The UT Government of Puducherry is very keen on providing paperless, contactless and cashless services to the citizens. To achieve its goals, it has collaborated with NIC Puducherry to deliver transparent, effective and efficient citizen-centric services which has resulted in bringing governance to the citizen’s doorstep. NIC, Puducherry UT plays a vital role in designing, developing and implementing ICT solutions which has helped in achieving transparency and efficiency in the delivery of the citizen centric services. In addition to core infrastructure for networks, VC and cloud services, NIC Puducherry has established comprehensive solutions like Unified Data Hub, Online Services for Ration cards, Direct benefit transfer for social sector schemes, Online Building Permission system, Recruitment portal, Birth & Death Registration system, Online services for Electricity billing for consumers, taxation services like Property tax, Issue of driving licenses, Issue of patta copy, encumbrance certificate etc., have made it possible for the government to function as a backbone for various essential services. ICT Initiatives in the State Makkal Peredu Makkal Peredu - Unified Data Hub - is an important e-governance initiative by the Government of Puducherry for online validation, de-duplication and cross referencing for identifying eligible beneficiaries for welfare schemes. This would help in plugging in pilferages to the exchequer and also provide various paperless services to the public. To start with, 35,000 duplicate beneficiaries were identified during the integration of Aadhaar Data Vault with that of 13.5 lakh beneficiaries. This has resulted in transparency and efficiency in the digital system. Currently, 23 departments and 120 schemes have been onboarded. The array of services by the system include 360-degree view of beneficiaries, integrated certificate, API services, etc. Further, it is planned to provide necessary API service to integrate with Digital Life Certificate (DLC), NPCI lookup, Blockchain Technology (BCT) based Integrated certificates. This would bring in greater efficiency in beneficiary management. S Rajasekaran Dy. Director General & SIO sekar.pon@nic.in V. Gopi Swaminathan Sr. Technical Director & ASIO gopi.pon@nic.in Online Services for Ration cards The UT of Puducherry has initiated the implementation of electronically signed ration cards (RCs) as part of a comprehensive computerization effort for RC services. This includes the introduction of 12 servcies going online which are integrated with SMS notifications, esigning of documents and online payment systems. The electronically signed RCs and certificates can be conveniently downloaded by the beneficiaries. To streamline the distribution process, the UT Government has established a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Portal through which the cash equivalent of ration is directly transferred to the beneficiaries. This portal is seamlessly connected to the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) and incorporates workflow-based modules for tasks such as beneficiary list preparation, member modifications, and calculation sheet generation. By implementing DBTs in place of food grains, approximately 1.72 lakh households and 6.7 lakh beneficiaries are provided with monthly benefits. Additionally, 10 services related to the Public Distribution System (PDS) are made available through the UMANG platform. Under the Ayushman Bharath Prime Minister Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY), real-time National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries data are utilised for issuing Health cards, ensuring efficient utilisation of resources. Furthermore, the UT serves as a registration hub for ONORC migrant beneficiaries from various states, with approximately 602 individuals currently receiving DBT benefits. Puducherry Electricity Consumer Billing Portal A citizen centric portal aimed towards a transparent and faster processing of bills and remittances is made available for the UT. Various facilities for payment of Bills – Online, Counter and BBPS Payment systems have been integrated. On the spot data entry of meter reading is also carried out using TAB / Mobile and bills are printed. Other services include services for new service connection, load enhancement, load reduction, change of service category, and name change. The implementation of the above has resulted in bringing in transparency to the system and has increased the efficiency of the workforce. NICeGST https://gstprime.py.gov.in NICeGST is a back office web application for GST Administration. It helps tax administrators to analyse and monitor the tax collection and compliance in their jurisdiction. The recently upgraded NICeGST 3.0 is another milestone to improve upon the hitherto existing system. Also onboarded on the national GST analytical system GSTPrime 3.0. OBPS https://obps.py.gov.in Online Building Permission System (OBPS) for Town and Country Planning Department facilitates the citizens to receive the building plan permission from the Planning Authority. This application has features such as Online Payment, eMail, SMS, Auto Scrutiny of Plan & eSign. Additional modules such as Regularizations of Individual Plots and Land Use Conversion are also implemented. iRAD Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) is a centralised accident database for hosting accident related data for the Transport Department, Police Department, Health Department and Highways Department. This is a national initiative and is being successfully implemented in the UT. eChallan This is a comprehensive solution for issuing on-spot challan (online / offline) by the Traffic Enforcement officials. Further on-spot challan settlement module using PoS / QR Code / UPI based payment for citizens is also implemented. Property Tax Information System for UT Local