Maharashtra State is located in the western region of India. Vidharbha, Marathwada, and Konkan on the Deccan Plateau are a substantial part of Maharashtra. It is the second-most populous state in India and was formed on 1 May 1960.
The state is divided into 6 revenue divisions viz. Amravati, Aurangabad, Konkan, Nagpur, Nasik and Pune and 36 districts. Mumbai is the State capital and Nagpur is the winter capital. The Godavari and the Krishna are the two major rivers in the State. Marathi is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the State.
NIC Maharashtra State Centre, Mumbai was set up in 1986 on the 8th floor, Air India Building, Nariman Point Mumbai. Thereafter, as per the MoU signed with the Government of Maharashtra in June 1988, State Informatics Officer was appointed and NIC State Centre was set up at the 11th floor New Administrative Building, Mantralaya. NIC Maharashtra State Centre provides software development, internet, communication services, and Video conferencing via NICNET to State and Central Govt. departments in the State of Maharashtra.
NIC project offices are located at Secretariat, Bombay High Court at Mumbai, and its benches at Aurangabad and Nagpur. NIC district centres are located at the Collectorate office in 36 Districts, District Informatics Officer and Additional District Informatics Officers posted at each District are managing these district centres. These district centres provide informatics support to Collectorate offices, Zilla Parishad, District courts, and all allied offices of State and Central Government.
ICT Initiatives in the State Major digital initiatives implemented in Maharashtra State are as follows:
PM Kisan (https://pmkisan.gov.in) NIC Maharashtra has successfully implemented PMKisan in the Districts of Maharashtra. More than 1.14 crore farmers of Maharashtra are beneficiaries of the scheme. Farmers are receiving the benefit through PFMS in their bank accounts directly.
eProcurement (https://mahatenders.gov.in) The software is implemented in 2011 and enables the departments to publish tenders online. Payment gateway is integrated to receive Tender Fee and EMD. Till date, more than 11,59,944 tenders with an approximate value of ₹ 6,49,393 Crores have been published on the portal. NIC has also implemented eAuction (https://eauction.gov.in) software for the Government of Maharashtra. This Project received the Best G2B Initiative Award in 2013 and Best Performance Award for implementation of e-Procurement in January 2018.
Public Distribution System (ePDS) (https://mahaepos.gov.in) for Food & Civil Supply Department Aadhaar enabled Public Distribution System is implemented across Maharashtra. All the Point of sales devices in the 52522 Fair Price Shops are Aadhaar enabled. ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ scheme and inter-state portability are also implemented in the state. Maharashtra ePDS Project received the SKOCH Order of Merit Bronze award in 2018. The Minimum Support Price Scheme of Food and Civil Supplies Maharashtra is integrated with PFMS. 2.37 Crores Ration Cards have been computerized under this project. The total no. of transactions is more than 1.50 crore per month.
Consumer Forum Network (CONFONET) CONFONET project has been implemented at State Consumer Forum, Mumbai, and all District Consumer forums in Maharashtra. Online Judgments, Online Case Status, and Case History are available on the portal. eDaakhil module enables the citizens to file the application from anywhere. Online payment integration with EGRAS (electronic Govt. Receipt System) is done. Total cases filed using the portal are 3,76,937 up to July 2021 and disposed of no. of cases are 2,64,266.
RAJBHAVAN NIC has designed and developed the official website for Raj Bhavan Maharashtra (https://rajbhavan-maharashtra.gov.in). The website is developed using S3WAAS platform of NIC. An application for online registration of visitors is also developed for Rajbhavan. Visitors can book the available slots of visit online through the portal and receive confirmation through email and SMS.
District Websites on S3WAAS Platform The websites of 36 Districts of Maharashtra have migrated to S3WAAS platform in Jan 2018 and all the websites have a uniform design and made accessibility complaints. S3WAAS is Secured, Scalable, and Sugamya Website as a Service of NIC.
Software for General and Assembly Elections NIC Maharashtra designed, developed, and hosted a web application (https://mahaelection.gov.in) for the General Elections- 2019. The application has been developed as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India. A Dashboard was provided to the Chief Electoral Officer to monitor the progress of the various activities during the Elections.
