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    Application of IT in Administration (e-Governance)

    Best Practice Document from

    Government of Chhattisgarh

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    Abstract The newly formed State of Chhattisgarh is endowed with natural resources

    like forest, mineral resources, flora and fauna, wide range of crops and cropping patterns,and rich cultural diversity. The population of Chhattisgarh is divided in 16 districts with

    98 tehsils and 20379 revenue villages. The geographical area of Chhattisgarh comprises

    1, 35,000 sq km with a population of 20.80 Million and density of 154 persons/ sq km

    with a decennial growth of 18%. The percentage of rural population is around 80%; andthe percentage of SC and ST population is 12% and 32%, respectively total amounting to

    44.6% and the total literacy rate is 65%. Infrastructure in the state was very poor and

    large portion of the population living below poverty line. In this background the CHOiCE

    project was conceived.

    Presently, more than 30 G2C and numerous G2B secured services for all the

    requirements of citizen are being provided. CHOiCE project works on Public Private

    Partnership (PPP) model with the help of private persons appointed as CHOiCE agents.Conceptually and technologically, it is one of the most advanced projects in the sphere of

    eGovernance in India. The project has been successfully rolled out in the city of Raipur

    and now will be rolled out in the remaining parts of the State.

    Milestones:

    The application software has been developed on Linux and other OpenSource technologies. It is perhaps the biggest Open Source

    eGovernance project in the country

    Digital workflow of documents from one office to another. The project is first of the sort in the country to use three level security

    which includes bio-metric authentications and digital signatures For the first time in the country, Private Citizens (CHOiCE Agents)

    have been notified as Public Servants under IT Act thereby enabling

    them to process government documents

    Robust Application Software which has been tested for 3000concurrent users

    The project is IT Act 2000 compliant and provides legal validity to itselectronic transactions.

    More than 75,000 certificates already approved.Impact:

    Availability of 24x7 online Government Services Created employment opportunities for the citizens of Chhattisgarh

    State.

    Improved the efficiency and efficacy of Government Officers Capturing of data at CHOiCE Centres has enabled departments to

    allocate more time for efficient Service Delivery.

    Drastically reduced the application processing time from days tominutes

    Curtailed the waiting time for certain documents from 15-20 days tojust 1-2 days

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    Instant MIS reports for planning, budgeting, monitoring & evaluation Instant identification of delay points has enabled prompt

    administrative action

    Definite reduction in corruption Increase in transparency and accountability of the government

    The CHOiCE project has been appreciated as one of the most effective measure for

    simplifying procedures, government process reengineering, and enhancing accountability

    with aim of improving public service delivery, with right mix of technology.

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    CHOCE(CHhattisgarh Online information for Citizen Empowerment)

    The newly formed State of Chhattisgarh is endowed with natural resources like forest,

    mineral resources, flora and fauna, wide range of crops and cropping patterns, and rich

    cultural diversity. The population of Chhattisgarh is divided in 16 districts with 98 tehsilsand 20379 revenue villages. The geographical area of Chhattisgarh comprises of 1,

    35,000 sq km with a population of 20.80 Million and density of 154 persons/ sq km with

    a decennial growth of 18%. The percentage of rural population is around 80%; and thepercentage of SC and ST population is 12% and 32%, respectively total amounting to

    44.6% and the total literacy rate is 65%. Infrastructure in the state was very poor and

    large portion of the population living below poverty line. In this background, the

    CHOiCE project was conceived. The main aim for the state was putting in place a set of

    effective system for simplifying procedure, accessing information and enhancing

    accountability with aim of improving public service delivery.

    CHOiCE is an acronym for CHhattisgarh Online nformation for Citizen Empowerment.

    It is an e-Governance initiative based on an objective to deliver government services and

    information to the public/ citizen, using electronic delivery channels. The CHOiCE

    business model is based on equal participation of both the government officials and

    private players. CHOiCE is a One Stop Window for all government services as it is

    integrated with all the government departments like Municipality, District Collectorate,Urban Development Authority, Panchayat, Rural Development Department & Social

    Welfare Department, Public welfare Department, Education Department, Health

    Department, Electricity Dept, Police Department and many more.

    The purpose of this CHOiCE project is to set expectations for quality and excellence in

    the state government services to citizens. This facilitates transactions with citizens and

    businesses, and enables the internal state governmental operations / functions through the

    strategic deployment of information technologies, and has concentrated focus on theopportunities of the information and communication technologies.

