.in/spatrika)) and e-MANCHITRA (Map based Analytical Charting and Reporting Application (http://emanchitra.up.nic.in/emanchitra)) Geo portals have been developed and integrated over the period, rendering the decentralized district and local level planning decisions easier and transparent. The SP databases of last 18 years i.e. 1995-2012 have been generated using various SPIDER modules for Data entry, Report generation, Map based query system etc. In the year 2003, a Bilingual State Planning Atlas (SPA) using GIS tools, was prepared by NIC, Uttar Pradesh for the first time and since then SPAs are annually published using GIS tools in the form of a book and the same is also available on the Internet. Realizing the potential of the geospatial technology, Planning Department, GoUP and NIC, Uttar Pradesh jointly conceptualized a GIS project during the year 2008-09 for creating GIS infrastructures and generating a large number of online thematic maps and charts for understanding the gaps in the decentralized planning and measuring sustainable developments at the village, block & district, panchayat levels. GIS cells were set-up in all the districts and State Planning Department in 2009-10 and are networked for exchanging geospatial information. e-MANCHITRA Geo portal has been developed using Arc GIS Web ADF for Microsoft .NET for generating annually more than 10,000 online thematic maps and charts on equal as well as on unequal intervals for different levels starting from state to gram panchayat. Dynamic thematic maps are automatically generated through SPIDER portal indicators which reach via link server to Geo-database of Arc GIS server where GPs, blocks, districts, divisional, regional and state boundaries are already available. The integration of SPIDER & e-MANCHITRA Geo portals has made information visualization easier, transparent and useful. Challenges • Data collected through census and surveys is inconsistent and inaccurate and cannot be shared among departments due to variations in parameters, tables, formats, years, levels etc. • Redundancy of work as 50% of data has to be entered annually • Excessive funding required for manual preparation of SPs and SPAs through outsourced private agencies • Rectification of inconsistent, duplicate, erroneous spatial and non-spatial data received from different sources and their integration. Benefits of Deployment • Integrated SPIDER & e-MANCHITRA Geo Portals has made it possible to reflect the changes in SPIDER, simultaneously by e-MANCHITRA through thematic maps. • Reduced inconsistency, inaccuracy, variations in formats and improved interoperability, reliability, and visualization of data • Three way data visualization in tables, maps and charts • Easy interface to study socio-economic disparities and strengthen decentralized planning and decision making • Empowered citizen and people participation in planning and decision making process