Life-Line to Citizen (LL2C)

Public Statement of Personal Adhesion to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption

2011-12-29T17:56:00.000-08:00

I the undersigned, am concerned about the seriousness of the problems and threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of my society, daily undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice, while also compromising the perception of the rule of law in my Country;

I am also concerned about the implications of the ties, which we all know to exist, between corruption and other forms of crime; particularly with organized crime and money laundering;

Moreover, I am concerned about the cases of corruption that have multiplied and penetrated many sectors of my society, consuming a substantial proportion of public resources, and resulting in the growing indignation of society, in direct threat to the political stability and the sustainable development of my country;

I am convinced that impunity for cases of illicit acquisition of personal wealth can be particularly damaging to the credibility of democratic institutions and to the national economic order;

It is a fact that corruption is no longer considered a local problem; it is accepted to be a multidisciplinary human phenomenon that affects all societies and economies, imposing the urgent need of creating a large network of international cooperation formed by individuals, associations, organizations, and governments, willing to prevent it and fight against it every day;

I have decided to collaborate with all those who strive for the establishment of official mechanisms and the enactment of laws that can prevent, detect, and deter corruption in a more effective manner; along with internal money laundering, andthe international transfers of illicitly acquired assets. I am also in favor of national and international summary proceedings for the seizing of such assets to recover these diverted funds;

I am aware of the fact that local legislation, as well as international laws, impose to the Government of my Country an obligation to trigger actions for the prevention and eradication of corruption in all of its departments, which, to be successful, must count on the support and direct participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations;

I am also aware of the principles of proper management of public affairs and public assets, of fairness, responsibility and equality before the law, as well as the need to safeguard and strengthen the integrity of democratic institutions, thereby fostering, in my Country, a culture of rejection to corruption;

I hereby agree to personally accept, endorse and support the decision of my country of joining the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, thereby forcing all subsequent governments to adopt, within the limits of their possibilities, all efforts required to promote the active participation of the entire society in preventing and combating corruption;

But considering that, regrettably, none of the governments that followed the decision of my country to join UNCAC, strictly complied with their obligation to include and integrate the community in the fight against corruption and have not performed their duty, in accordance with the same instrument, of raising public awareness of the causes of and the severity of corruption, having thus failed to alert everyone to the threat that it poses;

And so, we must consider this lack of integration of society as the main cause of the failure we have experienced in combating corruption in my Country since 1995. It is imperative to demand from the federal authorities from Government and from the Legislative Power the immediately production of a triggering information campaign throughout the country, aiming at fostering, in a simple and transparent fashion, collective awareness of the seriousness of corruption in my Country, through all means of mass communication, conferences and workshops, school programs, universities, unions, associations, etc.;

Thus, by joining UNCAC my country has accepted – before its people and before other nations – to promote social participation in decision making with regard to combating corruption. That is why we must impose to the government of my country the immediate establishment of a truly participatory and democratic management system to fight corruption, since this is globally accepted as one of the key weapons in this fight;

Considering also that this integration between government and society can only occur as a result of a transparent process of national understanding, backed up by media coverage and collaboration, in which voting mechanisms of direct democracy can be used in cases that do not reach a consensus, or even to confirm the existence of a prevailing consensus, this is the only way that citizens have to have an active voice in decision making, without political demagogy, thereby allowing them to exercise popular sovereignty, through plebiscites and referenda ;

Taking into account the fact that, above all, the only known and proven formula for a legal act to gain commitment and support from the entire society for its satisfactory implementation, is to publicly discuss its format, and, after its approval by the Legislative Power, submit it to society for approval through a citizen referendum;

And, finally, considering that to gain indispensable popular consent and support, the proposed measures must establish no time limits to investigatecorruption crimes, thereby increasing the efficiency of investigative mechanisms, while also restricting the freedom and privileges of those involved in such scams, seizing their assets, freezing their accounts, and applying more severe penalties – i.e.: treating corruption as a heinous crime;

These are the reasons I have personally joined UNCAC, for I realize that, beyond the merits in the fight against corruption, the Convention also provides me with an opportunity to help with a breakthrough for democracy in my country by means of establishing, as a legal requirement, the mandatory direct participation of the entire society in the formulation of public policies to combat corruption, as guarantee of further popular support in the implementation and execution of such policies, which should be valid also for all other acting fronts of the Nation.

