Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha is housed in the Historical Council Chamber Building, which was built by the Britishers for the Central Legislative Assembly. Lord Reading, the then Viceroy of India inaugurated it, on August 27, 1925. Legendary Vithalbhai Patel was the first elected President (or Speaker) of the Central Legislative Assembly. On January 25, 1971, when HP made its debut as the 18th State of the Union of India, Council Chamber was chosen to house the HP Vidhan Sabha. NIC Centre was set up at HP Vidhan Sabha in June, 1996 with an aim to computerize various activities of Legislative Assembly Secretariat. State of the art infrastructure has been installed in various Branches/Sections of the Assembly Secretariat which are connected over LAN. Also PC's and Laser Printers have been provided to all the sitting Members of Legislative Assembly. PROJECTS/ACTIVITIES HP Vidhan Sabha Website: HP Vidhan Sabha website http://hpvidhansabha.nic.in is a rich source of information covering History, Who's-Who, Election Results, Party Position, Constituency Map, Amenities provided to MLA's/Ex-MLA's, Searchable catalogue of books in Assembly Library, Verbatim House Proceedings, Bills introduced/ passed since 1952, List of Business, Assembly Questions, Corrigenda, Assembly wise list of Members, Gazette Notifications etc. ePMIS: A web based application developed by NIC HP State Unit to manage the Service Records of the employees has been implemented at the Assembly Secretariat. eSalary: In order to generate Salary bills, Schedules etc. a web based centralized salary application developed by NIC HP State Centre has been implemented at HP Vidhan Sabha Secretariat. Verbatim House Proceedings: A solution to merge the Verbatim House Proceedings prepared by Assembly Reporters has been developed and implemented. These proceedings are then published on the Vidhan Sabha website. Accounts Management Information System Integrated software for various activities of the Accounts Branch has been developed and implemented. The salient features of the software are: Allows feeding details of all type of bills i.e. TA, Medical and Contingency etc Generates HPTR 5 of bills for submission to Government Treasury Generates authority letters for encashment of bills of MLA's and HP Vidhan Sabha staff. Generates reports for monitoring the expenditure. It also generates Monthly and Quarterly Expenditure Statements under various Account Heads Generates bill register to ensure accuracy, speed and maintains efficiency in maintaining bills. Calculates Members' Salary for a particular month and generates the Salary Bill and Various Recovery Schedules for submission to Treasury. Generates Nominal Rolls (in respect of Speaker / Deputy Speaker and Vidhan Sabha Staff, Members') for preparing the Budget Estimates for next financial year Gate Pass Issuance System: During Assembly Sessions large number of officers / officials from Govt. departments visits Vidhan Sabha. Different types of passes with Color scheme are prepared indicating the permission to visit the various sections of HP Vidhan Sabha premises. Loan Recovery Monitoring Software: This software manages the House Building and Motor Car advances sanctioned and disbursed to Members of the Legislative Assembly. It generates the statement showing principal and interest due and paid by a particular member. e-Granthalya: A standard package developed by NIC, Karnataka has been implemented to computerize various operations of Dr. Y.S. Parmar, HP Vidhan Sabha Library. Maintenance, subscription of Periodicals/ Newspapers, generation of supply orders for purchase of new books, generation accession register/catalog cards, maintain issue/receipt /renewal of books and search books using a number of criteria are some of the features of this software. In a nutshell, all the operations in a typical library can be performed using this software. MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES Support to Vidhan Sabha Secretariat: Winter Session of the Assembly is held every year at newly constructed Assembly complex at Tapovan, District Kangra (HP). Complete IT support is provided by the NIC, HP Vidhan Sabha by shifting the hardware to Dharamsala and constructing a makeshift LAN at Tapovan for smooth functioning of the Assembly Secretariat. Assembly Business / Committee Reports: In addition to above, NIC, HP Vidhan Sabha is providing complete support to Vidhan Sabha Secretariat in the field of IT whether hardware/ software acquisition, help in AMC, solving day to day problems of users, managing LAN setup in the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat, coordinating Training Programmes etc. Additionally, help is also provided to Members of the Legislative Assembly mitigating their computer related problems. In the past decade IT has pervaded the Government setup, Legislature is no exception to it. Information Technology has radically changed the way our Government establishments function. At Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, NIC has played a pivotal role in improvising our business processes by developing and implementing solutions custom tailored to meet our requirements. These changes have increased efficiency, made the information much more accessible, and boosted the level of communication with citizens. -- Sh. GOVERDHAN SINGH Secretary, HP Legislative Assembly ROAD AHEAD To publish rules of Procedure / Directions from the chair on HP Vidhan Sabha website A single comprehensive web based application (eAssembly) to manage all the aspects related to Assembly and its Members is under development. A bi-annual journal, Vidhanmala published by HP Vidhan Sabha would also be made available on the website Efforts will be made to establish Video Conferencing, dedicated email and Internet facilities in the Assembly Secretariat. For further information RAJESH BAHADUR State Informatics officer NIC, HP State Centre HP Secretariat, Shimla-171002 Ph: 0177-2624045 sio-hp@nic.in