PM launches Aadhar based direct cash transfer system

Battled by corruption on all fronts, PM Singh inaugurated the scheme to do a direct cash transfer system to the intended beneficiaries directly through bank accounts linked to the AADHAR number. This scheme is good and is a good step in the direction to plug corruption at various levels. However, it is still not passed as a  Legislation. The Parliamentary committee has objections, concerns that have not been addressed. The govt's announcement of the scheme leaves behind several questions unanswered.

Many of the concerns/questions are raised even in my previous 3 articles listed here - Article1, Article2, Article3.

As of 2012, 20 crore people people have got AADHAR numbers and 40 crore are left as against the target set for 2014. The system and its officials are making their presence felt in many villages and cities. Poor people are specially thrilled and are going out in large numbers to get the number. Here is the website (click) that gives all the information on how to enroll, what documents are needed and what the process is.

Image courtesy: source

The Govt wants to show that it wants to do something. However, no one is sure how this system will transform the problem of corruption. India's corruption is at different levels and this kind of a system will be a game changer for sure only if correctly implemented.

The media doesn't scrutinize effectively enough. How many Indians know that the experiment of Aadhar enabled wage pay under Rural Employment Guarantee system is facing difficult problems for which no effective solution has been found? Unless found the scheme should not be extended to the entire country. 

Here are some of them:

1) The system requires that a bank account opened by a person who has AADHAR must be interlinked. So, just because you have AADHAR number will not enable you and just because you have a bank account won't enable you to receive payments. Is this effectively communicated since large number of people would not understand? In Jharkhand, this created a major problem since people who had to open a bank account had to travel 10 km away. The role of Banking Correspondents (BC) carrying portable devices that can communicate with the bank servers is not foolproof system and has failed in many places. So, how does AADHAR address this issue?

2) In several places where the internet connectivity is either unavailable or unreliable is a major issue. This did not allow the verification systems to work properly with authentication servers.

3) Fingerprint recognition issues made many legitimate recipients not receive the money. Given the fact that most laborers may not have the right finger prints due to excessive labor what other mechanism should be adopted to verify? Are the guidelines that are laid being correctly followed everywhere the system is put in place?

4) How correctly can you identify the recipient is indeed the intended beneficiary? For a scheme like Rural Employment it might be easy since the person who is going to work needs would have his name registered and must be working for a certain set of hours. While making the payment his name must be associated with AADHAR number that the recipient must carry while validating/authenticating himself. This may be fairly accurate but how does government plan to transfer food via PDS (Public Distributed System) ? Clearly, as per UIDAI AADHAR number cannot tell you if you are an intended recipient of a particular service, but only verify that you are what you say. So, say a person A who is not a legitimate recipient of subsidized kerosene but has an ADHAR number registers in the government records as the beneficiary of subsidized kerosene Then person A continues to receive the benefit if he submits AADHAR details. So, even before AADHAR comes into play the very system which will contact AADHAR must be accurate. Has the government done or doing anything in this regard? Unfortunately, no. So, can this system be a game changer then?

5) It has come to the attention that several hundreds of AADHAR cards are lying in the government offices gathering dust and yet have not reached the concerned people (Source) This is mainly because of fake addresses.

Say, the UIDAI addresses all these issues. However, until issue 4) is resolved this system cannot help in plugging leakages.

Let us not forget in Jharkhand where the system was first tested proved to be very effective at least with respect to people who received their wages. It was quick, fast, instant and no middle man was involved. So, they did not bribe any official to get their money. This is truly the result that is expected and is indeed the spirit with which Mr. Nilekani is working. 

So, when Arvind Kejriwal talks about an effective law people must realize that it is one part of the solution. The other part is clearly eliminating as much as possible middle men who eat away the money before it reaches the intended recipient.

170 million enrolled, 120 million UID numbers issued...What next for UID?

This is my 3rd article on UID Project or AADHAR. The previous ones posted are here - Article1 and Article2

First, a dedicated work personnel of Unique Identification Project Team (UID Team) has issued 120 million unique numbers by collecting 10 finger prints, iris scans and basic information such as name, address, date of birth and some other demographic information. While the actual enrollment itself is 170 million, but of this 120 million numbers have been generated. Several banks and registrars have now advertised they need AADHAR number to qualify or confirm your identity. Beginning from districts in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra - a lot of places have been covered. The UID camps continue to be set up, advertisements published and generate the letter and sent to beneficiary. Any time anyone submits AADHAR number to a bank and the banks connect to UID server the information that it gets back is you are found in the database and if it is same as you. There is nothing more that UID will send you back.

Second, let us congratulate the team to complete a mammoth 170 million. We have a long way to go to reach 1.2 billion but the rate at which the enrollments are being done it should be a matter of 4 years or so. 

However, at one point this whole project was under the threat of extinction. This was mainly because UID's clash with the Home Ministry's ambitious project of National Population Register (NPR). The NPR is the largest database of all people living in India and the main task that feeds data into NPR is the Census data. Earlier, there was a clash between the two and both were doing duplication task of biometric data collection. Why would any citizen or resident submit bio metric data to 2 different agencies? It is inconvenience. This had led to the tussle and finally it has been sorted out.

The people who have given biometric information to UID will no longer have to give to NPR. But those who have not given bio metric information to UID will have to do so for NPR. This would prevent duplication and if there is any it will lead to de-duplication. Well, the solution sounds good, but the question remains - Why would NPR now collect bio metrics and not UID? It is believed that in a case UID fails to detect the person's identity NPR is the sole or superseding database that will tell if that person's data is found or not. If NPR fails and UID succeeds then NPR will prevail. Does this make sense? It does not.

