Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, the southern tip of our country, is the place where Swami Vivekananda sat on a rock and meditated and visualised a reawakened India. The speech that Swamiji made in the next year on 11th September 1893 at Chicago, put India prominently again on the world map, which is still continuing with significant contributions from our people in the field of IT and other sectors at the global level. NIC has been a catalytic force in ushering in reawakened government services in our country with appropriate use of ICT. NIC Tamil Nadu State Centre has been providing support to the State in maintaining the leadership position in the E -Readiness pyramid and thereby serving the citizens. NIC is involved actively in most of the Mission Mode Projects identified under National E-Gov Plan.Some of the important activities are listed here. NIC Team along with District Collector, Madurai seen with Hon’ble President of India after a Video Conferencing session from Madurai to Rajasthan Vahan and Sarathi Systems are in use at forty Regional Transport Offices in the State. Implementation is in progress in thirty more offices. All the 86 offices will have the Vahan and Sarathi systems implemented by March 2007 All the 3830 Village Panchayats of six districts covered under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, make use of the systems for capturing data relating to NREGA. The systems developed using PostgreSQL and PHP, are in use both under Windows and Linux environments. Panchayat Raj Institutions Accounting Software (PriaSoft) developed by NIC Chennai has been taken up for use in other states. Land Records System Tamil NILAM (Tamil Nadu Infosystem on Land Administration and Management) is implemented in 194 taluks. Touch Screen Kiosks have been installed in 127 taluks,which have been used by more than 6 lakh people in the last four years. Collabland software for generating field maps have been implemented in two taluks and the software is approved by the government for use in all the taluks in the State. Property Registration STAR (Simplified and Transparent Administration of Registration) is implemented in 450 Sub-Registrar Offices. The remaining 108 offices are expected to be covered during this financial year. Guideline Values of more than 2 crore Survey Subdivisions are hosted on Internet for public access. The system has enabled citizens to apply for Encumbrance Certificate online. The registration details are maintained in Tamil. The Sub- Registrar Offices and Taluk Offices in 40 taluks are connected using LAN for sharing the data of each other. All the 30 District Treasuries, 203 Sub- Treasuries and 8 Pay and Accounts Offices have computerized systems for capturing daily expenditure and receipts details and for generating monthly accounts. Workflow based systems have been implemented on pilot basis at two District Treasuries and five Sub Treasuries. A standardised payroll system is being used by most of the offices in the State. ECS payment system has been implemented for salary payment in all the District Treasuries and Pay and Accounts Offices. Employment Online A web based application developed by NIC for theProfessional and Executive Employment Office, has been operational since June 2003.Registration details of more than 3 lakh candidates seeking employment have been hosted on Internet for access by employers from the private sector. The applicants have the facility for renewing their registrations online. Ten Zonal Offices of Corporation of Chennai make use of the intranet based systems developed for Property Tax collection, Birth/ Death Certificates extraction, Company Tax collection, etc by accessing the central server located at Head Office. A workflow based Family Card Maintenance System has been developed for Civil Supplies & Consumer Protection Department, to assist in maintenance of consumer database. The application developed on Open Source platform, has been taken up for implementation at seven zonal offices in Chennai. Provisional SSI Registration A web based system has been implemented for the Department of Industries & Commerce. More than 1.6 lakh registrations have been done in the last four years by the entrepreneurs willing to setup Small Scale Industrial units in the State. Single Window Counseling System This system has been implemented for admissions to more than 390 Teacher Training Institutes in the State. The system was used during admissions in 2005 and 2006. Information System on Prisoners has been implemented in all the 9 major prisons in the State. The system maintains the details on Admissions, Court Hearings, History, Remissions, etc. Initiated action for implementation of systems under CIPA Project in Police Stations. The Chief Minister’s Special Cell and the District Collectorates make use of Computerised Grievances Redressal System.A number of Intranet based systems are implemented for various departments such as Agriculture, Revenue, Health, Civil Supplies, etc for periodical monitoring. These web based