Kozhikode District was formed on 1st January, 1957, and situated between latitudes 11° 08’N and 11°50’N and longitudes 75°30’E and 76°8’E. This coastal district has 2 Revenue Divisions, 4 Taluks, 7 Municipalities, and one Corporation. Kozhikode is a prominent trade and commerce centre and a popular tourist destination surrounded by charming coastal lands, beaches, waterfalls, rivers, and hills.
The district has top educational/research institutions like IIM, NIT, IISR, and CWRDM. NIC district centre started the journey in the district from 1988 onwards and has been dedicatedly engaged in implementing various central and state-level projects.
ICT Initiatives in the District Covid19jagratha (https://covid19jagratha.kerala.nic.in) Covid19Jagratha information and management solution, conceptualized by District Administration and developed by the district is a simple and comprehensive pandemic management solution covering all aspects of a known solution for management of Covid Outbreak in an integrated workflow. It focuses on the approach of safe travel, safe quarantining, real-time surveillance and Health monitoring Contact Tracing and Treatment, Containment & Cluster zone Mapping, Human Resource Mobilization, Hospital & Ambulance management, Event & visitor registration as an integrated system of handling covid19 outbreak effectively.
This integrated real-time workflow is now used by all 14 districts across Kerala. Users from ward level to state level are fully integrated and have real-time dashboards with full statistics of the state. More than 2 lakhs eighty thousand active users and 3,55,34,573 user hits as on 16th July 2021.
Oxygen Demand-Supply Chain Management Portal A Comprehensive Total Oxygen Management Solution to handle the oxygen supply in real-time. This is used to monitor the supply of oxygen and to effectively handle emergency situations at various government and private hospitals treating Covid-19 patients. Hospital nodal officers will update the infrastructure, occupied patients in ventilators and ICU, Oxygen availability, usage, and the requirement on a daily basis and mapped with their suppliers. District and state-level war rooms are set up to manage critical situations and monitor oxygen availability.
Suppliers and manufactures will update their storage/ filling capacity, supply oxygen against the demand to the linked hospitals. They have the facility to map vehicles and drivers.
This workflow-based system is implemented in Uttarkhand state https://pranvayujagratha.uk.gov.in and Pondicherry UT http://covid19oms.py.gov.in/
Nammude Kozhikode Mobile App Nammude Kozhikode Mobile App - an initiative by the District Administration Kozhikode with a vision to create a platform for the citizens to ‘participate, co-design and co-create’ in governance. Provision for the citizen to interact for effective delivery of services, implementation of programs, and participation in decision making. It features citizen-centric governance through prompt and effective service delivery, real-time responsive administration thereby enhancing citizen experience. It also features Citizen Participation through Open governance, communicating information about departments and feedback, launching and participation in campaigns and discussion forums for citizens. Co-creation of the future is another important feature wherein citizens can actively participate in the design of projects and services, Project delivery through social action and make contributions for the social cause. The application ensures transparency and quality in service to build a prosperous, vibrant, cleaner, greener, and happy district. Now it has been customized to roll out in the entire state of Kerala. Received Gold Award in DGMC.
Other Key Initiatives Campus*Suite (https://dme-ecampus.ac.in) A workflow-based application for catering to all needs of an academic institution having classroom studies and clinical postings. Initially implemented in Govt Medical College, Kozhikode and later rolled out in all Govt. medical colleges in Kerala. Modules-Student and faculty management, syllabus and timetable management, leave and attendance management, internal exams, assignments, and evaluation, stipend calculation for House sergeants and PG students, Confidential Report Uploading from the respective department, Generation of CRRI (Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship) Certificate for House Sergeants, etc.
Computerization of Industrial Tribunals, Kerala (KITS) (https://kits.kerala.gov.in) The main objective of KITS is to handle various industrial disputes related to employers and employees. In Kerala, Industrial Tribunal deals with dispute cases like Industrial Disputes, Insurance Cases, Insurance Case Appeals, and Employees Compensation Cases. Features: Filing of petitions and vakkalath, notice preparation, Counter petitions, Document marking, Witness statement, Court procedures, Compensation calculation, Judgment preparation, Compensation distribution.
AVAKASAM (avakasham.kerala.gov.in) Avakasham portal is developed during LAC Election 2021 to monitor Postal ballot distribution. During this Inclusive and accessible election, Govt decided to facilitate postal ballot options to absentee voters, Person with disabilities (PWD), a citizen of 80 plus age and Covid positive voters. The distribution and collection of postal ballot applications (Form 12D), verification, and final distribution of ballot to the eligible voters are done through this system. Distribution and collection of form 12D, its monitoring and verification, updation of voting status are managed using this portal. This system is used by the entire State to capture the photographs of all suspected and duplicate voters on poll day.
NEO CRADLE (https://neocradle.kerala.gov.in) A comprehensive Newborn Care Management System is an initiative of NHM Kozhikode and developed by NIC Kozhikode. The health of the mother and the child depends on the quality of antenatal, natal, and postnatal care provided at delivery points. Expert adolescent and pre-consumption care also have an impact on maternal and neonatal health. Hypoxia, Hypoglycaemia & Hypothermia are the most common causes of death or disability among neonates. All the delivery points (both public and private) will come under this network. Regular certified training to all categories of staff associated with maternal & neonatal care is also a part of this program. Standard transportation facilities will be ensured to prevent hypoxia, hypothermia, and hypoglycemia during the transportation of neonates. The scope of the program ‘NEO CRADLE’ has a wider platform as it covers all of these aspects of maternal & neonatal care in the entire Kozhikode district.
Strengthening District Hospital Infrastructure nationwide through Empaneled NGOs/ CSOs Based on the oxygen demand-supply chain management solution done for few states, a request has come from NITI Aayog to develop a web portal for Strengthening District Hospital Infrastructure nationwide through Empanelled NGOs/ CSOs. A prototype web portal solution is designed, developed, and demonstrated to NITI Aayog CEO, Addl Secretary, and their team in a short span of time.
Demands for installing ICU/Ventilator beds in the hospitals raised by the district through the portal will be visible in the public domain for the NGO/CSO to make an offer and an MOU will be generated by the system between the hospital administration and NGO based on the offer. Dashboards in public and private domains are provided.
Planning Suite A complete workflow-based application for the MPLADS- starting from the project proposal from MP’s till the final payment of work done is handled through this application. This project is developed and used in the district successfully for the past 8 years. The major stakeholders involved are the Planning department, District Collector, Finance Section of Revenue department.
Accolades • 18th CSI SIG eGovernance Special Recognition Award 2020 in Local Government project Category for Covid19Jagratha • Gems Digital India Award 2020 for Analyst’s Choice for Covid19Jagratha • Gold Award in District Governance Mobile Challenge (DGMC) for Nammude Kozhikode Mobile App • National Awards for e-Governance 2020-21 Shortlisted in the category of Use of ICT in the Management of COVID 19(District level initiative)
Conclusion The NIC District Centre has made a significant contribution in providing e-Governance solutions to the District Administration. It will continue to take adequate steps towards making the lives of the common citizen easier and simpler by providing citizen-centric services and products. Oxygen management system, an initiative of District Kozhikode has the potential to be scaled up to the National Level and may be taken up for replication across the country for better delivery of e-Governance services.