Thus, considering the power of the decision of the majority as the greatest of all democratic powers – and axiomatic principle and prerequisite of democracy, expressed in many constitutions as “popular sovereignty”, or source from which all government ramifications emanate – I hereby DECLARE, to whom it may concern, that I am fully convinced of the need for immediate integration of the public in all stages of the fight against corruption, starting with the development of a shared public policy, from the drawing up of laws and the enforcement of actions to be taken to the subsequent monitoring of the implementation of such measures, whose success will only be guaranteed if ultimately approved by society, thereby legitimizing a national pact against corruption.

In accordance to the above-stated facts and fully exercising my rights as a citizen, I have constantly demanded from the government and the Congress in my country the immediate fulfillment of their institutional obligations, under penalty of prevarication, to fulfill the promise of immediately including my society in the fight against corruption and, to the best of their abilities, sponsor and conduct public education programs in schools and universities, and symposia and seminars in associations and unions. In short; to carry out all required activities of public information to foster in society a collective sense of intolerance toward corruption.

IN FULL CONFORMITY with this public statement, I hereby endorse it with my personal commitment to the UN Convention Against Corruption, in order to fight for the timely and full implementation of its regulations, especially with regard to the implementation of Article 13 of this Convention, with certainty that I am contributing to the peace and the progress of my Country.

http://www.qualicidade.org.br/adesao/public-statement-of-personal-adhesion-to-the-united-nations-convention-against-corruption/

UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION

Preamble

The States Parties to this Convention,

Concerned about the seriousness of problems and threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of societies, undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardizing sustainable development and the rule of law, Concerned also about the links between corruption and other forms of crime, in particular organized crime and economic crime, including money laundering,

Concerned further about cases of corruption that involve vast quantities of assets, which may constitute a substantial proportion of the resources of States, and that threaten the political stability and sustainable development of those States,

Convinced that corruption is no longer a local matter but a transnational phenomenon that affects all societies and economies, making international cooperation to prevent and control it essential,

Convinced also that a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach is required to prevent and combat corruption effectively,

Convinced further that the availability of technical assistance can play an important role in enhancing the ability of States, including by strengthening capacity and by institution-building, to prevent and combat corruption effectively,

Convinced that the illicit acquisition of personal wealth can be particularly damaging to democratic institutions, national economies and the rule of law,

Determined to prevent, detect and deter in a more effective manner international transfers of illicitly acquired assets and to strengthen international cooperation in asset recovery, Acknowledging the fundamental principles of due process of law in criminal proceedings and in civil or administrative proceedings to adjudicate property rights....

Anti-bribery integrity pledge

2011-10-09T04:32:00.000-07:00

Anti-bribery integrity pledge

Recognising that integrity is fundamental, I as a committed citizen, will strive to serve my country and the world and its people with respect, dignity and integrity, and consistent with the values and principles of the Constitution.

I commit myself to set an example through ethical conduct for the furtherance of integrity and good governance and to report all corruption and other forms of unethical practice that I am aware of.

I will not give or take bribe or support bribery in any form. I will not accept or offer any advantage, gifts or benefits that might be seen to prejudice my position or lead to conflicts of interest.

I am prepared to explain honestly and be accountable for my actions when dealing with all spheres of society. Therefore, my actions will be transparent. I have declared my assets and assets of my immediate family in the public domain.

I will strive for high standards of service and ethical behaviour that are conducive to the development of the economy and the eradication of poverty.

