May 16, 2010  

To make sure that the benefits of the policies and programmes of the Government reach the grass root level, it is important to develop a mechanism which enables speedy dissemination of citizen related services and information. By and large the concept of e- governance in Himachal is being taken a step further by adding more services and by providing services at a Centre closest to the place of a citizen. The State Government has prepared I.T. Vision 2010 with the assistance of NASSCOM to strengthen the IT services in the State.

To ensure a SMART ( Simple, Moral , Accountable, Responsive and Transparent) Government, a bouquet of IT services like Sugam, Hospital Management Information System (HMIS), Common Services Centres (CSCs), State Data Centre (SDC), AGRISNET, e-procurement, Content Service Provider(CSP) and e-Samadhan systems have been introduced in the State.

Himachal Pradesh is predominantly an agrarian economy with more than 90% of people residing in rural areas. Furthermore, the difficult topographical and climatic conditions make it inevitable for the people to travel long distances on foot or by road to reach the appropriate level of administration to get their work done. This results in substantial wastage of time and money of an individual. To bridge this gap, the Government plans to establish 3366 e-Governance Centres known as Lok Mitra Kendras at Panchayat level so that citizens can avail themselves of Government, private and social sector services at their doorsteps. Presently 2185 Lok Mitra Kendras have already been rolled out.

In first phase of this project, services such as voter registration , voter identity cards, electricity bill payment, telephone and mobile bills, police complaint registration and examination being conducted by Public Service Commission are being made available whereas in the second phase, information regarding passport, results of school education , registration in employment offices would be provided through these Centres.

 Lok Mitra Kendras would also be instrumental in promoting rural entrepreneurship and revenue earnings. These Kendras would generate self employment opportunities to 3000 youth and enable community participation which would go a long way in ushering economical and societal change. The Government is committed to bring about improvement in the quality of services, greater transparency, efficiency, objectivity, accountability so that the citizens can get the required information without any hassles.

Besides Lok Mitra Kendras, Sugam centres have also been set up at all Tehsils/ Sub Tehsils, Sub Divisions while District Centres are being opened in Municipal area to provide services to citizens at their doorsteps. The Integrated Community Service Centre i-CoSC( SUGAM ) is one stop resource centre for all citizen related services and information. i-CoSC will facilitate faster communication and easier access to information by giving people access to the Internet.

The services being provided through these centres includes Vahan –Vehicle registration, driving license, bus booking and time table, voter registration, voter ID, e- Praman certificates: Caste, Domicile, Senior citizen, income, backward area, land record forms, REFNIC- Reference Monitoring of Files, hotel reservation, tourism information etc.

Setting up of such centres has brought about a reduction in response time in addressing grievances by the concerned departments. The unique feature of this project is that the submission of documents and collection of required certificates/licenses etc can be done even at a place other than the one where sanction is to be done. The services are being delivered within a specific time frame.

Keeping in mind the interests of the farming community, the Government has taken a step forward in equipping the farmers with latest technical know how. Information about market rates, expert remedial measures for crop diseases through remote assistance, advice pertaining to fields of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, health, fisheries etc is being provided to the rural masses.

One touch screen kiosk would be installed at each Integrated Community Service Centre (i-CoSC) Centre to give free access to information. The application forms, web interface and contents for touch screen kiosks will be developed as far as possible in Hindi for the convenience of people

So as to bring reforms in the working of the system by bringing Government departments under a single window, services would be processed and executed at Tehsil level as soon as the relevant documents are furnished by the citizen. This mechanism has done away with the need of repetitive visits to Sub-Division/District Headquarter. Instead the user will get the status of his application (or even delivery) at Tehsil Centre or through a web portal or even through SMS on mobile phone.

Updated and latest information regarding public distribution system, list of beneficiaries under different programmes, information regarding government grants given to PRIs and urban local bodies is made available through such centres. Access to community-based information and communication resources would certainly facilitate in empowering the rural masses. 
    photograph are also available on website