Himachal-the abode of Gods, high in the Himalayas-located in the North of India with an area of 55,673 square kilometres and population of 61 Lakh- sits in the lap of nature. Himachal Pradesh is an entrancing part of the Indian Himalayas showcasing nature's grandeurs. Abundance of verdure and wide valleys set against imposing snow-clad mountains; lucid lakes, rivers and streams; fruit laden orchards and gentle terraces of corn and tea; simple, honest and hard- working people all characterise this state.
NIC state unit was established in 1988 and by 1989 all the twelve districts were covered including the two tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul & Spiti. ICT services are being provided to all the three wings of the Democracy - Administration, Judiciary and Assembly. The unit has provided support to the State Government by undertaking the development and implementation of a number of innovative eGovernance projects thereby making the Government reach the citizens at their door-steps.
Major eGovernance Projects
¡ Electronic Gazette: The software has been developed and implemented by involving all State organisations which send their notifications to the Controller of Gazette for publishing these in the Gazette (Rajpatra). The departments submit their content through the web-based SW and the Gazette officials use this content to prepare the final gazette which is published on the Internet at http://himachal.nic.in/egazette. The citizens and departments have access to the search interface by selecting department, date, keyword etc.
¡ EShastr (Arms License Issuance System): The web- enabled work-flow application has been designed in such a manner that it meets the requirements of the Administration, fire-arm holders and dealers of ammunition. The objectives are the issuance, renewal of arms licenses, monitoring their usage through ammunition release and better control over the existing fire- arms in the State.
Recent Achievements
¡ First Electronic Gazette developed
¡ ESalary - Integrated Pay & Accounts Office computerisation covering 1.75 lakh Employees
¡ HP AG office web enabled G2E interface for GPF/Pension statements with IVRS interface
¡ Support to Election department in conducting Assembly Elections 2007 and by-polls covering Randomization of Polling Parties, results compilation & transmission and training.
¡ Implementation of Bar Code and Photo based Secretariat Gate Pass Issuance System
¡ Shastr (Arms Licensing software) implemented at District level
¡ Live webcast of the SWAN inauguration by the Chief Minister at http://himachal.nic.in/webcast
Ajay Chahal HP Correspondent ajay.chahal@nic.in
¡ Sugam Services Centres: More than 50 citizen centric services, under one roof, are provided during office hours at the District/Sub-divisional headquarters. The services relate to bill payments, Bus ticket booking, hotels reservation, SARATHI & VAHAN, passport information, certificate issuance, pension/salary information etc. Other similar initiatives of LokMitra, Pehal, EVikas have been implemented at District level.
¡ eSamadhan (Public Grievance Redressal System): The Government of Himachal Pradesh has accorded top priority to redressal of public grievances in a time bound and transparent manner. eSamadhan is a web-based system for online grievances monitoring, covering all departments.
Web enabled interface for RoR of Land Records
¡ ESalary (Integrated Pay & Account Office computerisation): The ESalary software covers all employees of the State Government in processing and generating their salary bills. Result of a major Government Process Reengineering, the task of payroll processing is assigned to 54 designated IPAO treasuries. The departments just need to update their changes on the web-based software or at the designated IPAO and salary cheque can be taken. The employees can view the salary details at http://admis.hp.nic.in/esalary
Hon'ble Minister for Irrigation & Public Health addressing the participants of the one-day Workshop on eSamadhan at Shimla. Also seen in the picture is Principal Secretary to CM, SIO HP, Secretary (PWD).
¡ Personnel MIS: The Personnel MIS is a convenient and effective monitoring tool for employees to view their service book details covering personal, professional, family, education, training, leave, loans, ACR, Service History etc. details can be obtained at a click of button. It is of immense benefit to the employees since they can view it from even the remotest corner of the state.
¡ Land Records Computerisation: Total 99 out of 109 Tehsils have been made operational. Computerised copies of RoR are being issued to citizens from Tehsil/District centres and new Jamabandis created automatically by HimBhoomi software. Web interface for RoR issuance is under development.
eSalary web interface
¡ WWeb Enabled Hotels Reservation System: Software, running since 2000, for the HP Tourism Development Corporation for enabling instant reservation through payment gateways of HDFC and Axis bank. 64 HPTDC and 50 Village Tourism hotels are covered and this is the only system for advance reservation which can be done through Hotels, Reservation Centres and the portal http://hptdc.nic.in
¡ Web Services: Seventy websites of State Government organisations designed, developed and
being maintained over the years. Website audit and hosting is also being coordinated locally. Many web- enabled citizen services like GPF, Pension, Telephone Directory, Blood donors directory, graphical interface for HP Secretariat, pension details, cause lists, case status, RTI related information of PIOs, mandatory disclosures, decisions of State Information Commission etc are provided through the Himachal Pradesh Government web-portal http://himachal.nic.in.
¡ Network Services: 45 Mbps leased line connectivity has been provided to the State Government for Internet, Email, VC and web- services. All districts are connected through 2 Mbps leased line and VC facility is available at CM office, Secretariat, all districts and 4 tribal sub-divisions at Pooh, Kaza, Bharmour and Pangi (last four through VSAT).