But why did all this confusion start? Is UID compulsory or submitting details to NPR?

Actually according to the Citizenship Act 2003 which was made in 2003 stated that it is compulsory that every Indian must go and register with NPR - "As per Rule 7(3) in the 2003 Rules, “It shall be the responsibility of every citizen to register once with the Local Registrar of Citizen Registration and to provide correct individual particulars.” Source

At that time the concept of UID Authority was not even created. It was assumed that the NPR data would generate the Identity Number. No mention of bio metric data was done. It was in 2005-06 that the idea of bio metric data was initiated and part of the NPR's job was given to UID Authority but limited to only 200 million. Now that the enrollments reached the figure and the budget has gone ten times high the Home Ministry began to question it. It looks like P.Chidambaram wanted the Home Ministry to supersede and control everything. 

Now, it has been made clear that you may or may not want UID number but you need to compulsorily give data to NPR. The biometric collection agencies are common to both NPR and UID which is good. In the long run however everyone will ask for UID number and the Home Ministry will have to include UID Number into NPR. This will happen. 

Should this project then continue? YES

Many people criticize this project. There are lot of concerns about privacy. However, only when the database is set up can the privacy laws be established. It is hard in a country like ours where the rule is set up first and the project started. We should reach 500 million mark soon. Once the NPR and UIDAI finish their job the legislation has to be introduced and the powers and limits be discussed. For now, UID will only tell you - "Who you are is what you claim to be" and nothing more. 

The major challenges that this project is facing are just visible. As this report by Usha Ramanathan published in the Frontline news magazine highlights it is very shocking to see the pitfalls in the system. For more can be read here, I paste some of them

In May, “unidentified persons” walked away with two laptops and a pen drive which held data pertaining to 140 persons from an enrolment centre in a school in Hadaspur, Maharashtra

In July, five persons were arrested in Bangalore for issuing fake UIDs. The UIDAI heard about the racket when they were approached with complaints that “Global ID Solutions” was selling franchises to customers to take up Aadhaar enrolment for a non-refundable fee of Rs.2.5 lakh an enrolment kit

In October, a software error resulted in hundreds of residents of Colaba in south Mumbai having their addresses recorded as Kolaba, Raigarh district.

Such events only make one lose confidence in the team and question the government's commitment level to this ambitious undertaking. 

Watch this video on youtube and you will be shocked that corruption has reached even this undertaking in cases where person who has nothing (no document whatsoever) is to be included into the system via an Introducer.

An excellent video was the reality report on this project on NDTV. This must be watched by everyone. The video clearly explains how difficult it is to enroll people who do not have any documents about themselves. The percentage of such people and such peoples' data being recorded with wrong proofs or introducers is getting higher. How will this system work transparently? It is a major challenge and seems to be that no one has talked about solving it.

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/truth-vs-hype/truth-vs-hype-who-is-afraid-of-unique-id/221741

However, any major change has issues and problems, but it should not be stopped. There are several people who even could not open a bank account are now able to do so because of AADHAR. Reserve Bank of India now legally accepts AADHAR for opening a bank account anywhere in India.

Unique Id project is truly a revolutionary undertaking and must continue despite criticisms and all pitfalls.

An update on Unique Id Project - AADHAAR

UNIQUE ID is the greatest, toughest and the most complex test for Indian software industry's expertise and efficiency. If India is the world's software services mecca, Unique Id is its biggest challenge to show its prowess. UID can bring out a social transformation never seen before and if it fails, it will be the biggest disaster in Indian software industry. 

There are literally millions of people across India who cannot get a SIM card, cannot get a ration card, cannot get a PAN card, can't open a bank account simply because there is no proof of their identity. On the other end millions of people manage to get fake Driver Licenses, fake Ration cards, fake Electoral ID and even fake PAN. This is a headache not only for govt and government agencies, but also for Election Commission. One of the main reasons corruption thrives is also because of this extremity.

Some STARTLING STATISTICS:

India has

• 70 million PAN cards
• 60 million passports
• 90 million Drivers License
• 240 million bank account holders
• 170 million LIC policy holders
• 150 million Below Poverty Line cards (BPL)

Quick Update:

In my earlier article, Unique Id is it worth it?, I did mention that there are huge challenges in implementation, technology, storage and usage. The project though has gone far ahead from then till now and there is a proper structure with efficient people, and honest officials and have already begun to implement the Unique Id in certain districts and villages.

Very recently, there was a competition which received 2000 entries and finally the logo was unveiled by a farmer and the project was named AADHAAR - which means support.

Tumkur, Mysore, Nalanda (Bihar), some villages in Andhra - the pilot biometric collection has been kicked off.  The targets that are set up are 2500 profiles within 20 days and so forth.

Note: I made all tables below based on several articles in paper and news media.

Here's a detailed technical paper as to how and why unique Id's will be generated and how it will include alpha numerals in the numbers

For these, refer to Documents section under http://uid.gov.in/. There are lots of documents, memorandums of understandings, how the process will be executed and so forth.

THE SCOPE AND POTENTIAL OF UID DATA:

While UID will not be mandatory, slowly everyone will mandate the usage forcing everyone to have one. The ENROLLMENT FEE IS Rs. 25. However, the coastal and border region inhabitants will have to mandatorily enroll to know who is an illegal immigrant and who is not. This is very crucial. The non-availability of distinction is one of the main reasons a lot of terrorists escape.

