In less than two years, over two lakh electronically processed and digitally signed certificates have been issued through a network of 315 Pragya Kendras in rural and urban Ranchi, including those set up at RIMS, sadar and military hospitals. This is the highest number of digital certificates issued in an Indian district.
Principal consultant and head of state e-governance mission team Manojit Bose told The Telegraph that Ranchi got the e-India 2013 award in the category of “usage of ICT (information and communication technology) in rural development”. The other two e-India award categories are using ICT in health and education.
Ranchi got the award in Hyderabad International Convention Centre on Tuesday, Day One of the two-day e-India Governance Summit (Governance for Emerging India).
In Jharkhand, the e-project kicked off in 2011 — the Centre gave the state Rs 319.69 lakh — with Ranchi as a pilot district. Inaugurated by former chief minister Arjun Munda, it started on September 13, 2011, from Arsandey panchayat in Kanke block.
At present, e-district services cater to issuing online certificates of death, birth, caste, income, proof of address, among others.
It means that for Ranchi residents, each Pragya Kendra works as a one-stop for certificates, cutting numerous trips to collectorate or block offices.
“Around 10 nominations from various states have reportedly come for this award but our winning it is a matter of great pride. It is all due to the sustained efforts of Ranchi deputy commissioner Vinay Kumar Choubey and state IT secretary N.N. Sinha,” said Bose.
“Our success is all about teamwork, which makes us truly happy recipients of this award. We started from Ground Zero and built infrastructure from scratch,” said Choubey.
Bose, who agreed with Choubey, said: “The reason why Ranchi won over others is for the simple reason that compared to other affluent states, we literally had to work our way up from nothing. In technical terms, it’s called reverse engineering. Most importantly, other states restricted e-services to blocks, but we went ahead with Pragya Kendras in every nook and cranny of Ranchi district.”
He added real challenges became evident on the ground.
“There were areas with no electricity, forget broadband. But the district administration was quick to respond to these challenges by putting up transformers, wi-max for BSNL broadband and so on. We managed to train over 1,000 panchayat sewaks to digitally sign and deliver certificates,” said Bose.
The IT department is now set to expand e-district mission in other parts of the state. Twenty-three districts already have their respective e-governance societies.
Have you or anyone you know received any digital certificate?
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Autor(en)/Author(s): A.S.R.P. Mukesh
Quelle/Source: The Calcutta Telegraph, 24.07.2013
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