Palamu famous for its tiger reserve located at the 'Betla National Park' just 25 Km from Daltonganj, the administrative headquarter of the district is situated on the banks of Koel river. The tiger reserve delights tourists with its scenic beauty is part of the nine tiger reserves of India under “Project Tiger” and spreads over an area of more than thousand square Kms along the northern edge of the Chotanagpur plateau in Jharkhand. The district is bordered on the north by Son River, on the east by the Chatra and Hazaribagh, on the south by Latehar and on the west by Garhwa districts. NIC Palamu District Centre was established in the year 1989, to promote digital governance using ICT for better planning and decision support system thereby providing efficient service and transparency to its citizens. The centre has played an active role in promoting ICT culture enabling e-governance in the district. Website: The website http://www.palamu.nic.in of the district provides information on history, tourism, important facts, figure & activities of the district. The video conferencing facility at the district provides state of art communication facility for prompt monitoring of developmental schemes, organizing meetings & conferences. e-PRI Workshop : Ministry of Panchayat Raj, GOI has chosen Palamu as a pilot district for implementing ICT at the Panchayat level. Two workshops were organized in the district in quick succession as a part of the sensitization program. The e-PRI Mission Mode Project under NeGP holds great promise for the rural masses as it aims at streamlining the delivery of government services through Panchayats. It is proposed to provide ICT infrastructure with broadband facilities and trained manpower to all the Panchayats. Some of the activities undertaken are as follows:- — Information & Services Needs Assessments (ISNA) for better service delivery. — Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) for the services to be provided through PRIs. — Preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for enabling ICT. Major ICT Projects Implemented Successfully Computerization of Commercial Tax (VAT) : A web based software has been implemented at the district commercial tax department. The software generates various types of reports for tracking the defaulters and in helping the authorities for recovery of dues. Computerization of DRDA and NREGA : The computerization of DRDA and NREGA was achieved to provide greater transparency to the administration in the developmental schemes. A separate computer centre was established at District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) for monitoring various schemes. The NREGA software has been functional at the DRDA centre for data entry and report generation. NREGA data is regularly uploaded on the site http://nrega.nic.in Jail Computerization: Prisoners Management System (PMS) and Visitor Management System (VMS) software was implemented at the district Jail. This software helps the jail authorities is maintaining all the relevant details about a prisoner. The visitors are allowed to meet the prisoners after verification and issuance of pass by the VMS software. As a part of the jail reforms process, computer training of prisoner has been started in the district jail. GPF-CPG Computerization: The GPF / CPF of all the govt. employees of the district are being maintained using the GPF/ CPF accounting software. The system maintains the subscriber details, their contributions, advances, refunds etc. and generates the necessary accounts with proper check. On line Treasury Information System: A web enabled software - “Treasury Information System” (KUBER), implemented in the district, was one of the earliest software in G2G sector. The bill transaction, accounting process & MIS reports of the district treasury is prepared using the online software. Biometric authentication at the level of treasury officer has also been introduced to make the system foolproof. Banks are also connected for processing the bills fast. Transport Computerization: The two modules of Transport System viz. Vahan & Sarthi are operational in the district. Vahan module takes care of registration of vehicles. The system also manages information related to tax validity & fitness. Sarathi module helps in issuing various types of licenses apart from driving school license to the applicant. The issue of registration certificate book and driving license on smart card was launched with great fanfare. Arms License Computerization: Details of arms license issued by the district administration are being maintained through the customized software. The software generates reports like block wise, police station wise, year wise, arm licenses issued by the district administration. Consumer Forum Computerization (CONFONET): The district consumer forum was computerized under the CONFONET project. The software also incorporates backlog entry of consumer cases. The case monitoring system records case details, judgments passed etc by the court. Cause list is generated and are uploaded on the website for the public. Videoconferencing Facility: VC facility, established at the NIC centre, is used by various departments for monitoring developmental activities in the district. Video conferencing facility between the district court and Jail was also established for speedy trail of prisoners and has eliminated security issues, which existed earlier while shifting prisoners to courts. IT Training Centre: A divisional level computer training center was established in the district for training government officials. Many officials were imparted project based IT training. Other Activites: AGMARKNET- Daily transfer of data on http://www.agmarknet.nic.in from Bazar Samitees, Health Sector- Mamta s/w and IDSP project has been implemented in health sector, Social Security-Preparation of database for Old Age, Widow and Disabled Pensioners, Animal Husbandry- Computerization of cattle census taken up, Monthly MPR and PMGSY data entry on GOI website etc.