Bodies This system allows all local bodies of the UT to issue property / house tax demand notices in vernacular language viz Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu. In addition, online payments by web and mobile are enabled. The system further helps to apply or renew trade licences online without visiting local bodies. Online Portal for Government Recruitments A generic recruitment portal for Puducherry is made available online for the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Govt. of Puducherry. Recently, the Government has published recruitments for various posts catering 14 departments including Police, General Administration, Transport, Revenue, Industries, Agriculture etc., The portal has received around 1,50,000 lakhs applications from the aspiring candidates. The Recruitment portal is comprehensively developed including Pre-Exam, Exam and Post exam phases which has resulted in the minimal turn-around time in the recruitment process Investor Portal Investor portal of Puducherry aims in facilitating prospective entrepreneur by providing a single transparent platform to avail various government services, such as online submission of application, uploading of supporting documents, payment, status tracking, uploading / downloading of final certificates, third party verification etc. under one platform. As of now, one can avail 62 such state services. Further, out of total notified reforms of 352 in Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2022, 305 action points have been worked upon. e-Pathira Pathivu e-Pathira Pathivu is an online Property Registration System providing secured access to the property valuation, appointment booking, capturing photographs, biometrics and scanning of the documents. The system is integrated with payment and SMS gateways. Digital Technology has become the backbone of Governance and Administration enabling services and schemes to be directly delivered to the citizens. NIC Puducherry has been the technology partner with the Government of Puducherry UT in all the citizen centric applications. The State achieved laurels in many e-initiatives, thanks to NIC for technical support. ICT for conduct of Elections, DBT for various Social Sector schemes, Unified Data Hub, Online services for Ration Cards, Recruitment Portal, e-Pathirapadhivu, GST Prime, PuduvaiKalal, Investors Portal(EoDB) for Puducherry, SARATHI, VAHAN, iRAD, Online Property Tax Collection System, e-Thirumanam, Nilamagal, Paysoft for Govt. employees, e-Prisons are some of the important web and software applications. The payment gateway integration, mobile payments, messaging services, VC services, cloud supports, SMS services have provided tremendous support for the effective Governance. The contribution of NIC Puducherry in leveraging IT has been significant and to a great measure through various citizen centric systems. The UT Administration is pushing technology in every sphere of governance. With the capability of NIC and its recalibrated efforts as per the State’s mandate in adoption of emerging technologies such as Blockchain, AI, Cloud and Mobile computing, Puducherry is sure to achieve the overall growth of ICT in the State. Dr. D. Manikandan, IAS Secretary (Information Technology) Government of Puducherry Citizen-Centric services for Labour Department At present, 23 citizen-centric services developed in Service Plus have been rolled out by the Labour Department. The services include Registration and Grant of Renewal of License for factories, Amendment of license, application for Licence Registration for Boilers Issue/ Renewal of Boiler Certificate, Registration for Boilers & Economizer, and eight services for Labour enforcement like Registration/Renewal for Shops and Establishment Registration/ Renewal for Catering Establishment, Application for Registration/Renewal of Motor Transport Undertaking, Application for Registration of Establishments Employing Building Worker. PuduvaiCalal Excise duty is a major source of revenue to the UT. Various measures have been taken to streamline the procedures and convert the department into a smart department. This application manages licensee registers and issues permits. All payments by the registered dealers are made online through this application. Auction of arrack and toddy shops is also being carried out online (100%). This has resulted in a fair, transparent, and reliable system. CPGRAMS The UT Government observes Public Grievance Redressal Day on 15th every month. For this, all Government departments are given access controls to Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), an online platform to physically as well as electronically receive the petitions from the citizens to the public authorities on any subject related to service delivery. Necessary training is imparted to all stakeholders as well as given technical support including network / systems support. eHospital eHospital is a Health Management Information System for Government Hospitals, where a patient can avail various hospital facilities such as OPD, Casualty, IPD registrations by either creating and linking of patient records with ABHA-ID. As of now, the system has been rolled out in following hospitals viz., Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital & Post Graduate Institute (IGGGH&PGI), Rajiv Gandhi Government Women and Children Hospital (RGGW&CH), and Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (IGMC&RI). Rice Procurement Portal A rice procurement portal has been developed where the farmers of Puducherry are registered online. The procurement centres and FCI godown are linked. The truck challan is also generated through the system. Necessary web services are provided to update the details in the Central Food Procurement Portal (CFPP). ICT support for Elections and State Elections NIC Puducherry has successfully implemented various IT