applications not only ensure quicker flow of data from the Districts, but also facilitate easier access to information by the Heads of the concerned Departments.Web GIS tools under Open Source environment have been used for developing the TN Maps site http://tnmaps.tn.nic.in. The tools have also been used for generating dynamic maps using Census 2001 data at http://www.census.tn.nic.in. A web based system for Registration and Returns Filing under VAT is to be implemented from January 2007 for Commercial Tax Department. High Court of Madras and the High Court Bench at Madurai make use of the systems for Filing data capture, Judgements entry and Cause List preparation. More than 5000 reportable judgements have been hosted in the last four years. Systems are also implemented at City Courts in Chennai. Ninety three Agriculture Markets are covered in Tamil Nadu under Agmarknet Project. NIC, Chennai has developed PATRAM (Postal Accounts Transaction Maintenance System) software for assisting the Postal Accounts Office in checking, balancing and reconciling the accounts concerning sale and discharge of Cash Certificates in a Circle, as manual procedures for these involve inordinate delays. After successful pilot implementation in Tamil Nadu, PATRAM has been taken up for implementation in 15 other Postal Circles in the country. PKI enabled application systems were developed for Madras Export Processing Special Economic Zone (MEPZ SEZ) to facilitate exporters registered with the Zone to file their Applications and Quarterly / Annual Returns through the Internet. SIM Cards Management System : Developed for BSNL Chennai, this is an intranet application designed to handle sale transactions at 13 Customer Support Centres. The system is used to carry out various activities related to SIM cards such as GSM number distribution / allotment, accounts maintenance, etc by using a centralised database. Web Services : The website of Government of Tamil Nadu is being maintained by NIC and has large number of citizen oriented particulars such as Policy Notes of all the departments, Citizen Charter, RTI documents, Government Orders of Public Interest, Public Utility Forms, Tender Notices, Press Releases, Contact details, Statistical Reports, Acts and Rules documents, etc. The websites of all the districts and those of many departments have been developed and hosted by NIC. The GPF particulars of more than 5 lakh employees of the State are hosted on the web through the website of Accountant General of Tamil Nadu. Pension processing status is also made available through the website. Online Registration System is used for the examinations conducted by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission. More than twenty thousand applications have been received online in the last two years for various examinations. Electoral data : Of all the 234 Assembly Constituencies are hosted on the web with interface to search the data in Tamil. Examination Results : The examination results of the Teachers Recruitment Board are hosted on the web. Tenth and Twelfth Standard examination results were accessed by more than 20 lakh users in May-June’2006. National level Projects : The following national level central projects are implemented in Tamil Nadu: Passport Office Systems at Chennai and Trichy Custom House Systems at Chennai (Sea and Air) and Thoothukudi Central Excise Systems at Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Tirunelveli and Salem Commissionerates and their Divisions DGFT Office Systems at Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore Immigration System at Chennai Airport Systems for DGS&D Postal Life Insurance System, etc. Systems for FCI, etc. Shri N Syed Mubarak Ali, DIO, Tiruvannamalai receiving commendation certificate from the District Collector on 15th August 2006. District Centres The District Centres are established in all the 30 Districts in the State. They provide the informatics support at the grass root level in all the projects and add strength to our services, especially in projects such as Land Records, Transport, Treasuries, etc. NICNET Infrastructure State Centre at Rajaji Bhavan, Chennai Secretariat Centre at Chennai District Centres in all the 30 Districts Data Centre with 3 TB SAN Storage, more than 15 Rack Servers and 10 co- located Servers VSAT connectivity to all the 30 districts DAMA VSAT based VC facility at 30 districts and 6 locations in Chennai RF Link connectivity from NIC to 10 locations in Chennai Leased Line connectivity (14 mbps) to Delhi via Hyderabad Leased line connectivity (2 mbps) to 6 districts are operational; 12 more districts are to be connected by December 2006. Leased Line connectivity to Passport Offices (Chennai and Trichy) and Immigration Office Training Rooms at State Centre and Secretariat, etc. E-Governance is a journey and NIC Tamil Nadu State Centre has been an active partner in the State in this mission mode journey. For further information, kindly contact Shri A.Mohan State Informatics Officer NIC Tamil Nadu State Centre Email : sio@tn.nic.in