National e-Governance Plan of India (NeGP) is aimed at improving the quality, accessibility and effectiveness of government services to citizens aided by ICT. The capabilities and opportunities presented by ICT is being leveraged to promote good governance across the country. Innovative ideas have been given shape to establish centres/kiosks that are utilizing ICTs as a cardinal aspect for their e-Governance initiatives. E-governance Centres serve as e-Governance hubs, established with an objective of bringing government closer to public. These are to provide a range of efficacious services in a friendly, courteous, efficient and speedy way that too on the spot under single-window system. This can only be achieved if certain indispensable aspects like process re-engineering, integration of processes, active participation of all stake holders, source of revenue for sustainability, use of latest technology and providing information in the language understood are taken into consideration. Challenges - Like any project, this too has inherent constraints which also serve as a challenge for making it a success. Some of these are — Extending the facility to remotest corners of the country where the citizens don't even have an access to basic amenities and adequate infrastructure is lacking. — Integration with already running initiatives for a better coverage and synergies in delivery channels. — Existing silos making citizens run from pillar to post. — Support for eGovernment and ICT. — Sustainability of the project as it is easy to create initial infrastructure, but difficult to sustain it. Initiatives undertaken by different States/UTs Arunachal Pradesh - Jan-Suvidha- It is a Computerized Facilitation Centre, initiated to meet basic objectives and to substantially improve the citizen interface by making it a pleasant experience. People throng these centres to avail a number of services which are delivered in shortest possible time. All certificates are Computerized and issued through a single window at a very affordable cost. One can also know the status of application with the monitoring facilities available. Chandigarh-eSampark, eJan Sampark and eGram Sampark- Chandigarh transformed into a knowledge based city, wherein every citizen has access to the benefits of information technology. This initiative, e-Sampark launched in September 2004, is a highly visible project benefiting the citizens by giving them a “multi-service” “single-window” convenience. 18 G2C and 4 B2C services are being provided free of cost and for an extended duration. An average of 1.45 lakh transactions involving amount of Rs 40 crores is the monthly footfall. eJan Sampark project targets that the benefits of ICT should reach the masses, by easy dissemination of Information Services and to deliver useful non-transactional services like registration of grievances, acceptance of RTI applications and appointment in Government hospitals. Under project eGram Sampark, Rural Knowledge Centres are operational providing eSampark and eJan Sampark services to rural population in order to bridge the digital divide. Haryana - Electronic Delivery of Integrated Services of Haryana to All - (e-DISHA) - An e-DISHA centre is established in each of the 19 districts from where 39 G2C services can be availed. Officials concerned with respective services are also available in these centres, during its time of operation, so as to reduce the legwork of citizens. A nominal fee is levied for availing these services. 80 centres in urban area and 1159 in rural shall be established in phased manner under PPP model. Has provisioned a lot of job opportunities for the local unemployed youth. Himachal Pradesh - Pehal 44 centres are currently operational and by year end all the 51 sub-divisions of the state shall be operational to provide single-window experience for multiple services. Touch screen kiosks are also provisioned in these centres for the citizens to obtain various types of information. The service charge paid by the citizens makes it self-sustainable. Also, the integrated backend helps in G2G services. Jammu & Kashmir - Community Information Centre (CIC) - For a state like J&K with remote and inaccessible area, an ICT initiative of this kind has given a boost to overall development and exposure of IT to the common people. As of now, 132 CICs have been established which are rendering good services to the local community. It is a multi-agency project running with the cooperation of 10 different stakeholders. These centres are serving as platform for eGovernance, eLearning and other IT enabled services in the state. A facility to browse Internet and check mail has also been extended. Shortly many G2C services shall also be added. Jharkhand - e-Nagrik Sewa - The government of Jharkhand took an important step towards exploring ICT for providing government services to its citizens by establishing the first e-Nagrik Sewa Kendra. NIC Jharkhand developed an application for providing G2C services from the Kendra through a citizen interface and government interface. Citizens can apply at these centres for issuance of various certificates, download forms and guidelines issued by the government from time to time and can submit and get the status of applications. The Government interface provides for updating the status of the applications submitted and generates the Certificates using the utility link. Other G2C and B2C services are in pipeline to be started from these centres. Madhya Pradesh - Gyandoot - Is an Intranet based G2C service delivery portal with an objective to provide better access to government information and services to the rural masses. A chain of computer kiosks are established in the districts which provide a range of services on a nominal charge basis. NIC has played a key role in the entire project life-cycle of Gyandoot, which has now been extended to six districts after successful pilot at District Dhar. Efforts are also underway to replicate it in the remaining districts of the state. Maharashtra - SETU - Established with an aim of laying the foundation for e-governance, it immediately made a visible impact of the Government's intention by making the interaction more transparent, pleasant and satisfying. More than 64 types of certificates /permits/ licenses are being accepted & issued from the Citizens Facilitation Centre (CFC) located at six different Offices of Collector, SDM, BDO, RTO, Tehsil and Taluka. These centres provide the applicants with facilities to complete all formalities under one roof. More than 1 lakh certificates/permits/ licenses have already been issued from the SETU centre located at Nanded, which is the first in the state to receive ISO 9001:2000 certificate for quality management system. Orissa - e-Grama & e-Sahayata - e-Grama, implemented in 70 villages, is an e-Governance