Kerala, God's Own Country, the 100% literate state in India, with its rich greenery and backwaters provides a very pleasant working ambience. Kerala is silently making a revolution in the field of IT, like the waves of the ocean on a 'new moon' day. Comprising 14 districts spread across a long shoreline, with internationally renowned beaches, historic monuments, backwater stretches and a rich cultural heritage, Kerala has the unique distinction of having 0% growth rate in population for more than 10 years. On the contrary, growth in the IT sector is increasing year by year ever since the inception of National Informatics Centre in the State.
Major Projects for State Government.
NIC, identified as one of the 'Total solution providers' for the Kerala State Government effectively assists the state government functionaries for timely decision-making through the implementation of various e-governance projects. The citizen-oriented projects includes civil supplies (TETRA-PDS), registration (PEARL), treasury banking and also office maintenance tools like budget monitoring system, MIS for animal husbandry , water billing system for Kerala Water Authority, computerization of housing board, AGMARKNET, online election system and others..
Treasury Online
The benefit of IT revolution has reached the common man by the computerization of treasuries. The system is designed to automate entire operations of treasuries from the counter stage to the accounting stage.
"Kerala will be the first state in the country where Treasury computerization has gone beyond mere account keeping".
Shri E.K. Nayanar the then Hon'ble Chief Minister during inaugural ceremony
"The Treasury project was designed to launch the Department of Treasuries as a modern vehicle to provide banking and financial services to the people of Kerala. The Treasury online System has now been very successfully implemented in all the 30 pilot sites in Kerala "
Dr K.M. Abraham, IAS, Secretary-Finance
Salary calculation, pension processing, SB & FD transactions and all other payment and receipt transactions are made online. Pay order cheque system, teller system and 'any bill any counter' system are also implemented.
Budget Computerization
The Secretariat cell of NIC is playing a major role in extending an IT tool for the formulation of the State Budget every year. This includes all the consolidated fund, contingency fund and the public accounts. The Secretariat cell provides IPA connectivity at Secretariat to browse the Internet and use the e-mail facility.
PEARL (Package for Effective Administration of Registration Laws)
A tool, providing a transparent, efficient and vibrant public interface, bringing in efficiency at the Sub Registry Office level by doing away with the dreary manual routine of filing, searching, accounting, reporting etc. thereby enabling SRO to provide prompt and reliable response to the General Public. The main emphasis is on the issue of Encumbrance certificates, Registration of all categories of documents and issue of certified copies.
"I was thrilled and delighted to see the excellent work done in this Registration office"
Shri N Vittal I.A.S Central Vigilance Commissioner
PEARL has been successfully implemented in 54 of the total 308 Sub Registrar offices of Kerala. The rest of the SROs will be computerized by the end of this financial year.
Computerization of SSLC and Plus 2 Exam Related Activities
Pre Examination and post examination activities of SSLC (10 th) and Higher Secondary are successfully computerized in Kerala. The software takes care of issue of admission tickets, tabulation work and result preparation, printing of mark-sheets, certificates and statistical reports.
Computerisation of Housing Board
About 20 branches and the head office of the State Housing board have been computerized to handle :
- Cash loan accounting (Disbursement and repayment)
- Estate accounting and monitoring System
- Cash Counter management system
- Payroll and Personnel Information System
Projects for Revenue Department
- Land Records Computerisation
- Land Lease Management System
- Land Survey Database Management System
- Revenue arrears monitoring system
All the Block Panchayats are provided with the computer system and through modem connected with the respective district NIC centres for effective mail transactions between their offices.
Kerala Water Authority
The Billing, Revenue Collection and Accounting System of the Kerala Water Authority has been introduced in Trivandrum, Kochi and Calicut divisions of Kerala Water Authority, covering three corporations areas of Kerala State. The average transaction time per consumer has been reduced from 10 minutes down to only two minutes. The systems are being introduced in another 13 locations. The system can analyze the collection patterns and defaulters are identified. The monthly total revenue collection has touched Rs.10 crores after the computerization, compared to just Rs. 2.5 crores before computerization.
TETRA-PDS
The Targeted Efficient Transparent Rationing Allocation (TETRA) software is a total solution to the management of Public Distribution System (PDS). The Public Distribution System has been totally automated by the introduction of this bilingual software. The software is based on a multi-tier architecture. The bottom layer supporting the functions at the Taluk Supply Office / City Rationing Office level and is the core part of the software. The software has many modules like, Ration Card Management, ration allocation, preparation of automatic indents and authority lists, collection of various fee, calculation of differential costs, licenses and permits, etc. Along with the Ration Card Renewal process, a statewide database of 67 lakhs families and 3.2 crores family members has been successfully created and the new computerized ration cards are being issued. TETRA-PDS has been fully tested and successfully introduced in one of the city rationing offices. The complete roll-out of TETRA-PDS will be by the end of July.