I will promote these values in those around me. Through the above actions I hope to promote the welfare of all people.

This is my voluntary pledge to the people of my country and the world.

Signature:
Name:
Address:
Place:
Date:

Witnessed by:
Signature:
Name:
Address:
Place:
Date:

Idea borrowed from NACF.

How to fight poverty

2011-07-31T05:48:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, poverty is invariably self perpetuating. It breeds where the environment is conducive for its existence and growth. It survives and grows with all those individuals, families and communities who do not take express interest to shake off poverty and come out of poverty. It makes people feel comfortable just to remain in it and complain about it and living it out rather than doing something to drive it away.

One sure way to eradicate poverty would be to create a level playing field and opportunities for all irrespective of any categorization. This can be achieved by ensuring equitable distribution of resources between the haves and have-nots. To achieve this there must be a rigorous resource mapping - supply and demand of various resources. There must be contribution from all towards proper harnessing of resources and prevent abuse of resources. Unique identification and tracking of all resource availability, utilization, demand would help in resource gap identification. Then ways to bridge the gap can be evolved.

The right tools to track online and on real time basis such demand and supply bottom up from the local to the global level through an e-Network using a model of spokes and hub can ensure every entity and resource is mapped. This alone can aid in definitive action rather than just eulogizing about poverty and not taking critical action.

BJP on election reforms

2011-02-15T04:06:00.000-08:00

It is heartening to note, a political party of the stature of BJP has come forward to set up a high-level panel on election reforms to study comprehensively the election related issues to help the party effectively formulate its stand on all subjects, including the effect of black money on the elections, criminalisation of politics, efficacy of electronic voting machines and reservation for women.

The panel is expected to deliberate on issues like the delimitation of constituencies in terms of socio-economic factors and geography so that the party could take a practically feasible and politically correct stand on contentious issues confronting the biggest democracy of the world.

The announcement assumes significance at a time when the BJP has taken a tough stand on corruption in mega scams like 2G Spectrum allocation, Commonwealth Games and its insistence of bringing back to country the money deposited in foreign banks by Indians outside the shores.

The panel would also study all reports available in the public domain, including the Administrative Reforms Commission, and interact with the Ministries concerned in the Government and the Election Commission of India. It will also get inputs from the state units, experts and interested public.

The citizens of India congratulate BJP and will support them in this initiative. It is the sincere hope of the citizens that BJP will make the study public and transparent for all citizens to participate with their views without fear or favour.

Nitin Gadkari sets up high-level panel on election reforms

New Delhi, Feb 15 : The BJP today set up a high-level committee on Election Reforms to study comprehensively the election related issues to help the party effectively formulate its stand on all subjects, including the effect of black money on the elections, criminalisation of politics, efficacy of electronic voting machines and reservation for women.

The Committee constituted by BJP President Nitin Gadkari will work under the guidance of top party leaders, including BJP Parliamentary Party Chairman L K Advani, and will have party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi as its Convenor. The panel will also deliberate on issues like the delimitation of constituencies in terms of socio-economic factors and geography so that the party could take a practically feasible and politically correct stand on contentious issues confronting the biggest democracy of the world.

The announcement assumes significance at a time when the BJP has taken a tough stand on corruption in mega scams like 2G Spectrum allocation, Commonwealth Games and its insistence of bringing back to country the money deposited in foreign banks by Indians outside the shores.

The panel would also study all reports available in the public domain, including the Administrative Reforms Commission, and interact with the Ministries concerned in the Government and the Election Commission of India. It will also get inputs from the state units, experts and interested public.

Other members of the panel include BJP General Secretary Thawar Chand Gehlot, former MPs Kirit Somaiya and Banwarilal Purohit, noted psephologist G V L Narasimha Rao, former UP BJP Chief Ramapati Ram Tripathi, activist lawyer Satpal Jain and former bureaucrat Ramakrishna.