A crucial area where UID is expected to make wonders is the way of identifying extremely poor people (people below poverty line or BPL). Once their biometrics are identified, the systems will be changed to ensure it is only those who get the real welfare benefits like food, subsidized kerosene, employment benefits, etc. Even if UID is able to achieve a 15% change, it will force it to become more than 70% as Govt would want to call itself transparent and garner votes. 42% malnutrition and 75% of Indian children suffer from anemia - data is enough to understand how corruption cuts off the real beneficiaries from Govt's welfare programs.

Another huge scope of this project is bringing banking to people who are outside its gambit. Almost 50% of people don't have any bank account. Even if we reach 100 million through UID, it would have done great wonders to Indian economy and people. Currently, government has mandated all wages, government payments, pensions, compensations, etc to be dispersed only through bank accounts. But with absence of bank accounts, corruption thrives and there is no way to track them. Hence, RBI has tied up with UID so that it can provide banking services to all those whose names enter UID database.

LIC has tied with UID to share its database to ensure the UID can verify the identity as majority of them would not give wrong address on an insurance policy.

Income Tax is planning to issue biometric PAN once UID is in place so that the number of fake PAN will reduce.

Rampant corruption has plagued those places where people work as laborers under Rural Employment Gaurantee Program and the govt has decided to use biometric verification to plug the leaks in wages being sent to people who do not have bank accounts.

What would be the attributes of Unique Id?

If you notice, Unique Id will only act as an identification service. So, it can be used as a web service and interfaced with all other agencies and govt/private organizations to verify people in their respective databases are indeed the right people. So, UID won't store more than this, but is going to be the single point of confirmation/verification for all departments and agencies.

So,what is the enrollment procedure?

The process is explained visually from the document published on the site,

If you notice there is the usage of the word "registrar" which could be any agency/organization which can help in verification. These are (could be more than the list below) listed as below:

The real open ended questions are many. Some of them that struck my mind are as below:

• How will UID be generated for people who have no identifiable documents? They will be introduced into the system without proper identification. In some villages the only verification registrar used is panachayat offices and Election Commission records. But will all those records be genuine? If not (so many are full of errors), what is the way the person will be identified other than by generating a number for them?
• No one knows how much personal information will be exposed and to whom and how. It can be serious privacy breach. Hence, Nilekani is working towards a draft legislation which has to be passed in Parliament and there is going to be a fierce discussion on this. 
• Can states misuse the info if they are allowed to manipulate? Who will be given read-only access?
• What private agencies can share this data and what rules govern their usage?
• Will people remember their 12 digit number? 
• When the verification step is involved, will it be done against all the registrars or only a few of them? If few are involved, will it be genuine? If all are involved, will it not be an overkill?
• One of the listed registrars is Gas agencies. How can gas agencies verify if they don't have any computerized mechanism? Definitely, not all have it.
• All other agencies which plan to use UID will have to modify their softwares (if at all they have) to adapt to the data in the format UID will provide. This may be a headache only for banks as only they have computerization to the maximum extent.

Plans of promoting UID Enrollment:

Practical Challenges Seen in the Pilot test in selected villages:
Interesting Case Studies can be read here

Who is providing the biometric gadgets to this project?
An Indian based company 4G Identity Solutions: Website: http://www.4gid.com/
Florida based Crossmatch Technologies. Website: http://www.crossmatch.com/
Source: 

National Identification Number - Worth it?

In what can be said best about the Social Security Number (SSN) system in USA is the fact that this one number can give an entire horoscope of an individual. In an attempt to have one such for India, in 2000 the then NDA Govt led by Vajpayee did a serious feasibility study. The study led the Govt believe that it is the most daunting and challenging task because the number of fake documents held by people outnumber the original and genuine ones. The project was put in cold storage. The need for this came up again when the attack on Parliament took place in Dec 2001.

Even during Manmohan Singh's first tenure the project was revived under the pressure of the second administrative reforms. Now, again Singh has personally asked Nandan Nilkeni (now former Infosys CEO) to personally lead this project. He is responsible for planning, and execution of the project. Has been given a cabinet minister rank and full powers under the Planning Commission. His team (National unique Identification Number Authority) will create, own and maintain this huge database of 1.2 billion plus people.

There are lots of technical issues. How and from where will data be collected? What could constitute primary data? How will the number be generated for those who are dead? How will family lineage be established? What about space/storage issues? Where will it be hosted? Will it be centralized? What abt security issues? Of course, these issues have been addressed to a good extent and that is why a person like Nandan has been asked to lead such a arduous project to assess and execute matters not addressed yet.

But is it worth? The number is a necessity, but is it the first thing in ensuring governance mechanism improves and national security is enhanced? As far as governance is conerned, it will help if this number will be utilized by the govt in ensuring that money flows and reaches the required person in a way that this number will become the sole determining factor. As far as security is concerned, a number wont help as long as simple police reforms are not addressed. What will a police constable do having a NIN (National identification Number) if he doesnt have sophisticated weapons to handle criminals, leave apart terrorists? If police has no faster way of reaching a place to protect citizens,how will this number help? If police doesnt have a proper way of recruiting right and efficient officers, how will this number help?

Had Kiran Bedi been asked to lead the police reforms in the country, there would be no person like me who would have been happy. It is the need of the hour that a woman like her lead this most challenging reform. If police force and the way it works improves, our security system is enhanced by almost 200%. We have no single formula for this, but surely is the need of the hour . The recent commission report on 26/11 poses a serious question on how our country's top police officers are treated with utter negligence w.r.t weapons.