    1. Citizen centricity & User convenienceChhattisgarh State with wide-ranging socio-economic

    disparities is now witnessing the ongoing Information

    Technology (IT) revolution. The Government of Chhattisgarh

    visions 'Vikas mool mantra, Aadhar loktantra' ('DrivingDevelopment through Democratic Governance') and believes

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    in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which is particularly an important

    medium for the state in reaching out and improving livelihoods specially for itsoverwhelming SC / ST population across 44% forest area, which has largely remained

    untouched by modern development.

    The State of Chhattisgarh recognizes the importance ofInformation and Communication Technology as a key

    enabler for its economic development and to improve the

    quality of life. CHOiCE provides anywhere, anytime

    solutions for secured services for all the requirements of thecitizens. This comprehensive solution deals with online

    disbursement of Government services to the citizens as it

    covers buckeye of 142 services (G2C, G2B and G2G) which include issuance of

    certificates, electronic payment, information on schemes, MIS etc. The system has beendesigned with citizen requirement at the centre for its requirement for information,

    certificate or tax payment. CHOiCE is presently being operated in Raipur and would be

    rolled out in the remaining districts of the State.

    CHOiCE is electronically solving all the Citizen Service processes of Government

    Departments which was done manually in the past. The scope of the project mainlyincludes Registration, Approval, Certificate Generation, intemation and Report

    Generation Process. The system also has provision for back data entry, status inquiry of

    the application and maintaining Electronic Register. The systems are also implemented at

    relevant places such as for the registration of birth or death - at Government Hospital /

    Private Hospital / Nursing Home, at the CHOiCE Centers (Authorized Citizen Services

    Center) from where Notified Citizen Services are provided by a CHOiCE Agent, at

    Municipal Corporation, Collectorate, Development Authority, Police Head Quarter etc.

    All the centers where CHOiCE is installed maintain good ambience, courteous service by

    centre agent. Each CHOiCE agent has been registered in the state server at Mantralaya

    with the User Name & Password, Biometric thumb impression, and Class III digital

    signature (created in a smart card)

    2. Stakeholder consultationCHOiCE has two authorized committees- the project directing

    committee and the project steering committee to carry out theproject and for any consultation with relation to the stake

    holders. The Project Directing committee is headed by district

    collector and the Project Steering committee is headed by the

    Secretary Urban administration. All the stake holder

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    departments such as Panchyat, Education etc. have their representatives in these

    committees. Even the agents are invited in the meetings of these committees for theirfeedback.

    The main functions of committee chaired by the district collectors as Project Director are:

    1. Coordinate various activities between govt. departments / agencies / bodies,CHiPS, CHOiCE agents and other stake holders in the project.

    2. Review progress of utilization of CHOiCE services by various departments.3. Issue orders etc for effective implementation of CHOiCE.4. Appoint CHOiCE Agents for setting up of CHOiCE centres.5. Execute Agreement with CHOiCE agent.6. Publicise CHOiCE services offered & CHOiCE agents.7. Monitor the performance of CHOiCE centers through MIS reports/other

    mechanism and issue periodic guidelines / instruction on the same.

    8. Ensure a fair and transparent system at CHOiCE centers including handling ofcash, sharing of revenue, display of services with rate list etc.

    9. Any other issue pertaining to implementation of CHOiCE in the respectivedistricts.

    The main functions of the state Project Steering Committee are:

    1. To monitor the implementation and usage of CHOiCE services.2. To take decision with regard to effective implementation of CHOiCE services.3. To decide on time frame for sunset on manual procedure.4. To decide on further inclusion of services under CHOiCE project.5. To coordinate between various stakeholders at State level.

    Technological parameters are observed by the technical committee on

    Technological parameter environmental change and forerunners of the technologychange Substance of such technology changes as well as report and identify possible

    consequences

    Measure and observe the speed and direction of the new technology Time frame and future roadmaps of new technology change

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    3. User convenience including access points, ease of use etcCitizens can access G2C services through Kiosks, which are

    being operated by private agents, or through other designated

    help centers at government offices. The administrators and

    operators of the system are registered through the system, andtheir fingerprints are captured for biometric identification.

