The ICT based solutions are evidently effective when implemented wholesomely for each and every process of an application. Therefore, state of Maharashtra, introduced ICT based solution to verify issued Tribe certificates in order to arrest malpractices and to ensure that benefits should reach the underprivileged communities. However, manual verification system often fall prey to nepotism and favoritism. To get rid of this, Online Tribe Certificate verification process has been introduced in Maharashtra.

An applicant belonging to the Scheduled Tribe who seeks for the benefits from the reservation, needs to obtain the Schedule Tribe Certificate from the competent authorities (Tehsildar, District Magistrate, Sub Divisional Officer etc). The benefits of reservation – for the employment, education and election – are admissible for the backward category individuals in Maharashtra only if the respective Tribe Certificate is validated by Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee(s) set up for the purpose. There are 8 Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committees (TCSC) in Maharashtra located at Pune, Nashik, Thane, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Amaravati, Nandurbar and Gadchiroli covering all 35 districts of Maharashtra. The procedure for issuing and validating the Schedule Caste/Tribe Certificate is given in the CV Act 2000 of Maharashtra.

With the advent of web technologies the status tracking mechanisms and verification processes have been simplified and it was decided to develop a web based workflow system with options to - • monitor the pendency of the cases of the committees located in the different places. • know the status of the case at any point of time by the committee staff as well as by the applicant/sponsoring agency. • generate the Standard MIS Reports timely and Query based reports as and when required. • automate the workflow of tribe/caste verification process to achieve the above objectives.

PROCESS As the number of pending cases for verification started piling up and tracking those cases became tedious, the Tribal Research & Training Institute, Pune, responsible for the verification process decided to computerize the process. It consists of the following activities – • An applicant desirous of getting a validity certificate applies to the Scrutiny Committee through the Sponsoring Agency in the prescribed format (Form – E). A Sponsoring Agency could be a prospective employer/an educational institute or an election office. • The case is registered/in-warded and acknowledged to the applicant and the sponsoring agency. • The committee scrutinizes the documents submitted by the applicant, based on which the committee either issues a Validity Certificate or refers the case for further investigation to a vigilance cell.

The System Architecture of the TCVIS

• The vigilance cell submits an Enquiry report along with crucial documents containing caste/tribe details of the applicant or applicant’s relatives collected from the native place of the applicant. • Based on the report, the committee may issue validity certificate or issues a Show Cause notice to the applicant and call for an explanation. • On receipt of the reply to the Show Cause notice, the committee calls the applicant for a personal hearing. • Based on the proceedings during the hearing, the committee takes the final decision on the case. • If found valid, the committee issues Validity Certificate. • If found invalid, the committee confiscates the original caste/tribe certificate of the applicant and issues an Order of Invalidity to the applicant, the sponsoring agency as well as the authority who had issued the original certificate.

Table -Pre and Post Deployment Comparison Pre-deployment Registers were being maintained in order to know the exact status of case. Reports needed to be compiled manually and required efforts and time; there was no guarantee about the accuracy. The data manipulation was possible to show good result in reports. Applicants/Sponsoring agency had to approach the committees to know the status of their cases. The list of decided cases in the previous month has to be placed on the notice board of the TCSC. To view the list the applicants, one had to physically arrive at TCSC. The actual pendency of the number of cases was not known. Only Standard Reports to be sent were prepared. The ad-hoc Query based Reports required to reply to the Assembly questions, RTI, Agencies involved in the upliftment of weaker sections, which is time consuming and adversely affects day to day work. Sharing of information among the committees for cases received was difficult. Monitoring individual cases was difficult as the information was stored in different registers. Applicant submitting an application for verification could not be validated for earlier invalidations.

Post-deployment There is no need to maintain so many registers, except the Inward and Outward Registers; that too with printout from the system. The system generates MIS reports in no time with high accuracy. The factual information can be viewed, no chance to manipulate the report to produce forged results. There is no need to come to TCSC for knowing the status of cases, which can be viewed on Internet 24X7. The list of cases decided in the previous month can be viewed on the Internet; there is no need to visit TCSC for this purpose. The pendency can be known at the click of a button. The Standard and Query based Reports are now generated in no time, thereby saving time and human efforts. With this system, it is possible to view details of any case of any committee Monitoring of cases is a simple exercise now days. It is possible to identify/check such cases at the registration stage itself.

SOFTWARE FEATURES • Use of Web based Open Source Technology • Client uses only browser to use the application. • UNICODE Compliant supports data entry in local language. • Privilege based access to the system users (Committee Users) • Authenticated level users of the system, password security with salted md5 encryption • Committee work-flow has been automated. • Case status can be viewed by applicant/ sponsoring agency online • MIS and query based reports (Statistics + Details) can be generated at a click of button. • Utilities for viewing/printing stage wise cases and detail report • Access log of external visitors viewing case status, list of decided cases etc. • Common/Centralized Database for all the committees • Letters generated to the applicant such as acknowledgment letter, show cause notice, hearing letter in local language etc.

TECHNOLOGY USED The Open Source Platform Linux, PHP, Apache, and PostgreSQL were used to save the cost to the department and to avoid vendor locking. High end servers with 8 GB RAM connected to the Internet have been deployed for the implementation of the application. While at the committee level, clients with browsing facility are provided for smooth functioning of the interface.

RECOGNITION & AWARDS The Project received the Skoch “Certificate of Merit” as one of the “100 Best ICT Projects” for the year 2011.