Unless we dont reform police, we wont see the impact of this unique number. Down the lane say in 3 years or 4 if this project gets implemented, it will take almost a decade to really see the impact of this at every stage. I am sure that this number will be fitted with biometric security system. Here's an article on how technical issues delayed this project in 2003 in Delhi

Rs.100 crore alloted to it is an utter waste if police reforms are not addressed. Had the same amount of money been invested in our coastal security, we would have gone a great deal ahead. Had the same money been put up in sealing the eastern borders we would have stopped infiltration from bangladesh which is the root cause of all deadly blasts in the last 5 years. How is this issue being addressed? Can a NIN help if these infiltrators can get fake documents and prove themselves to be genuine citizens? Never, the process of identifying someone as a citizen itself is a big question mark.

Nevertheless, here's an article that says that such a number helps in 4 areas (1) welfare delivery and tax collections, (2) financial inclusion, (3) voter registration, and (4) national security

I hope that a person like Nilkani is given due respect and the govt seriously gives all required resources and help in this matter. It makes me definitely proud of this fact that the Govt chose a person like him to head this daunting task...

Thank you Mr.Singh...Please do a big favor by appointing Kiran Bedi to head the Police Reforms and you will go down as one of my favorite PM's ever.

How to best change Government hospitals

This topic is hugely debatable. There are various angles and viewpoints. In definite terms, there is no one quick fix.

I am sure almost every citizen of the country has had one time or the other dealt with a government hospital for some reason or the other. In the first place, there are no surgical equipments. There is no proper supply of essential medicines, blood, beds. The free food given is so worse that it will put you back into the hospital. There is no sincerity in serving the people on the part of doctors. In fact, doctors are not present. The ratio of beds to patients is abysmal. Corruption is rampant. The word "free" is real only when money is paid. The situation is so atrocious that even to get a dead body out of the hospital you need to bribe. The moratorium is so unorganized that literally the clerks/peons put dead bodies like a heap of ash. There is utter chaos. To get admission, to get medicine, to get diagnosis - bribe. Perhaps, the Telugu movie Ganesh is the only movie I remember that showed a barbaric reality of government hospitals in a touching manner. Go to Victoria or Bowring hospital in Bangalore. You will find used scissors, knives (surgical operations) not even washed or sterilized and being used again. Some have rusted, some are blunt, some do not even exist. This was shown when Lok Ayukta once conducted a surprise raid.

Once, Narendra Modi gave a proposal to private hospitals about Chiranjeevi scheme. More can be read in Modi's governance articles on my blog. After its success, the government came up with another idea. The govt (Narendra Modi) asked private hospitals to manage govt ones w.r.t infrastructure, recruiting doctors and supply of essential medicines. The funding will be given by the government. Is this a good proposal?

To answer this, I admit to the reader that I am neither a doctor nor anyone even closely connected to this profession. I am just an ordinary citizen. I feel there is merit in the idea that private hospitals should manage infrastructure and recruitment aspects of the govt ones. Complete privatization is not going to help. If it were to help, many people would not have turned away from private hospitals. It is too expensive. Yes, there is a higher probability of a better, quality treatment. In our country, where 3/4th of the people do not even have access to hospitals and health care, it is easy to set up government hospitals than private ones. But then, because of all problems mentioned above, the confidence in these hospitals or its staff is so poor. Yet people go as they have no option. What if private hospitals were to manage some of these things?

This will improve things to a very great extent even if not everything. Firstly, you will have the required equipment that could be used either for diagnosis or treatment. Secondly, you will at least have a system of supply of medicines. Thirdly, it will give hope that qualified doctors come into the picture. All 3 aspects are 3 pillars of success of a government hospital. The fourth and the hidden pillar is the corruption. This is a far deeper and complex issue. I will not claim that private ones are the best or corrupt free, but they definitely offer a better alternative. However, if qualified professionals are recruited, it will allay the fears of a common man about govt hospitals. Infrastructure should range from beds, wards, sanitation, maintenance, testing facilities, diagnostic equipments, cleaner labs etc.

The govt should give tax rebates and incentives for those doctors who serve in the govt hospitals. As a matter of fact, there should be a synergy between private doctors and govt ones. Private doctors will not be paid if they treat in govt hospitals. Doctors who treat in govt hospitals should be given high salaries. Private ones must not be allowed to spend money on govt hsopital infrastructure. Instead of spending lots of money giving to medical officers, IAS officers etc, the same money should be given to private institutions directly. In fact, Chidambaram, in this year's budget made the law that if private organizations would develop hospitals in Tier -II cities, they will get 5 year tax exemption. This is a good move to inspire the setting up of more hospitals. However, as I mentioned earlier, the govt ones should be revamped.

There are several exceptional cases where some hospitals have gone out of their way to give free quality treatment to people. Government must recognize and give incentives and encouragement. Best examples include Narayana Hrudalaya in Bangalore setting up a Rs. 100 crore facility exclusively for poor people (not sure if it is free). Even Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology in Bangalore seems to be having the latest cardiology equipment. L.V. Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad has done a fabulous job. They have done cornea transplantation (almost 1200 when the demand was 10,000) for free. The hospital is now in a process of setting 5 eye banks across the state to satisfy the demand. Not many people can do service for free. There is nothing wrong in it. Every doctor has a moral responsibility at the same financial compulsions don't let such good intentioned doctors do this. There is nothing wrong in it. However, if govt takes the initiative and starts attracting such people then it will encourage 1000's of doctors to come forward. K.S Hegde Hospital which has set up 17 satellite hospitals is also an interesting and inspiring example. Sushshrushah Hospital in Nagercoil is also a landmark example where a 3 dimensional mobile arm system allows doctors to see 3 D views during surgical operations. Having such facilities in small towns help people. Imagine if government encourages such participation or expect private hospitals to help govt hospitals with technology, we will go a long way. Already, Kolkata has begun to see a new revolution in this matter of participation where private ones are providing beds, wards etc to attract more confidence in people. They are also providing diagnostic tests at a subsidized rate to lower middle class and poor people.