--UNI

http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-147817.html

Disrupting Corruption: People Power to gain Accountability

2011-01-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

On January 27, 2011 the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict's webinar series will feature a session on people power to curb corruption and gain accountability.

Link to webinar page: http://tinyurl.com/5soydx9

Disrupting Corruption: People Power to Gain Accountability

62 Republic day of India

2011-01-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

On the occasion of 62 Republic Day of India, let every Indian do a soul searching for their acts of commission and omission in making India a truly SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual
and the unity and integrity of the Nation as envisaged in our Constitution.

Let us get away from bad governance to GOOD SELF ADMINISTRATION truly 'OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE'.

Let us eradicate the evils of the failures of our present day governance and mal-administration leading to corruption, nepotism, crony-ism, etc. and instead create a totally transparent and accountable society where everyone is equal before law in letter and spirit.

Action Against Corruption - Call for "Stop Corruption; Save India; Save Democracy"

2011-01-25T18:20:00.000-08:00

On 26 January 2011 06:21, Mr. Era Sezhiyan, leading Parliamentarian wrote:

"I welcome the call 'Stop corruption! Save Democracy! Save India!'.

Efforts should be made to get the support of all people in all walks of life including prominent political leaders who accept this objective".

My reply:

We are grateful to you for your kind words of encouragement and guidance. How we wish, we had a senior leader like you was available to lead the silent human chain rally.

The nation is in dire need of transparent and self accountable political leaders of your caliber. We pray to the Almighty to give you many more years of active life and guide the present day adults and youth to lead a genuine democratic life of value to the community and society.

On 25 January 2011 21:46, Kris Dev wrote:

India Against Corruption a movement of Activists and NGOs from around India and NRIs appeals to one and all to join the Human Chain Against Corruption at Gandhi Statue, Marina Beach at 9am on Jan 30, Gandhi Jayanti day. It's a citizen's initiative.

You are requested to kindly spread the message of awareness among your contacts and request them to actively participate.

About 300 NSS student volunteers are expected to participate in the human chain. The focus is "Stop Corruption; Save India; Save Democracy".

Look forward to your kind support and encouragement for this noble cause in the service of the common citizen of India.

A few actions taken in this regard are as below:

March Against Corruption on 30th January is now being held in more than 40 cities.

http://www.facebook.com/IndiACor

Kris Dev
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ujTe49jkHE

India -: Asia’s other economic powerhouse

2011-01-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

India: Asia’s other economic powerhouse

ANDY HOFFMAN — ASIA-PACIFIC REPORTER

Published The Globe and Mail Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010

India’s problems are obvious and enormous: crushing poverty, persistent corruption scandals and a crumbling infrastructure that is decades out of date.

At first blush, India’s economic virtues are less apparent, but they are tremendously compelling, particularly over the long term.

As China’s roaring economy has been the pacesetter for recovery from the global financial crisis, the world’s most populated country has garnered the bulk of international attention. From its undervalued currency to its mushrooming modern super-cities to its yawning trade surplus with the United States, China has dominated the attention of the world’s financial markets this year.

Yet 2011 may finally be the year when people wake up to the potential of the other Asian economic superpower.

India currently enjoys three major economic attributes that China lacks: democracy, favourable demographics and a preponderance of English speakers, which helps ease business dealings with the West. In 2011, these advantages could begin to bloom.

As Raghav Bahl, the founder and controlling shareholder of Network 18, India’s largest television news and business network, argues forcefully in his new book Superpower? The Amazing Race Between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise, India has the mettle and resources needed to eventually close the economic gap with its powerful north-eastern neighbour.

For starters, Mr. Bhal notes, India is a democracy, the world’s largest, in fact. Compare that with China, where 24 members of the Central Politburo are tasked with charting the course for a nation of 1.3 billion people. The primary driver of much of China’s social, political, fiscal and monetary policy is preventing social unrest and keeping the Communist Party of China in power. Although admittedly flawed, India’s democratic system aims to elect representatives that will draft the best policies for the people and the country, not the political party they belong to.