    When a user wants to apply for a certificate, the operator logs

    into the system using his user ID/ password and gives his

    fingerprint for identification. He fills out the required

    certificate details on behalf of the requestor and the digital signature is captured using a

    private key that is stored in the Smart Cards available with each operator. These detailsare then submitted to an approving authority, based on certain conditions where in the

    person approves/rejects the certificate request. Once the certificate is approved, it is

    delivered to the applicant via various delivery channels like kiosk, snail mail and byregistered post. The notification about the status of application is provided though SMS

    over legacy handset, through Internet or by an e-mail message.

    The approval of the application is done at the Government offices like Municipal

    Corporation. The Certificate is generated from CHOiCE Center only. The key business

    processes in the system for user convenience are:

    Registration Process Forwarding Process Approval Process Certificate Printing Process MIS Report Generation Process

    4. Cost to userThe cost incurred for the user to use the services provided

    by CHOiCE ,the government of Chhattisgarh exercises the

    powers conferred under section 90 read with section 6 of the

    Information Technology Act, 2000 (No. XXI of 2000).It has

    made rules to carry out Electronic Governance with respectto the Notified Citizen Services to provide any appointment,functions, regulation and liabilities of Authorised Citizen

    Services Agents; and to provide incidental or related matters thereto.

    The service charge for the Notified Citizen Services involving not more than one page

    each of application or the appropriate desired document, the charges to citizen are limited

    to Rs15/- to be made at the time of making application and Rs.5/- at the time of printingthe certificate. For Information Services and Public Grievance Redress Services, the

    charges are Rs.10/- and for using application status enquiry services through these agents

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    Rs. 2/- needs to be paid by the citizens. For each additional document the agents are

    authorized to charge Rs.2/- extra.

    5. Payment Gateway integration for bill collectionThis comprehensive system which integrates most of thegovernment services under one roof enables payment possible

    either by e-Payments through direct debit mechanism or with

    one check for several bills.

    CHOiCE agents and Utility (e.g. Raipur Municipal

    Corporation, Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board, Bharat Sanchar Nigam etc) has current

    account at banks. On payment for a service, by a citizen to the CHOiCE agent, the state

    server attempts to check the balance available in his account with the bank. Only ifsufficient balance is available the transaction is allowed, otherwise the transaction isdenied. The bank has to allow web transactions from the state server at the Mantralaya

    for debit of the CHOiCE agent account and simultaneous credit of the respective utility

    account. Periodical statements of such transactions would be forwarded to the bank,

    Utilities and CHOiCE agents through e-mailas required by them for reconciliation.

    6. Citizen charterMajority of the states population is dependent uponagriculture and forest for their basic livelihood. Despite

    significant bottlenecks of limited access to market related

    information, monsoon forecasts, government schemes,

    information on modern farming practices, etc agriculture andforest contribute significantly to the State's income. The ICTs

    has the potential to significantly improve this contribution. Indoing so, the government of Chhattisgarh seeks to create an IT environment in the state

    wherein investments in IT are not only encouraged but actively facilitated.

    'CHOiCE' is not just an acronym for CHhattisgarh Online information system for Citizen

    Empowerment but it equally stands for the choices available for citizens to avail all the

    services from public offices with care, courtesy and utmost ease. CHOiCE centres

    provide a wide range of services including connectivity, information, IT education, e-governance and e-commerce. The government has entered into Agreements with private

    entrepreneurs to establish such Centres. The private entrepreneurs are provided with

    commercial loans or even State-sponsored bank loans such as Pradhan Mantri Rojgar

    Yojna. This is having an overwhelming response as CHOiCE Centres' are now

    considered as one stable employment means for unemployed youth.

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    7. Adherence to SLAWhen any comprehensive system like CHOiCE has to

    function smoothly, adherence to SLA is imperative. Since,

    the entire work flow has been automated , the SLA is citizen

    centric and is machine driven. The time frame is based on

    the manual work flow of the citizens and is periodicallyreviewed by the steering committee for further time

    crunching. The state server controls the work flow and time

    for redressal of an application by individual official. If the same is not taken care within

    the time frame, this is up-scaled to the next higher level by the machine. If suchexceptions are repeated, machine send alert message to the concerned Secretary and evento concerned minister and HCM of the state, who are the super users of the system,

    which mean they can view, review or audit any or all applications, processes or functions

    involved.

    8. Problem resolution and exception handlingThe project directing committee and the project steeringcommittee are responsible for operational and policy related

    problem resolution respectively. Department of law vet the

    legal aspect and concerned department head help thecommittee to finalize the automated work flow. All exception

    arising out of the work flow automation or process reengineering are reviewed andappropriately handled by this committee.