The software has 3 modules namely (i) Polling Parties Management System (PPMS), (ii) Poll Day Monitoring System (PDMS) and (iii) Counting Day Monitoring System (CDMS). This application has been appreciated by Chief Election Officer (CEO) Maharashtra and General Observers from the Election Commission of India.
National Knowledge Network (NKN) National Knowledge Network (NKN)/NICNET Point of Presence (PoP) is set up at NIC Belapur Navi Mumbai. This PoP was inaugurated on 12 Aug 2012 by then Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India. This PoP is considered as Super core PoP in NKN/ NICNET topology and is connected to other super core/core PoPs of NKN/NICNET through multiple 10 G links.
All the 36 NIC district centres in Maharashtra are connected to this PoP through 1Gbps/ 100 Mbps/ 34 Mbps links through NKN/ NICET approved service providers. 81 research & educational institutes are connected to NKN at this PoP either through 1 Gbps link or 100 Mbps link. Some of the premier institutes like IIT Bombay, TIFR Mumbai are connected to this NKN PoP over redundant links of 10 Gbps. This PoP also caters to Internet Gateway Services to NKN/ NICNET users in Maharashtra as well as other states. The total internet bandwidth capacity from this PoP is 36 Gbps through various ISPs. Google cache servers, as well as Akamai cache servers, are also co-located here for the NKN/ NICNET users. This PoP is functional on a 24x7 basis.
Video Conference Services NIC Maharashtra Video Conferencing Services facilitates Government departments for conducting meetings in a secured environment. Video Conferencing services are provided to Hon’ble Governor, Hon’ble CM Office, Hon’ble Deputy CM Office, Minister’s Offices, Chief Secretary of Maharashtra. NIC Maharashtra is also providing technical support and coordination to VCs conducted from The President House, PM Office, Central Ministers, Cabinet Secretary, and Ministries. VC Services are provided at 36 NIC Districts of Maharashtra. Hon’ble Chief Minister, Maharashtra has appreciated the Video Conference Services of NIC.
Web Hosting Services NIC Maharashtra State Centre provides web hosting services to all State and Central Government departments in Maharashtra including 36 districts. Security Audit and VPN services are also provided to the users. More than 250 websites are hosted by NIC Maharashtra. Services such as installation of SSL Certificates, VPNs, the configuration of the content management system, eMail Relay & SMS Service, Patch Management, and Antivirus are provided to Government users.
Email Services More than 92,000 email accounts are provided to officers and staff State and Central Government departments in Maharashtra. NIC Delegated Admin Console has been set up for General Admin Department, DG Police, DIT, High Court, etc. for managing the email accounts.
Training Division Training Division of NIC Maharashtra conducts training programs on emerging technologies like Blockchain, Big Data & NOSQL, Cyber Security, etc., as per the yearly training calendar for the officers and staff of various Central and State Government Departments.
eOffice eOffice software has been successfully implemented in the Government of Maharashtra Departments, District Collectorates, Central Government Departments, State, and Central PSUs since 2012. The software is being used by more than 30,000 users in Maharashtra Government.
SPARROW (Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording Online Window) and MahaPAR NIC Maharashtra has implemented SPARROW software in 2015 for IAS, IPS, IFS, services. This software has been customized as per the requirements of the Government of Maharashtra and implemented for State Government officials (MahaPAR). More than 37,000 officials of GoM are using the software and 1,51,437 Performance Appraisal Reports (PAR) are generated using the software.
Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) NIC Maharashtra has implemented Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System in Central and State Government Departments. More than 500 Central Government offices and 227 State Government Departments are using this system in Maharashtra. More than 3.70 lakhs of employees in Maharashtra have onboarded the system.
e-Hospital and Online Registration System (ORS) NIC Maharashtra has implemented eHospital software in 9 hospitals of Government. More than 39 lakh patient registrations have been done using the software. Online Registration System (ORS) is also implemented in 39 hospitals in Maharashtra.
Jeevan Pramaan Jeevan Pramaan is a biometric-enabled digital service for pensioners. The software facilitates pensioners to submit Digital Life Certificates using Aadhaar authentication. NIC Maharashtra has implemented Jeevan Pramaan software for the Government of Maharashtra in 2017. More than 1.90 lakh Digital Life Certificates have been generated from Maharashtra during 2020-21. The software is also implemented at Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, NABARD, and Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation.