initiatives including Real Time Poll Monitoring system for the General Elections 2021. A mobile app has been developed for real time updation of all pre-poll and poll day events along with hourly poll statistics from the Polling booths. The initiative has received appreciation from ECI, CEO, office of DEOs and the Election officials. The randomization of polling personnel is one of the other major initiatives. Video Conferencing support was extensively used for the preparatory activities. During, Voters’ Day 2022, NIC received a special award for the exemplary contribution during the GEPLA 2021 from the Chief secretary, Puducherry UT. Other Major Initiatives Paysoft This is a web-based software that helps state departments to prepare payslips, and paybills. Nearly, 3500 bills are generated every month. BEAMS BEAMS (Budget Estimation, Allocation and Monitoring System) is an online computerised web based application for preparation and authorization of budget. It enables online flow of resources and the departments can allocate funds to their field offices through this system. eGazette This is a web-based app, which serves as a one-stop-source for all government publications. It has a cataloguing mechanism to enter the details of a gazette along with a published page of the gazette document. It also has a comprehensive search page to retrieve information with the matching criteria. Scheme Tracking System This system facilitates all Heads of Departments, Office of Resident Commissioner to track all the proposals and their correspondences between the Ministries and the Line departments related to Centrally Sponsored / Central Sector schemes and other communications. The system will help the Government to register the actions and responses over central schemes with the Central Government ministries, pending for action. Event Management International Yoga Festival is one of the major events conducted by the Tourism Department where participants from all over the world visit Puducherry and perform Asanas in the yoga competition and workshops. Online registration, Issue of ID Cards, Evaluation of performance and Certificates are issued through a web enabled system. Apart from these, online reservation bookings for government guest houses, tourist information systems, and an app for booking boating tickets have been developed. It is a well-known fact that the e-Governance had dramatically changed the way Government functions and reduced the distance between Government and Citizens. NIC Puducherry plays a major role in implementing e-governance project in the U.T. of Puducherry. In the recent “Rozgar Mela” of Government of Puducherry, the Generic Recruitment portal of NIC, provides the state of art solution, for the recruitment cell of the Personnel Department with all the functionalities from notification to publishing of Results. The portal helps to recruit more than 24 categories of post from different departments. The Online Building Permission Platform developed by NIC for the Puducherry Planning Authority is the state of art application. The application customized to the local building bye law with all technical tools and the citizens are easily availing this service. This application, automatically screening the proposed building plan and indicate even small deviations transparently to public and help them to correct it. The support given by NIC for developing this application is landmark in Puducherry e-governance evolution. I highly appreciate the team NIC Puducherry for their immense contribution to the Government and the Citizens of Puducherry. Wishing them a successful future. R. Kesavan, IAS Secretary (Town & Country Planning) Government of Puducherry e-Thirumanam This is an online Marriage Registration System that covers booking appointments, capturing of photographs and biometrics with scanning of certificates. It is implemented in Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions. e-Services of Registration Department This is an online application to view and download encumbrance certificate, registration certificate copy, and marriage certificate with payment of a small fee. The system has been implemented in the entire UT. NILAMAGAL This web app allows users to view land details, owner details and guideline register. It also allows one to download settlement copy, patta copy, and FMB copy. Integrated Temple Management System Developed by NIC Tamil Nadu, this system is implemented across more than 120 temples in the UT. It aims to facilitate monitoring of details related to the temples, online temple services to citizens, revenue collection from temple properties, dashboard services etc. eDaakhil The e-Daakhil portal facilitates consumers to file consumer complaints at their convenience, from anywhere, eliminating the requirement of their physical presence at the Consumer Commission by paying a nominal complaint fee through the portal. It allows the consumer commission to scrutinise the complaints submitted online and to accept, reject and forward the complaints to the concerned commission for further processing. JAGRATA JAGRATA is an Oxygen Demand Supply Management System portal that has been implemented in all hospitals to provide a comprehensive total oxygen management solution for managing oxygen supply in real time. This is used in various government and private hospitals that treat COVID-19 patients to monitor the supply of oxygen and to effectively handle emergency situations. AEBAS Since March 2015, AEBAS (Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System) has been implemented in 37 Central Government Organisations and 14 State Government Organisations of Puducherry UT. Officials can mark the attendance based on online Biometric authentication using UIDAI. e-Office eOffice is a digital workplace solution for Government offices. Currently, the File Tracking Module is being used in 75 