    The technology team of CHiPS along with M/s CMC and other vendors are responsible

    for problem related to new technology and the obsolescence are determined on the basis

    the certification of the original manufacturer(s).

    New and unfamiliar technological problems- Inclusion of functionalities like modalities

    for electronic payments, operation of CHOiCE kiosks and franchisees, Hindi language

    solution, biometric security, server site preparation, help centre and disaster recovery,besides modification of software requirements in terms of interfaces (such as drivers for

    the printers etc) for software being separately developed without any effect on the total

    cost of the project, is the responsibility of the system integrator M/s CMC by the research

    facility provided at its centre at Hyderabad.

    New nature of work and outside the experience for both planners and project team-Since the nature of this project is unique and no previous case was available and the

    project involved a bulk of process re-engineering, the technical team involved was given

    a platform to bring the matters to the project steering committee with possible

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    technological alternatives. Strategy adopted was to avoid knee jerk alternatives to

    incremental change.

    For example while automating birth registration initially it was registration of live birth

    cases which were less than 48 hrs old, than 21 days old and now the process will graduate

    to more than 21 days old registration cases. This incremental adoption ensured that theadoption of technology was easy and change management / problem handling was never

    a big issue.

    Project magnitude- CHOiCE project is one of the largest e-governance projects

    conceived using open source technology. This was also a challenge for the technical team

    involved in the project. The entire planning on the technological front was for choice oftechnology which was adoptive, stable, scalable and expandable. The hard ware

    architecture was such that the cost is clearly fixed or one time plus variable depending on

    the scale of operation. One of the examples is the way server side hardware was selectedwherein chassis and minimum processors are initially selected and depending upon

    transactions the additional cards are added. Similarly the software architecture is againcentralized and browser based and flexible enough to add more process.

    9. Privacy & Security policyAs per the State's IT Policy, the CHOiCE has been designed to

    achieve the Governments vision of creating an 'e'nabledSociety effectively contributing to the Social and Economic

    Development of the State, where there are no islands of elitismor isolated conclaves of wisdom. The state seeks to create a

    knowledge society where access to information and

    knowledge would be symmetric amongst all seekers and users and every citizen must feel

    comfortable in accessing information through IT directly or through public - private

    partnerships.

    Accordingly, the State has envisioned this project with a view of establishing aninformation society consisting of informed, active and therefore responsible citizens

    which is the basic tenet of a true democracy. It seeks to provide all citizens, a widespreadand easy access to government services, in the local language by effectively addressing

    the existing digital divide and by promoting entrepreneurs.

    CHOiCE agents appointed by the concerned district collector work as notary and

    extension of government office as per rules framed under IT Act 2000. Theseentrepreneurs working as CHOiCE agents receive applications from citizen, payments

    (both in cash and draft/cheque) for government and upload it to state server. Once sender

    (agent) sends an application, forwarder (reader or concern clerk) scrutinizes the electronic

    content and forwards it to Approving Authority. The beauty of the system is there are no

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    manual movement of papers i.e the entire work flow is electronic. All attachments are

    scanned and entire approvals are digitally approved through digital signature as per ITAct. All system users have three level of authentication user name password, biometric

    identification and digital signature on smart card. All communication are encrypted to

    128bit and the system is protected by fire wall, IDS and network is managed by NMS.

    10.InnovationCHOiCE has already been rolled out in Raipur, the capital city

    of Chhattisgarh state. The government established 29

    CHOiCE centers throughout the city, where citizens can apply

    for a birth certificate or shop license, register complaints,

    lodge police reports, and pay water, electricity, and propertytax bills etc. among many other services.

    The CHOiCE system, which utilizes an Oracle Database on the Sun Solaris operating

    system, was integrated with the back-end applications of 10 government departments.The Robust authentication features were to ensure the security of all the confidential

    information. The system also supports interactive voice response (IVR) capabilities and

    cell phone text messaging. The project uses state of the art technology with digitalsignatures and biometric security devices.

    From the technology point of view, this is one of the largest

    system, which has been developed using the open sourcetechnologies. The system is being designed to be used by thirty

    thousand named users and three thousand concurrent users

    spread across the states while already thirty five thousand

    numbers of transactions has been clocked. Linux 9.0 available,

    under Fedora core group still free / open has been selected.

    JBoss application server is used for event notification system (J2EE based open source

    application server). Java for Apache Turbine, and Apache Velocity was used for

    developing n-tier application, which is Java based Apache open source frame work.