I feel if schemes like Chiranjeevi can become success stories not just inside India, but even outside, private participation in government hospitals and govt's incentives will go a long way in triggering a health revolution in the country.

Book train tickets through Bank ATM's

In Aug 2002, the entire train commuting community woke up to a great technological breakthrough. After almost 15 years of effort, a network of all databases were done. The result - This was the online train ticket booking facility. Since 2002 it is the most successful e-commerce website in India. It was announced by Nitish Kumar (the then railway minister in Vajpayee' government and now Bihar's chief Minister). Computerization was done in 1980's, but all were standalone and not networked. It took a mammoth effort to build a website and use high end efficient, robust servers at the back end. 15 years ago if one had to book a ticket from Bangalore to Delhi and say one had to get down at Station A in between to reach Delhi from there via another train, one had to book a fresh ticket again from Station A to Delhi. It was not possible to book direct ticket from Bangalore to Delhi from Bangalore. The servers were isolated. And now, you can sit in any part of the world, access irctc.co.in and book tickets.

Owned by the government, the accuracy and service of this website is A-one or world class. The courier service of delivery of tickets, a call center to track down the courier and a wonderful, yet simple website to handle bookings and checking online status of orders, PNR look up are just to name a few of the features. It was developed by Broadvision. There are 3 layers of firewalls and advanced encryption of credit card numbers is done so that IRCTC guys don't know about it. So, far there has not been a single case of fraud reported (with fault or hacking on the server side) and hence is considered very safe. In order to ensure further safety issues, Verisign is being used.

The courier system which government tied up with Bluedart has been doing a fabulous job. On a personal note I once booked online and did not get the ticket through courier. I then called helpline number and then they immediately delivered. There is no doubt about the good professionalism on the delivery side.

Very recently, the government allowed to book even waiting list tickets. This is a very good move. And if your name doesn't appear on the reservation list, automatic refund will be done and one need not apply for cancellation online. This is too great!!!!

Now, in order to make IRCTC even more accessible to people, government has tied up with private companies by which cash cards can be got from a host of retail stores by paying money beforehand and use them to book tickets. This is a faster approach because many people who don't have credit cards or do not want to use for security reasons can use this. Just use the details on the card and book tickets. You get in 500, 1000, 1500 and so on denominated cards.

Statistics show that 22% of online bookings have been through cash cards.

3 years ago, government also introduced booking through cell phones. Using cell phones you can not only book, but also know the PNR status and arrival, departure details.

In order to further facilitate people who don't have access to internet, government has now tied up with nationalized banks like Canara, SBI, SBM etc. Now these bank ATM's at railways stations can be used to purchase tickets. One can do so with their debit cards and get e-ticket/print out from ATM's. Although the banks have given a ready "yes", they are in the process of setting up the facility. Thanks to Lalu Yadav...He is undoubtedly the best Railway Minister the country has seen so far.

According to the article(click here),

After entering into an agreement with the State Bank of India to set up 682 ATMs at railway stations, Indian Railways today entered into an agreement with six nationalised banks to set up another 711 ATMs at railway stations for passengers to withdraw cash. Out of the 711 ATMs, 473 will have e-ticketing facilities.

The banks include Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank and Punjab National Bank. Currently , 86 ATMs have been installed at various stations and by the end of 2006-07, 250 ATMs are expected to be operational. The Railways aims to set up 4,000 ATMs at various stations.

In fact, Canara Bank ATM's can be used to purchase train tickets using the ATM interface in Kanyakumari, Madurai etc.

Bulk booking or corporate booking is still not allowed online.

Bio metric PAN cards this year onwards

In order to solve the 13 lakh fraud PAN numbers and to prevent further, the Government approved the use of biometric PAN cards. The card will have iris and fingerprint to make it tamper proof. So far, in any part of the world wherever combination of both of these biometrics have been used the fraud rate is almost ZERO.

The existing users won't be forced, but the govt has advised to switch over in the citizens' interest so that no one misuses their PAN card.

The hick up though is the expense. The existing one costed Rs. 67 or something close to this figure while the biometric one will cost between Rs.200 and Rs.300. Cost is going to hinder, but I am sure people will go for it as PAN card has become very important for so many transactions ranging from purchasing cars to getting loans (all kinds). Everyday, their use as an identity is going northwards.

But biometric will go down a long way in curbing the PAN card fraud.

http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/18/stories/2007071862291500.htm

Himachal, Haryana, TamilNadu, Gujarat complete State WAN

Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, TamilNadu and Haryana are the 4 states in the country which have wide area network connecting all administrative offices from capital to district to taluk to panchayat level. This will enable for e-governance projects to be delivered easily.

Reference:http://himachal.us/2008/02/05/himachal-pradesh-state-wide-network-himswan-launched/4465/news/disha
http://www.egovernanceforums.com/swan/SWAN_News.aspx

The connectivity also will ensure that internet connections can be given. All the 4 states have literacy rates in the range 70-75% making it easier for utilization of such projects.

