The 8th National Conference on e-Governance was convened at Bhubaneswar from 3rd to 5th February 2005 under the joint auspices of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India, Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, and the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of Orissa. The conference aimed at providing a forum for discussion of e-Government related issues among experts from Administration, Industry and Academia. Every year during the conference, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances recognizes excellence in e-Governance and felicitates Organisations and Institutions which have implemented e-Governance initiatives in an exemplary manner. This year too, a number of projects, implemented by the Centre or respective State governments and supported by NIC, were nominated under various categories for their significant contribution in the field of e-Governance. Some of the projects facilitated by NIC which were honoured under the three different categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze Icon, have been mentioned here :- Golden Icon Award: Project: E-SAMPARK, Chandigarh Administration Professional Excellence for Process Re-engineering Project Description: Project e-Sampark, an initiative of Chandigarh Administration, brings together all the departments under one single umbrella and gives citizens a 'multi-service-single window' experience. e-Sampark is a one-stop shop for over 11 G2C services through its 3 centres. The services include payment of utility bills, taxes, issue of bus passes, birth/death certificates and passport application. These services are being offered to the citizens free of cost. The project has resulted in hassle-free one stop solution, thereby minimizing multiple interaction points and a better turnaround time in receipt, processing and issue of services. BOARD OF SCHOOL EDUCATION, Haryana Professional Excellence for Process Re-engineering The exercise of re-engineering through ICT interventions in Haryana Board of School education was taken up to eradicate corruption and lack of transparency. ICT was used to overcome human drudgery through elimination of obsolete methods and procedures. Various ICT interventions such as Integrated Character Scanning and OMR scanning were taken up. E-results were also introduced. Students could download admit cards from the website. As a result, perceptible improvements in the performance have been observed. DIRECTORATE OF EDUCATION, Govt of NCT of Delhi Exemplary Leadership & ICT Achievement of the Year Directorate of Education, Govt of NCT of Delhi has taken a leadership role in bringing in IT into the functioning as well as offering improved services to students and teachers. A web based MIS of the department has been developed. To improve upon the efficiency of delivery of services through different systems, a number of initiatives such as CCEP, and postings of teachers based on Index on Teachers availability have been successfully deployed. E-VIKAS, Government of Himachal Pradesh Innovative Operations and Best Practices District Administration, Una (HP) and NIC have developed & implemented a touch screen based system known as 'E-VIKAS' for the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA). E-Vikas provides information on activities of DRDA on a touch screen. The services include information regarding work/beneficiaries under watershed development programme, Indira Awaas Yojana, SGRY and SGSY. The product also provides information about census data, area, maps, BPL families, Panchayati Raj structure etc. The information is bilingual (in English and Hindi). The project has helped bringing in transparency and efficiency in the activities of DRDA. EXAMINATION RESULTS ON THE NET, NIC Outstanding Performance in Service Delivery NIC has developed the solution to publish examination results on the Internet, thus making it possible for students to check their examination results through the click of a mouse from anywhere. This has brought about a transformation in the examination results dissemination process. For the past 5 years, school board results and many others including entrance examinations for professional courses are being simultaneously released on a web portal http://results.nic.in. The result is also made available through IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System), SMS and e-mail. In 2004 alone, the website received 29 million hits. 3.3 lakh mark sheets were e-mailed to students. E-HEALTH.NET, Govt of Haryana Innovative Operations and Best Practices Under e-Health.Net project, the NIC Haryana State Centre has developed & implemented e-Gov solutions for important key areas of Health Administration. The implementation of the system has helped in monitoring distribution/availability/consumption of medicines. Its implementation in all the districts of Haryana has resulted in checking the pilferage of medicines, increase in availability of medicine at Government health Institutions, increase in attendance of patients/doctors in health institutions and optimal utilization of medicine. A large number of packages have been developed and implemented under e-health.net project, the implementation of which has also resulted in capturing of error free data at source and its availability at State HQ for planning better health care system for masses. Silver Icon Award: REFNIC, Govt of Himachal Pradesh Professional Excellence for Process Re-engineering References Monitoring System or 'REFNIC' is an initiative of the Government of Himachal Pradesh to automate the process of handling of Papers under consideration (PUC) in the Himachal Secretariat. The application has streamlined the workflow and eliminated the need for diarysing at four places. The application has reduced the ICT burden by doing away with manual filing of PUC in the offices and discretionary powers. The system has brought in transparency and accountability. HALRIS, Govt of Haryana Outstanding Performance in Service Delivery HALRIS (HARIS) is a project to integrate the property registration and land records system in Haryana. The system has resulted in a 40% increase in revenue from stamp duty. It has also improved the quality of service in tehsils by reducing the total time taken for registrations. The collectors' rates are now the reference rates for computing the stamp duty. The service charges collected from users are being used by Red Cross for running social welfare programmes. The revenue leakage has been stopped, as it is not possible to register a document below the collectors' rates. The system has increased transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the system. Bronze Icon Award: DACNET, Dept of Agriculture, Govt of India Innovative Operations and Best Practices DACNET project has been set-up by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation by providing ICT tools to its directorates and 172 field offices. The project broadly covers Internet and Intranet solution for dissemination of information, effective information exchange and knowledge sharing. G2C, G2G and G2E services have been implemented to provide benefits like enhanced self-service, automated payroll and taxation etc. Specific application software for better decision support have been developed such as crop weather watch, bio-fertilizers informatics online, e-granthalaya- knowledge management system etc. DACNET has realized the e-office concept. There is an improvement in service delivery and the customer satisfaction index is also high.