Service Plus software NIC Maharashtra has implemented the software for Rural Development Department. The software is being used at Gram Panchayat level.
eCourts NIC Maharashtra has successfully implemented eCourts software at all District Courts. Software developed and implemented for Bombay High Court and its benches at Aurangabad and Nagpur.
e-Quasi Judicial Courts Quasi-Judicial Courts System is a web-based application which deals with quasi-judicial court cases. It is used at State, Districts, SDO (Sub Divisional Offices), and Tehsil level. It is developed by NIC Kolhapur district centre and is implemented in all Districts of Maharashtra.
National Land Record Modernization Project (NLRMP) Computerization of Land Records (eFerfar) Maharashtra (https://bhulekh.mahabhumi.gov.in). NIC Maharashtra has implemented the software in all 36 Districts of Maharashtra. More than 1.26 crores of online mutations and 2.53 crores of digitally signed Record of Rights (RoR) have been issued using the system.
eHRMS Software NIC Maharashtra is implementing eHRMS software developed by NIC HQ, in 9 Departments at Mantralaya. Initially, Service Book, Personal Information Services, Leave, LTC, Tour, various advances, and reimbursements are being implemented.
NIC, Mumbai is developing, additional peripheral service modules viz. Recruitment, Statutory Compliances, Transfer & Postings, Training, Departmental Enquiries, etc. which will be integrated with eHRMS application, post implementation of the core service book module.
Manav Sampada (eHRMS) application facilitates monitoring of recruitments, postings, promotion, transfer based on employee skill set and service history for the rural development department of Maharashtra.
Manav Sampada software is implemented at Zilla Parishad, Block Panchayat, and Gram Panchayat level for more than 3 lakhs employees. Service books have been digitized using the system.
NIC Maharashtra is also assisting in the implementation of e-Governance projects in the Enforcement Directorate, Home Ministry (Immigration, Visa and Foreigner’s Registration Tracking (IVFRT)), Indian Customs, Indian Meteorological Department, Patent & Trademark Registry (TMR), and Press Information Bureau.
Key Initiatives in the State Chief Minister’s office computerization NIC Maharashtra has developed and implemented software for CM Relief Fund (CMRF), Vishesh Karyakari Kaksh (ViKaK), MOffice (Minister office letter management system on-lines of CMO ViKaK application).
Right to the Information portal NIC Maharashtra has implemented the RTI portal for the Government of Maharashtra. This portal enables the citizens to file RTI application/ first appeal online. The payment gateway is integrated with the portal. A citizen can make the application fee payment through Internet Banking/ Debit Card/ Credit Card. Through this portal, RTI application/ first appeal can be filed by Indian citizens only for the Departments/Public Authorities of the Government of Maharashtra.
Geographical Information System (GIS) Services Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) is using GIS software services for conducting a survey of hutments. SRA software was launched by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra in 2018 at CM Office.
Copy rights and certification • NIC Maharashtra has received copy right for the Status Information Management System software (SIMNIC) in 2018 • NIC Mumbai Suburban district website is awarded the certificate of accessible website by STQC Directorate
Awards • Maharashtra eProcurement project received Best G2B Initiative Award and Best Performance Award for implementation of e-Procurement system in Maharashtra • ePDS project received SKOCH Order of Merit Bronze award for successful implementation of the software in the State • NIC, Akola received SKOCH order of Merit award for the initiative “Framework for e-Governance of fundamental resources Electricity, Water” • NIC Nandurbar District centre has received IMC Digital Awards for Aarogya Darshak software
Way Forward NIC-Maharashtra is committed to meet and exceed the user requirements by providing quality and reliable ICT services with the use of best practices. There will be a focus on creating mobile apps for data collection and use of emerging technologies will be the main input in all the project proposals being submitted to Government. Also effort will be made to create unified e-Governance infrastructure under NICNET for users in the form of IAAS, SAAS, PAAS and Software Security as a Service (SSAAS). The above would be carried out along with the upgradation of skillsets of Officers and Staff.