    Entire development of CHOiCE is on Open Source Technology which is platformindependent, based on n-tier architecture which supports the following:

    1. Runs in Linux environment;2. Localization (Unicode) support (Hindi);3. Authentication framework through Biometric (Fingerprint) devices;4. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) along with smart card for Privacy, Authenticity,

    Integrity & Non-repudiation;

    5. It supports MVC (Module View Controller) architecture using Velocity Turbineframework.

    6. Payment gateway Support for Payment Services.

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    7. IVRS implementation for Status Inquiry.The application is portable enough on Thin Client on Linux environment along with

    biometrics, PKI & smart card.

    11.e-Inclusione-Government Road Map

    Chhattisgarh is the first State in India which is strategically

    developing an IT Road Map. The task of framing an

    eGovernment Road Map has been initiated in order toidentify the various IT needs and priorities of the

    departments.

    In phase one of the e-Governance Road Map, the Vision, Strategy and Blueprint were

    prepared. A series of meetings with various departments were held as a part of the vision.The second round of meetings with the departments has been conducted as a part ofstrategy.

    The Phase two and Phase three of the e-Governance Road Map deals with e-Governance

    Program and the Ecosystem which would be taken up subsequently.

    12.Sustainability

    Any IT solution is successful only when it is sustainable with a

    wide range of audience and so is CHOiCE. Though CHOiCE is

    intended to serve the purpose of the general public and addressall the services very efficiently, it is sustainable because it is

    indirectly enabling all the government dignitaries at various

    levels to be abreast with the latest technology and thus in-turn is

    also helping them to erase their fears of loosing their jobs to the tech savvy generation.

    13.Efficiency enhancementThis definition encompasses the widespread trend towards

    "better" government, the main aims of which are greater

    efficiency (i.e. lower cost for higher public value added) and

    "higher quality" public services.

    The traditional way to access government services requirescitizens to visit the relevant office and lodge their applicationsor make a payment. The large manual workflow leads to

    lengthy processing delays and makes it difficult to determine the status of an application.

    The lack of an audit trail leaves the state government exposed to allegations of

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    corruption. To address all these and also to reform or modernize public services,

    CHOiCE has been designed as a solution for all citizen needs. It is implemented on

    decentralised PPP model where any private person with requisite infrastructure andqualification can be declared as CHOiCE agent. Back-end processes of Governmentfunctioning has been completely automated and there is no paper transaction at all.

    Movement of documents is also on electronic mode. For the first time in country, Private

    Citizens have been notified as Public Servants under IT Act. This enables CHOiCE

    agents to process Government documents.

    14.Cost effectivenessTraining Cost effectiveness: The mantra for introduction of

    IT in Government in this project was to ensure that

    educated investment is incurred on intensive training of its

    personnel. A scheme of incentives was introduced to

    motivate all the Government employees to become

    computer proficient. NISG (National Institute for SmartGovernment) and other leading institutes have been identified as organizations to help'Train the trainer' to create a resource pool within the state for this e-governance

    initiatives. So far more than 4000 employees and officials have been trained.

    Technology Cost Effectiveness: The application software has been developed on LINUX

    and other Open Source technologies. It is perhaps the biggest Open Source eGovernanceproject in the country. This ensures that for cost towards procurement of licenses are kept

    at minimum. It is implemented on decentralised PPP model where any private person

    with requisite infrastructure and qualification can be declared as CHOiCE agent. The

    whole software solution is developed on n-tier architecture with presentation layer on

    web base. It is therefore the cost is lowest for any vertical or horizontal ramp up. Further

    the cost of deploying front end equipment and license is also minimum because of PPPmodel and web presentation layer.

    Operating Cost Effectiveness: CHOiCE is widely regarded as a key facilitator of greater

    efficiency of the government. Its objective is to use information and communicationtechnology, combined with organizational change and new skills to improve public

    services and increase democratic participation thus enabling public policy making.

    Ideally, transformation occurs jointly at the government and the local level. The impact

    depends not only on technology, but also on organizational resources and strategic vision.

    As part of the CHOiCE project, the Chhattisgarh State Government has re-engineered

    critical processes of citizen delivery, streamlined and automated the workflow for

    maximum efficiency.

    These effective deployments of the technologies offer numerous benefits as follows:

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    The cost for both businesses and governments has reduced, cutting the processtime and boosting competitiveness.

