Speak of islands, and the mind immediately conjures up images of isolated pieces of land jutting out from the sea, green palm groves and waves breaking against rugged shorelines. Land cut off by nature from the rest of the world. The scenic Lakshadweep archipelago, in the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Kerela, is no different. Of its 36 islands, only 10 are inhabited. Kavaratti is its administrative Headquarters. It is in places like this where the science of information technology will be put to its ultimate test. And the National Informatics Centre, being at the forefront of all that is happening in this field in the Country, takes on itself the task of proving itself in the Laksadweeps.
THE GROUNDWORK: The Lakshadweep Union Territory Unit of the National Informatics Centre was made functional in October 1988 with the posting of three NIC personnel. As the Union Territory was as yet unexposed to computer technology, training courses were conducted on a priority basis to familiarize the employees of the Administration with computers. Simultaneously, studies of the working of the Administration were conducted to identify areas in which NIC could contribute meaningfully, and also to develop a strategy of going about the task. These studies revealed that the informatics of these Islands were quite divergent from that which existed in other parts of the Country.
NICNET TAKES OVER The role of NIC's computer-based satellite communication system, NICNET, takes on new meaning in the context of a centrally administered Union territory in the case of which proper administration involves voluminous data exchange between the Islands on one hand, and the Ministries situated at New Delhi on the other. As far as the data flow between the Union Territory and the Ministries is concerned, NICNET became an invaluable means of efficient, reliable and faster data transfer. NICNET services were further finetuned with the provision of a terminal, connected with NIC's NEC computer at New Delhi, to the Liaison Officer of the Lakshadweep Administration. Preliminary studies revealed that NICNET could play a fruitful role in informatics dissemination at the Union Territory level only when services were extended to all the Islands so that there could be regular and correct flow of information from all the constituent Island to the Headquarters at Kavaratti. To this end, an unit of NIC was established in the southernmost Island of Minicoy and linked with NICNET. Another unit was set up in the Lakshadweep office at Koshi which handles all the transportation and public relations requirements of the Administration with the Mainland.
FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH There was no looking back. NIC's General Information System Terminals (GISTNIC) services was introduced in Kavaratti with the setting up of a public booth in the quadrangle of the Secretariat in 1991. The DISNIC Health software has been utilized for monitoring the Universal Immunization Programme being implemented in the Lakshadweeps. Computerization of the employment exchange live registers by the NIC Lakshadweep Centre has helped in proper and systematic sponsoring of candidates for job vacancies. The NIC Lakshadweep Union Territory Unit regularly transmits data relating to the 20-point Programme and the Essential Commodities Prices Monitoring process through NICNET as part of the ongoing national exercise.
ON THE CARDS This is not all. A host of new projects have been taken up to further the cause of informatics in the Island. These include: - Land records computerization. - Implementation of NIC's Computerized Rural Information Systems Project (CRISP). - Computerization of the Planning and Accounts Wing of the Lakshadweep Administration in terms of plan activity and annual budget monitoring.
WHAT EXCLUSIVENESS ENTAILS In the Lakshadweeps, the National Informatics Centre has the exclusive status of being the only organization working for the development of information technology. This distinction, brings with it, responsibilities of its own. As a result, the NIC Lakshadweep Union Territory Unit has to provide services ranging from data entry facilities for major national activities such as population census, economic census, agricultural census and rural water survey to technical advice in the purchase of computers by various government departments. And the Lakshadweep Union Territory Unit of the National Informatics Centre has carried its responsibilities well. The bottomline to all these is the efficient team work of the small set of NIC professionals in the archipelago. With the advent of information technology, the Lakshadweeps no longer remain a group of isolated islands cut off from the Mainland. Once again man has succeeded in taming nature, and in doing so, has woven the Lakshadweep more intricately with the texture of the Nation. Inauguration of GISTNIC