Already Himachal Pradesh being the first to have completed this has received ISO Certification from Norway for transparent and efficient system of issuing transport and driver licenses.

Electronic filing of taxes mandatory from now

It is definitely a good move. Now all corporates, professionals, partnership firms, businesses must pay their direct taxes online via their bank accounts. This is especially applicable for people whose taxes are greater than INR 50,000. Non-electronic means is no longer acceptable.

For individuals, however, it is optional.

This move will simplify the process and tax evasion will reduce.

Reference:
http://in.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/04tax.htm

Direct Deposit of pensions now on in Himachal and Madurai

One of the most corrupt cases in the country included the pension disbursement. Lakhs of government employees (retired) would travel from pillar to post for getting their hard earned pension. They would walk in the scorching heat and reach the Treasury office. The corrupt officials would never give them pension or would ask for bribe. This was the talk of the past.

Now, the entire state of Himachal Pradesh with its 80,000 odd employees will no longer have to visit the Treasury office. Their money will be directly credited to their bank accounts - localized banks which are going to act as Pension Disbursement Agencies (PDA). These banks would be nationalized banks.

This is definitely going to bring in transparency and comfort to people. Further, Himachal Pradesh govt has put the complete pension details online. So, now if an old person wants to see all his pension details like a pay stub he can do so online. If he doesn't have internet access, he can go to any cybercafe and check it. Remember, HP has 78% literacy and is one of the least corrupt states.

Here's the website.
On this website one can enter Pensioner PPO number and pension type and get the month wise pension paid. RBI has provided the software.

Following this, even Madurai has gone the same way.

Definitely, this is going to spread to other states as we Indians have a habit of looking at others and imitating them. This sort of imitation is going to be for the welfare of the people themselves.

Infact, Himachal is the first state to have wide area network upto Gram Panchayat level.

References:

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060805/himachal.htm#3

How IBM and Microsoft in Karnataka created the first e-governed panchayat

In a record of its own kind, Belandur, a village - 25 km from Bangalore city actually had become the first fully e-governed Gram Panchayat. While Burdwan (WB) has all its gram panchayats e-governed, Belandur is only one village (Gram Panchayat).

This story is old, but brings new renewed hope to every Indian that e-governance can tackle corruption very effectively. Belandur has been a striking example.

In 1998, Compusol - whose partners are IBM and Microsoft gave a computer and replaced the existing typewriters. Belandur with a literacy rate of 95% was able to quickly grasp the usage of a computer.

Jagannath, the village President worked in tandem with Compusol and Compusol developed a software in Kannada in partnership with Microsoft and IBM that completely automated all government activities. The software is a success story and today, corruption is negligible here.

This story was first highlighted in BBC News and later in all Indian journals like Frontline.

Just to give an example, as of now, villagers don't have to pay bribes to get their birth, death certificates, property details and records or even tax related information. Everything is available online and they can get it by clicking a mouse button. Jagannath also hired computer trainees to train villagers how to use. Because of high literacy people could grasp easily.

Following the computerisation of tax collection, the panchayat has
recovered huge out standings. In comparison to the old manual
system, the current system has aided in limiting corruption, and
generated a 100-fold increase in revenue for the Panchayat. In
the year 2002-03 a collection of Rs.62,89,600/- was made by way of
taxes. Before computerisation of the gram panchayat, Rs 17 lakhs
was the approximate annual revenue collection of the panchayat.
Enhanced tax collections have already been put into good use in
development initiatives. What makes this project unique is that
it is an independent initiative funded by the village development
committee (VDC).

Bellandur can boast of being the first gram panchayat that airs its committee meetings over cable television, in 20 neighbouring villages. The committee meetings have gone on air for over a year now. The former Chairman and now member, the 38-year-old dynamic Shri Jagannath Reddy, who has served nearly two terms as Chairman says that the airing of the meetings has certainly brought about more transparency and accountability into the functioning of the panchayat. Awareness building about Public Health Centre(PHCs), watershed development etc., using cable TV is envisaged by the panchayat. Finances for the entire initiative has come from within the panchayat itself.

Looking at the power of computers, children in these villages want to learn and so in schools computer training and simple usage of Microsoft Office is being taught.

See the power of transparency !! The Panchayat need not depend upon government and now with their own funds can bring in changes. This is exactly what once Mahatma Gandhi told -"The development of India must begin with Gram Swaraj".

References:
http://www.apnic.net/mailing-lists/s-asia-it/archive/2003/08/msg00018.html
http://www.stockholmchallenge.se/data/emergent_e_governance_eco
http://www.blonnet.com/2002/07/12/stories/2002071200861700.htm
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1911/19110440.htm

Burdwan(WB) becomes the first e-governed panchayat in India

Burdwan district in West Bengal has become the first district in India to have all its gram panchayat connected via broadband for communicating with district and taluk headquarters.

Burdwan has now all gram panchayats talking to each other, discussing issues common to all panchayats and local problems, etc. Burdwan district has 78% literacy (as per 2001 census). This is going to ensure that the benefits of e-governance will reach the masses.

While inaugurating the multi-crore project, the State Minister for Information Technology Debes Das stated that the new set up has connected all the 277 gram panchayats, 31 blocks, six sub-divisions of the district with its headquarters. Through this network, all panchayats can send and receive data, voice and video. The network is expected to help daily administrative work, locally and at the state-level. The project is an expansion of the existing State Wide Area Network (SWAN), a Union government initiative under National e-Governance plan (NeGP).