    The government processes has been made more open and transparent, thereforedelivering governments services more comprehensibly and making the officials

    more accountable to citizens,

    The administration made more citizen-centered and inclusive, providingpersonalized services to everyone, irrespective of their circumstances or specialneeds.

    Less cost for horizontal and vertical scale up of the project spread.

    15.Capacity building & Organisational sustainabilityChhattisgarh is aggressively taking strides in conducting

    capacity building and organizational sustainability exercises for

    its government employees. The initiatives on capacity building

    focus not only the top most layer of the administrative

    machinery pyramid i.e. the political executive but also the

    humble class IV employees of the Government. In a veryambitious IT training programme, all the Government officialsincluding the political executives, senior bureaucrats and various classes of Governmentemployees including class IV are trained.

    A very important feature witnessed by the implementation of the CHOiCE project in thestate has been attitudinal change amongst Service Officers and citizens. Now, several

    government functionaries from different departments are collectively working on the

    same network to service citizens in an integrated fashion. This activity is changing

    attitudes of government administrators, who earlier suffered from apathy and low morale

    in their work. It was imperative for the success of the project that the staff becameemotionally involved in the project. The strategy is to send home the message that the

    individuals selected for CHOiCE have a very special responsibility on them that of

    taking the state to the next millennium. The self-esteem and image of the workers went

    up substantially, as they now perceive themselves as computer professionals working in

    an excellent environment.The citizen attitude towards the government has also changed as a result of an increased

    sense of trust and reciprocity developing between citizens and the state. With CHOiCE,

    the government is seen as being providing a reasonable level of service without

    corruption.

    In order to increase the capacity of the college students, e-Class room has been rolled out.

    For the benefit of school children, a very ambitious program of creating Centre of

    Excellence for imparting education of each of the district headquarters is being in an

    advanced stage. This Centre of Excellence will have the 60 seated state-of-art laboratory

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    for imparting IT education for school children. The following are the landmarks of

    capacity building.

    Basic Computer Training to all Classes of Employees Basic Computer Training to MLA's Workshops on Specialized IT areas to the State Cabinet Specialized training programmes to employees Participation in Conferences / Seminars / Fairs

    16.AccountabilitySecurity of data and transaction is of prime importance in

    any citizen centric services. Especially in our country,

    citizens traditionally have been very skeptical of suchservices and are not coming forward to use them. To assail

    their fears, CHOiCE uses two levels of security in all the

    CHOiCE centers, the operator has to authenticate/ validate

    with finger prints and the person is allowed to sign only after the finger print matches.Secondly, the operator is provided with a digital certificate on a smart cart which can be

    used for each and every transaction. The PKI infrastructure is used to avoid any fraudsand to ensure smooth transaction of the whole process.

    The system also has built in reports and alerts enabling the senior management/officials

    to monitor the progress and to look for any bottlenecks in the system so as to takeimmediate remedial action.

    17. Appropriate DelegationThe government delegates appropriate work for promoting

    CHOiCE in two ways. The first one is that CHOiCE project has

    created employment opportunities for the citizens of Chhattisgarh

    state. Any citizen can apply to become a CHOiCE agent. The

    agent is solely responsible for the smooth operation of the center.With this model the government has substantially reduced the

    hardware & services cost in delivering these services as the CHOiCE agent is expected to

    set up his own service center and is paid a commission based on the services. In the long

    run these centers would be leveraged to deliver more and more services to the citizens.

    The other way is to have one platform where all the websites of State & Local

    Government will be linked to create a comprehensive State portal. This is an interactive

    portal for all kinds of Government Citizen (G2C) transactions. The State Governmentprovides all citizens with multi-purpose Smart cards for various G2C applications. These

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    are open for use in e-commerce applications by private service providers. Video-

    conferencing too provides seamless access to people living in the remote areas.

    18.End Note-The scope of leveraging IT to improve governance is immense and using Chhattisgarh

    example to illustrate the level of enterprise being demonstrated for breaking new ground.

    The mix of technology, process re-engineering and change management achieved by

    CHOiCE: the Chhattisgarh On-Line Information for Citizen Empowerment under which,

    the private citizen (CHOiCE agents) have been notified as public servants to provide a

    spectrum of services, is one of the pen picture of todays prevailing spirit of

    administrative innovation.

    Excerpts from one communication to all Chief

    Secretary of States fromCabinet Secretary GOI