Hon'ble CM Professor Prem Kumar Dhumal, H P during a VC session with DC to review relief measures after heavy rains in the State.
Other Important Projects
¡ Online Treasuries Information System (OLTIS) in all 101 Treasuries of the State
¡ State Budget Processing System for the last 15 years
¡ EPension software implementation covering 100% State Government pensioners drawing their pension in Himachal and providing them with a citizen interface at http://himachal.nic.in/epension
¡ REFNIC SW implemented in HP Secretariat, DC offices at Shimla, Kangra and Sirmaur. CM REFNIC implemented in CM office.
¡ EParman SW implemented in all Tehsils for issuance of all types of certificates to the citizens in a time bound manner
¡ Police Portal developed and implemented by allowing online payment of traffic offences (challans), filing of complaints.
¡ Employment Job Portal has been developed for providing employment to unemployed youth of the State in the Private sector. All the 64 employment exchanges have been covered.
¡ Publishing of Examination Results on the Internet (http://hpresults.nic.in) of HP Board of School Education, HP University, HP Public Service Commission for the last 6 years. The results are made available simultaneously on touch screen kiosks set up at District/ Sub-divisional headquarters.
¡ RTI-State Information Commission interactive website developed
¡ Double Entry Accounting System SW for the Rural Development block and panchayat offices
¡ Registration Information System (HimRIS) implementation in more than 75 financially viable tehsils
¡ Implementation of SARATHI and VAHAN software in all 54 sub-divisions (Registration & Licensing Authorities)
¡ CIPA implemented in 65 Police Stations
¡ CONFONET implemented in State Consumer Commission and 4 District Forums
¡ Minor Irrigation Census data entry in progress in all districts
¡ Lots of contribution to the National Portal of India from Himachal
¡ 35 large and small agricultural markets covered under AGMARKNET project
¡ Works MIS under implementation in Divisions of Irrigation & Public Health Department
¡ Welfare Pension MIS software implemented covering all 2.5 lakh pensioners under various categories
¡ Excise Barriers have been computerised for ST- XXVI form and Receipts at 15 Inter State computerised barriers
¡ Sealed/Restricted Road Permits Issuance System implemented.
Excerpt of the letter from Sh. B.K. Agarwal IAS, Secretary IT, Government of Himachal Pradesh
“This is a matter of pride that Informatics is focusing on the State of Himachal Pradesh where majority of the eGovernance projects have been designed and implemented by NIC. The work, quality and innovativeness of NIC State Centre need to be commended for the sincere and hard work put in by its officers. Himachal is one of the States where IT has made inroads down to the grass roots level which needs to be highlighted.”
Recognition at National and International Level
¡ 7 National eGovernance Awards
® 2002-Silver Icon-Best Website- http://himachal.nic.in ® 2003-Bronze Icon-Exemplary eGovernance Initiative- LokMitra Project ® 2005-Silver Icon-Professional-Process Reengineering- REFNIC (References Monitoring System) ® 2005-Gold Icon-New Entrant-Innovative Operations & Best Practices-eVikas (District Una) ® 2006-Gold Icon-Professional-Innovative Operations & Best Practices-ePension (Pension Disbursement System) ® 2006-Silver Icon-Professional-Process Reengineering-HimRIS (Registration Information System) ® 2007-Bronze Icon-Process Reengineering- Double Entry Accounting System for Rural Development blocks and panchayats
¡ International-Finalist Stockholm Challenge (Diploma)-2006-HimBhoomi (Land Records Computerisation)
HP Assembly Computerisation The IT services provided to the HP Vidhan Sabha are accounts management information system, loan monitoring, gate pass issuance, egranthalaya, list of business, questions, proceedings of the day, session details, member information through the website http://hpassembly.nic.in
HP High Court Computerisation Interactive website at http://hphighcourt.nic.in provides information about the cause list, case status, decisions/orders online. Various other software designed and implemented include payroll computerisation, Judges Personnel MIS, monthly progress reports, Recruitment MIS, Disposal MIS, Fixed deposit receipt monitoring etc.
Training Training and human resource development are two areas of focus for bringing in change. Realizing this, an MOU has been signed with the State Government for imparting IT training to State Government employees through Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration and over the years almost fifteen thousand employees have been trained in IT skills and usage of various NIC developed software.
Road Ahead
¡ eSamadhan and Personnel MIS implementation for all Departments
¡ Web-enabled and Registration integrated Record of Rights of Land Records
¡ Works MIS implementation in IPH and PWD departments
¡ Software development for eRevenue, Pathkar, Society Registration Information System and Revenue Courts Information System.
¡ Integrated Finance Information System development right from budget issuance, distribution to DDOs and bill presentation in Treasuries
¡ Implementation of Transport Barrier Information System
For Further Information, contact Rajesh Bahadur State Informatics Officer, NIC, Himachal Pradesh State Centre, HP Secretariat, Shimla-171002 (HP) sio-hp@nic.in Story Edited by: Vivek Verma