According to the reports,

The multi-point connectivity between the panchayats and the respective block-offices has been achieved using wireless data transfer technology that facilitated the completion of the project, Das said.

While the Webel ISP— a project of the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limite— has installed this infrastructure for the wireless transmission, a Kolkata-based company has provided the software for the video conferencing purpose.

“The software used in the project is independent of the computer operating system. Also, additional connections would not require readjustment of bandwidth. This makes the project cost effective,” Das said.

Imagine if all Gram Panchayats go this way, then this grass root revolution will reduce corruption in the country to a very great extent. This is what precisely both Mahatma Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi dreamt of.

This will happen because when AP and Karnataka started e-governance, it triggered a revolution in Maharashtra, Kerala and Gujarat. Now, one success story will spread - villages spread faster than cities. In India, both good and bad news spread like wildfire.

This e-governance will reduce corruption to negligible levels.

References:
http://www.i4donline.net/news/news-details.asp?catid=6&newsid=13476
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Burdwan-is-Indias-first-egoverned-panchayat-district/270587/

Why TamilNadu e-governance STAR has reduced, but not eliminated corruption

In my previous article, I had written categorically that e-governance project in TamilNadu has reduced the corruption, but not eliminated.

Supporting this view, I found a paper in MIT Journal online.

The author Radha Vasudevan clearly states that it is beyond doubt that the efficiency of Land Registration and Revenue Department has increased, but it has failed to reform its style of functioning. She says that all such services were made system centric rather than user centric.

In such a scenario, the real problem is despite such initiatives, the first time one goes to get documents registered, there are high chances that one has to bribe the official so that it is done and no delay is caused. But, once it is put into system, it becomes easy to get it next time whenever needed. It is here that it has reduced.

However, I feel eliminating corruption is something to do with how people -both citizens and officials look at themselves. For the first time when one goes to register documents, how can automation deliver results. Manual intervention is still required before ascertaining documents are valid. Because of such mechanisms, we can never get rid of corruption. That is far too much to expect unless people change their mindsets.

Let us at least feel happy that we have reduced the number of stages and frequency of dependency on corrupt government officials.

How e-governance is reducing corruption in TamilNadu

The only way we can drastically reduce corruption in our country is to reduce the stages of dependency of us (citizens) on government. For this, if government services are available at citizen's place, there would be very less dependency or need to go to government offices and bribe every single person from peon to the actual officer.

This e-governance which first must begin with automation of government tasks has now come a long way in TamilNadu and is increasingly becoming a role model to the entire country.

What is this? Electronics Corporation of TamilNadu Limited (ELCOT) is a state sponsored company headed by C.Umashankar, an efficient IAS officer who is credited with the achievement of making Thiruvarur taluk a fully automated e-governed place. It is the only fully computerised and automated e-governed place in India, where everything from land records to RTO or pensions are automated. Now, through automation - widows, old age people get their pensions directly credited through their bank accounts and need not visit government officers and bribe everyone. Thank you, Mr.Umashankar - I think Karnataka needs you badly. Hope that someone replicates your functioning style.


Noting this recognition, TamilNadu government asked him to lead ELCOT- a company fully owned by government, but run and managed by independent software programmers and IAS officers. Govt funds the company and company does implement all the projects. It is having full powers to implement e-governance projects.

ELCOT has completed the first phase of construction of TamilNadu State Wide Area Network (TNSWAN) along with HCL and TCS which provided the required hardware equipments and tasks ranging from digging cables to providing routers etc. The TNSWAN provides the connectivity backbone for the State over which voice, data, Internet, intranet and video conferencing services have been launched.

Now, TamilNadu has 708 points of presence (POPs) established all over the State linking the State headquarters to every district (31), taluk (395) and block headquarters (282). Offices located within POP have been given Wired and Wireless LAN connectivity.

Which means you have a connectivity of every village, taluk and block levels. With this in completion, ELCOT will deliver a host of Government to citizen services. 5440 centres of COmmon Citizen service kiosks will be developed and installed in every village.

Already 3 such kiosks have been inaugarated.

The departments/services which have almost completed computerization include: Land records, commercial taxes, registration, agriculture, food and civil supplies, health, panchayats, education, treasuries, municipalities, transport, employment, industries, social welfare, and secretariat.

Now these 5440 kioks and centers will provide G2C services - land records, registration, certificates, ration cards, electoral rolls and cards will be offered to citizens. Similarly business-to-citizen (B2C) services such as railway and bus ticketing, utility payments, online education, banking, insurance, agriculture, telemedicine etc. will also be offered through these centres.

Every such kiosk will have the first LINUX based Machines (like an ATM) developed indigenously with both English and Tamil interfaces.

Issue of land ownership certificates (Chitta extract and ‘A’ Register extract), birth/death certificates will now become easy as details can be filled either on the Internet sitting at home or going to these kiosks.

The open source softwares used are Suse Linux, Jasper Reports, JBOSS, Mozilla Thunderbird, Netbeans etc. All open source and hence has reduced the costs significantly. Consequently, ELCOT hires software programmers and trainers to teach government officials how to use and operate them.

Individual programmers working under ELCOT have developed several softwares. One of them is online property registration. Here the party which wants to register property will first enter all details of the property online, pay the registration fees, choose an appointment date and take a print out of the same. On the day given by the computer, one can go, show all documents get them registered. Yet another software developed is to issue Farmer ID cards with the help of government records and already 7 million such cards have been issued. They serve like an Identification Card. Of course, the next question would be can cloning or duplication of these cards be done? I am not too sure of this, but the step is much cleaner process than manually identifying a farmer as it exists today. I definitely am sure that hologram or some sort of anti-tempering technique will be used.