Hon'ble Chief Minister of Kerala Sri. A.K. Antony distributing the new ration card to an Aadhivasi Family.
AGMARKNET
There are 7 markets selected in the first phase of this project and 14 more Markets have been identified for the implementation of the Project. The AGMARKNET portal is updated on Daily basis from these 7 markets.
Animal Husbandry Department Computerisation
The software related to various activities of Animal Husbandry department has been developed and includes Cattle Breeding Information System, Animal Products Price Monitoring System, Rearing of Calves Scheme, Live Stock Census, MIS for Animal Health Administration, Farm Information System and Budget Monitoring System with various reports modules.
NIC-CM Cell at Secretariat
A separate NIC cell has been established in the Chief Minister cell of the secretariat to cater to the needs of the cell and is effectively involved in
- Petition Monitoring System
- File Movement Information System
- Tapal Monitoring System
- Notes Monitoring System
- Plan Scheme Monitoring System
Elections
All the 14 district centers provide assistance during the election right from the filing of nominations by the candidates and staff allocation to result declaration. In a unique way in all prominent places of cities, a huge LCD display system is being connected with the NIC server so that the results are displayed whenever the data is updated. This is made possible by connecting all the RO's office and the CEO office.
National Level Projects
High Court and District Court Computerization
IT Support is given to the High Court and District Courts of Kerala. The Application areas covered under DCIS software are case file monitoring, notices generation, certified copies, report generation, pay roll accounting system, personnel information system, JUDIS(Judgement information system), Library information system and e-mail connectivity.
Passport office computerization at Trivandrum, Kochi and Calicut.
Central Excise and Customs Computerisation in all the Nine Divisions in the state.
DGFT project at Kochi
District Centres
Kerala State is having 14 districts and all of them are actively involved in the e- governance activities for the district administration.
All the district NIC centers are effectively involved in the computerization of
- Revenue Recovery details related to Demand Collection and Balance
- Land Acquisition - Pay roll Preparation
- Tapal Section Information system
- Natural Calamity Monitoring System
- Social Beneficiary schemes (OAP, NFBS, NMBS etc.)
- Arms Licensing
- Guest House reservation system
- MIS on Electrical Inspectorate
- Information System for theTotal Literacy Programme.
- Haj Applications Info. System
- Public Grievance Monitoring system
- Seniority List of Revenue Staff
- National Savings Scheme information system
Training
Training is provided for all state government and central government officials at the Training center of the state unit. More than 300 participants benefited during the last year apart from large number of hands-on training being given by the district centers.
E-Governance Projects Under Way.. Transport Department
All the Regional Transport Offices of Kerala are being modernized. Comprehensive software is under finetuning stage catering to the Registration of Vehicles, Issue of licenses, Permits & Collection of Taxes. Good network connectivity among all the RTO offices is also proposed.
KRISHIKER
A MoU has been signed with the Department of agriculture for computerization down to the grass-root level (up to Krishi Bhawans) for global database development. The 6 Krishi Bhawans under the Chengal Block of the Trivandrum district has been taken up for pilot phase and the work is expected to be completed within 8 months. The total cost of the project is Rs.1.5 crores for the Trivandrum District.
Employment Exchange Computerisation:
Software has been developed for computerizing employment exchanges of the state. As a pilot phase, the employment exchanges at Trivandrum are to be taken up for computerization initially.
NIC Kerala State Web Site
A comprehensive dynamic website with Knowledge base is under development for the Kerala State and is expected to be launched shortly. The website for the Kerala Water Billing system is also under development. It is heartening to see how well NIC-Kerala State Unit is integrated with the state government in its e-governance initiatives. 'God's Own Country' is sure to blossom with many more citizen oriented programmes with he help of Information Technology. Words of IT Secretary, Mrs Aruna Sundararajan I.A.S.
"NIC, Kerala State Unit has been closely associated with the IT Department for implementing various projects for the State. Many of the IT projects undertaken by NIC have been successfully implemented and development work is underway in a number of new projects as well. Some of the projects include Treasury Computerization, RD-NET 2000, Computerization of Registration Department [PEARL], MIS for Animal Husbandry etc. In this context I would like to place on record the excellent work done by NIC in the State. I hope that NIC would continue to extend similar assistance and support in future as well."
NIC KERALA STATE at a glance
-NICNET VSAT Connectivity with State and District headquarters
- NIC Centres in all the 14 Districts
- Video Conferencing facility at State Centre.
- Internet and e-mail facility in all Districts.
- NITPU Centre at Cochin
- NIC Cell at Secretariat
- NIC-DPC Cell for the Finance and Treasury Department Computerization.
For further information, please contact State Informatics Officer, NIC, Kerala State Unit , ER&DCI Building, Vellayambalam, Thiruvanathapuram-695033 Tel : (0471) – 729894/724529/726328 Email : sio@kerala.nic.in