initiative that started way back in Dec'2002, with the aim to provide G2C services to common man through different Gram Panchayat and village level IT kiosks. The kiosks were self-financed and opened by the villagers, youth clubs and NGO's from their own resources. Different static and dynamic services are provided in Oriya language also. Self-sustainability of the Kiosk is achieved by imparting low cost computer education programmes to the village students and literates and undertaking typing and DTP works. e-Sahayata started in Aug'2005 is an integrated Citizen Information and Service delivery system. Aimed at improving the service delivery mechanism for the benefit of common man, it has been very successful as a large number of people have availed the services. A monitoring mechanism for District Administration is also in place. An interactive touch-screen based kiosk makes the information easily accessible and generated good response. Punjab - Single User-Friendly Window Disposal and Help-line for Applicants (SUWIDHA) - was implemented in 2000 and now has been implemented in all Districts and most of the Tehsils of Punjab. Here the SUWIDHA counters serve as single point of contact for acceptance of applications and delivery of 24 services in G2C domain. Capital expenditure was incurred by the state government and the citizens are required to pay facilitation charges for availing any service. Services are provided free of cost to pensioners, freedom fighters and other needy persons. A society, constituted under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner, maintains the collection which is used to sustain the centres. Tamil Nadu - Infosystem on Land Administration and Management (Tamil NILAM) - An initiative of Revenue department covering 127 Taluks of the state to provide services of interest to the citizens. Services like land ownership details, property registration details, birth and death certificates, land transaction status, electoral rolls, pension status, land transaction status are some of the services one can avail here. The total interface is in Tamil with a provision of voice messaging for new users. A nominal cost is attached to the services availed and it has been widely accepted by the citizens because of ease and use and non dependence on anyone. 91 lakh transactions have so far been clocked involving a cash transaction of 18.25 crores, clearly showing its popularity and acceptance. Uttar Pradesh - Lokvani - After successful pilot implementation at Sitapur, it has been rolled out in all the Districts. The project aims at redressing the public grievances in the district, in a simple, transparent and time bound manner. The user enters his complaint/grievance through selected Cyber Café/Dhaba spread across the district and the district authorities update the status within a stipulated time. The user need not visit the Collectorate or run around Government Offices for getting his/her complaint registered and solved. Further enhancements such as registration of Birth & Death, Land Records information have also been added on the Lokvani platform to provide the citizen a single point of contact for all his requirements. Uttar Pradesh Touch Screen Kiosk (Moradabad) - A latest initiative towards Integrated Citizen Services Kiosk is the setting up of Touch Screen Information Kiosk at Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. The kiosk was inaugurated by Dr. B. K. Gairola, Director General NIC on 15th September 2007. The Touch Screen Information Kiosk or the 'Nagrik Soochna Kendra' (NSK) provides a bundle of services to the common man. It facilitates simpler & easier access to Government information and brings it within a touching distance of the citizen. Information about different sectors/services such as status of Public Grievances (Lokvani), Arms Licensing, Integrated SRO wise Property/Land Circle Rate, Jan Shikayat, Pension disbursement details, Land Records, statistical data of the district, contact details of district administration, etc. are currently available through the NSK. Plans have already been made to provide Information pertaining to other departments like Scholarship details, Basic Education, Health etc. and a special section on tourism will also be introduced. NSK has not only transformed the mode of Delivery of Services to the common man, it has also gone a long way in re-establishing citizen's faith and trust in Government and District Administration. The web-based application software for the NSK has been developed by National Informatics Centre, Uttar Pradesh State Unit and the NIC District Centre team is providing all necessary technical support. A strong administrative and political leadership is are essential elements for fostering reforms. Focusing on Public services delivery and redefining the way Government delivers services, process re-engineering and change management are very essential components. Equally important factor for success of any such initiative is a robust business model for imparting citizen centric services. It should not only be cost and time saving for the citizens but also be cost saving for the government departments. ICT has an ability to directly impact lives of thousands of citizens and Integrated Citizen Service kiosks offer a convenient method of reaching the government at the time and location of choice. “Reach and range” is key to any service offering and an essential component to bridging the digital divide and the government has an opportunity to provide it through extensive use of these kiosks. The kiosks should be established with an approach to deliver standardised and localised services which are easily scalable and replicable across the geographical area. With an integrated approach and strategic deployment these kiosks will evolve as an effective service channel with the time to come. AWARDS AND ACCOLADES These are some of the Awards and recognition won by the various Integrated Citizen Service Kiosks across the Country. ¡ SUWIDHA — Microsoft Excellence Award conferred on 28th Sep, 2006 in e-Gov Service Delivery category — Ranked as Topmost project among all the premier e-governance projects in the country in the E-governance report card by Skoch ¡ Lokvani — Golden Icon Award at 9th National e-Governance Conference in 2006 — Special mention at the Stockholm Challenge, Sweden, — Microsoft Award for Best Practices — Manthan Award 2006 ¡ SETU — Finalist at Stockholm Challenge, Sweden ¡ GYANDOOT — Stockholm Challenge Award for public service — CSI Award ¡ eSampark — Golden Icon Award at 8th National e-Governance Conference in 2005 — Best e-Governed State Award for the Year 2005 by CSI-Nihilent — Categorised as “Leaders” in the e-Readiness index of states for two consecutive years 2005 and 2006 ¡ Tamil NILAM — Seventh National EGovernance award — Skoch Award