As an example of how corruption has come down drastically in the Land Revenue and Land records department is automation done in Chennai city. Now people in Chennai can go to any kiosk already set up in 20 Sub registrar office across the city or use internet at home to apply for Encumbrance Certificate (a certificate which causes delay and corruption in most states) by giving details of the property and paying the required fees. The output will be got within 5 minutes if used at a kiosk at Sub Registrar office as all land records have been computerized. Similarly, extracts of marriage certificates (if you need a certified copy), birth and death certificates, property evaluations (the kiosk contacts PostgreSql database which calculates the property value based on current market value) and several others can be got by just paying a meager Rs.15 or Rs.20. if you apply Online, the Encumbrance will be delivered to you by post only if courier charges are paid online. Similarly, the kiosk will also give you a list of government registered/licensed stamp vendors so that citizens can get the stamping done only at these authorized places so that fraud cases can reduce.

So, this way you avoid middlemen and brokers in most of the transactions. Of course, it has not eliminated corruption, it has reduced it dramatically. Now, for most part when citizens simply need documents, they need not go to Government offices, stand in lines, pay bribes at every counter. Of course, when the first time we register property or create such documents, do we have to bribe? Probably, yes, but at least once done we need not worry about getting it the next time. If the new transactions don't go into the database and as a result of which you don't get the records, then at least you will have some acknowledgment proof of transactions done. So, one can contest the claim. Hence, I feel this is not going to eliminate corruption, but definitely reduce it very much.

The first thing, however, we need to note here is the computerization of all government papers,ledgers, registers. In this direction, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Chhatisgarh are working at this. However, TamilNadu has an edge over all the other states in the country.

I thank Mr.Umashankar and TamilNadu government which has consistently supported him irrespective of DMK or AIADMK in power.

I am confident that technology, if used, in this manner can change the face of India and remove corruption which is continuing to plague the country. It's a long way to go, but if everyone starts, it will become a reality. This is sure to happen as even backward states such as Bihar have completed 20% automation of land records. This is a daunting and complex task because each state was ruled by different rulers and each state has a different land distribution and assessment method and parameters of land ownership.

References: Article 1,
Youtube video of ELCOT
Article 2 - The website of TamilNadu where forms are available for such services
Article3 - The website where request for Encumbrance certificate can be filled online

Good move by Chidambaram - Smart Cards to be used in PDS

It is interesting to see that finally Chidambaram woke up to automate the most corrupt and inefficient Public Distribution System (PDS) in the country. In other words, now with smart cards the officers at PDS will no longer maintain book/ledgers. These ledgers were often manipulated by government officers. For example, if a ration shop is given a tonne of rice by the Govt to distribute to the public, the officers would give only half of it to people and take the rest for themselves or sell it at higher prices in private. The ledger would still have one tonne given to people. Result - corruption and no proper reach of food grains to the needy.

Now with smart cards, there is going to be a photo of the candidate on the card and the card's chip will have details of how much grains were given and when. The consumer would now say the quantity, swipes the card, the corresponding quantity of item is weighed and once done the card has the entry of the amount given. Also, the inventory information in the store is deducted.

Now, all inventories of individual stores will be connected to a central server and just by click of a mouse, any central government officer can generate reports of how much food grains has reached where and how much more is needed.

This is a transparent and efficient way to give credibility to Public Distribution System which is drowned in corruption and malpractices.

The smart card would have all details of the consumer. This has been launched on a pilot basis in Chandigarh. Within a year, it will be replicated across the country. But for this there needs to be computerisation of ration cards. This has been more or less completed in Chandigarh. So, it will be the test bed. Let us not forget - there is another aspect. The government needs to train people how they are going to use such a card. But I am sure once developed, Govt will tie up with private companies to do the same. Even illiterate people can make use of it without much hassle and so hope it's going to help.

The smart card industry is very happy about this. This was announced by Chidambaram.

Good going, Mr Chidambaram...You seem to be working very actively to solve the PDS problem. This idea was mooted by Wipro.

Here's the link for the article

Hope this is successful. It will change the PDS and will ensure 6.52 crore families from 4.89 lakh PDS outlets will get food grains.

Country's largest e-governance rural connectivity project completed

In what is known as the country's largest e-governance rural connectivity program, Airtel was roped in by Narendra Modi to connect 8500 villages via VSAT so that video conferencing can be done. This has been completed and announced by Airtel. The E-gram project of this kind is the largest completed so far at the rural level.

As per this scheme, now video conferencing can be used to educate farmers, tell them about weather patterns etc via a centralized server beamed through Satellite. Iswariya and Galkotdi Gram Panychayat had a video conferencing with Modi to test the same. It is successful. Modi has asked Airtel to connect all 18,065 villages.

Click here for the article

Modi did a good job by roping in private company so that it is done at a quick pace. Now, Haryana and Punjab have asked Airtel to do the same.

This gives Airtel a good business and at the same time villages are benefited.

Of course, the real benefit will come only when villages have electricity. Gujarat has all its villages electrified under Jyotigram scheme - a scheme already under intense appreciation by economists across the country.

Already Modi addresses statewide public grievances via broadband from several places sitting in Gandhinagar. University of Manchester has designed the same and it is called S.W.A.G.A.T (Statewide Attention of grievances by Application of Technology).

Let's hope this spreads to across all villages in India.