departments. The IT department has already initiated migration to eOffice 7.0 in order to automate the entire workflow. VAHAN & SARATHI The UT Centre has implemented Vahan and Sarathi software in all UT RTO offices. Developed by eTransport Project, NIC Headquarters, these softwares automates all the processes at the RTO level thereby making the delivery of services faster and transparent. ICJS Project Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) is a national platform built upon the bedrocks of CCTNS, eCourts, ePrison, eForensic and eProsecution to access crime and criminal insights in order to aid crime investigation to safeguard society. As of now, ePrison application has been implemented in Central Jail, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam Jails. The eForensic application has been implemented in Regional Forensic Science Laboratory, Puducherry and eProsecution implemented in the Prosecution department located in Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. PSARA Private Security Agency Regulation Act (PSARA) is a web application built on the behest of Ministry of Home Affairs for availing private security agency licence and its renewal in Puducherry. eSanad eSanad is a service portal for verification and attestation of documents of Indian Citizens going abroad. Online Indian Citizenship (OIC) Portal OIC Portal is a workflow based online system that is used by the foreign nationals to apply for Indian citizenship. Arms Licence Issuance System (ALIS) ALIS provides around 20 services related to arms licences. The services include obtaining new arms licence, additional licence, endorsement of firearms, acquisition of firearms, addition and deletion of retainer and change of quantity of ammunition, change of address. IVFRT Project e-FRRO Online Portal is being used by foreigners in Puducherry to avail visa related services. This portal is aimed to build a centralized online platform for foreigners for visa related services. Its key objective is to provide faceless, cashless and paperless services to the foreigners with user friendly interface. There is no need to take appointments and visit immigration authorities unless specifically called upon by the authority. Apart from these, necessary technical support has been extended for the implementation of major central projects like Jeevan Pramaan and DARPAN. Network and Infrastructure Services National Knowledge Network (NKN) Since its inception, NKN Puducherry Point of Presence (PoP) has been operational 24 x 7 x 365 at the NIC in Puducherry. All four NIC district centres in Puducherry UT are linked to this PoP via 100 Mbps/34 Mbps links provided by NKN / NICNET-approved service providers. The NKN Puducherry PoP is equipped with two 10G Core links from the NKN Chennai PoP (10G-PGCIL) and the NKN Bangalore PoP (10G-RAILEL). Approximately 12 links between diverse institutions (hospitals, universities, research institutions, etc.) have been made operational via 100Mbps/1Gbps link. NKN links have also been extended to two NIC district centres in Puducherry, namely Karaikal and Mahe. At Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), around 96 VC sessions, 9773 teleconsultation sessions, 1382 mobile teleconsultations, 1481 tele-monitoring sessions and 654 virtual classes have been conducted successfully using NKN connectivity in the period of April 2022 to June 2023. NICNET Services NKN PoP is integrated with NICNET and around 10 last mile links of NICNET were provisioned. LAN / WAN connectivity, Internet Services and support NICNET services extended to all NIC District Centres of Puducherry UT. Web Hosting Services / Cloud Services The UT Centre provides web hosting and cloud services to all UT and Central Government departments in Puducherry. Services offered are Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Application and Database fine tuning, server hardening, backup & restore, collocation support, State Data Centre support. VC Services NIC Puducherry UT VC Services facilitates government departments for conducting meetings in a secured environment. VC services are provided to Raj Bhawan, Office of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Puducherry (GoPY), and Office of the Chief Secretary of Puducherry UT. NIC Puducherry UT is also providing technical support and coordination to VCs conducted from the President House, PM Office, Central Ministers, Cabinet Secretary, and Ministries. Around 778 VC sessions were conducted during 2022 including President and PMO office VC sessions. As of May 2023, 255 VC sessions have been conducted so far. Messaging Services About 22,000 email accounts were created for officers and staff of State and Central Government departments in Puducherry UT. NIC Delegated Admin Console has been set up and presently with NIC, Puducherry UT. From January 2023, all the email accounts of GoPY were migrated to their domain py.gov.in which is managed and operated by DIT, GoPY. Email relay services were provided to various departments of GoPY. Around 8 departments are using SMS gateway of NICNET. Accolades • Silver Medal at API Design Competition by NIC, MeiTY for Online Meter reading and Bill Calculation (2021) • Award for Exemplary Contribution for General Elections 2021 by ECI • Commendation for the ICT initiative for PDS-DBT (2020) • Special Award by ECI for ICT Services for Elections (2017) • eINDIA Award for Supply Chain Management with Smart Card Based PDS (2014) Way Forward Dedicated officials at NIC Puducherry UT and District centres work together with administrative officials to drive innovative solutions and provide better next-generation digital services for state and central Government. Contact for more details State Informatics Officer NIC Puducherry State Centre A Block, 4th Floor, Chief Secretariat, Pondicherry, Puducherry UT - 605001 Email: sio-pon@nic.in, Phone: 0413 – 2336675