As international objections to India’s nuclear weapons program have diminished, world leaders have begun flocking to India for diplomatic visits that are far less politically charged than missions to Beijing. India’s Parliament in New Delhi, currently led by Manmohan Singh, who was the architect of India’s key financial reforms in the 1990s, is now a must-visit location for global dignitaries.

In just the past two months, Prime Minister Singh has entertained U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao and, most recently, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Reinforcing India’s rising political and economic might, Mr. Singh has also visited Japan and Germany this year, rounding out his country’s engagement with most of the world’s major economies.

The Indian Prime Minister even found the time to come to Ottawa this year following Stephen Harper’s first trip to India in November, 2009.

Although Canada has yet to sign a free-trade agreement with any Asian countries (including South Korea and Singapore, where talks have dragged on for years), it began negotiations with India in November. If realized, Mr. Harper’s government has said a free-trade agreement between Canada and India could be worth $6-billion a year for each country. (Despite Canada boasting more than one million residents of South Asian descent, two-way trade with India was just $4.2-billion in 2009. Trade with China was about $50.5-billion.)

India also has demographics on its side. It will soon dwarf the rest of the world when it comes to its working age population – people between 18 and 65 who are contributing members of society. Compared to North America, Japan and even China, India is an exceptionally young country. The majority of its population is less than 30 years old and by 2020 the average age will be 29, compared to 45 in Western Europe and 48 in Japan, according to a recent report from the Canadian International Council.

China’s one-child policy has contributed to an aging population. Unless radical changes are made, China’s work force growth will end by 2030, and, like much of the rest of the world, the burden of looking after retirees will soar.

In just nine years, by 2020, the United States could be short 17 million people of working age, China 10 million, Japan nine million and Russia six million. At the same time, India will have a surplus of 47 million workers. If India can achieve the massive task of improving health care and educational services for these workers, it is sure to become an economic powerhouse.

While much has been made of China’s burgeoning consumer class, India is already endowed with a hefty middle class whose size has been estimated at about 200 million people – the entire population of Brazil.

India also enjoys an abundance of English speakers, a fact that could help facilitate more business and trade with the West, whose companies and politicians have often struggled with cultural and language challenges in China.

India represents the largest English-speaking ethnic community in the world, with about 350 million Indians displaying a reasonable proficiency in the language. Moving beyond its troubling colonial roots, English has become the language of upward mobility in India, used by cab drivers, university professors, lawyers and in business. Eighty per cent of India’s two million college graduates are English-speaking.

Despite the myriad of challenges faced by its 1.1 billion people, India is expected to record the second fastest growth of the world’s major economies in 2010, expanding by 9.7 per cent, according to the IMF. (China’s economy will grow by 10.5 per cent, the IMF says.) In the third quarter, India’s economy grew by a more-than-expected 8.9 per cent, with household spending and investment driving the expansion. According to London-based Capital Economics, India’s economic upswing will stay in good shape over the coming year.

“The structural development story is overwhelmingly positive and the government in the end will deliver on the reforms needed to ensure that the private sector continues to thrive,” Vishnu Varathan, the firm’s Asia economist, said in a recent report.

India’s government has finally come up with a plan to tackle its woeful infrastructure deficit, which Prime Minister Singh has said is choking economic growth. Government investment in roads, ports and rail could hit $500-billion (U.S.) for the five years ending in March, 2012. In the following five years, the prime minister hopes to invest another $1-trillion dollars in infrastructure with half the funds coming from the private sector.

Still, the headlines in India’s vibrant newspapers (both in Hindi and English) are currently dominated by corruption scandals involving several officials both in the public and private sectors, including the telecom minister, Andimuthu Raja, who resigned amid allegations related to wireless spectrum sales and has denied any wrongdoing. But the very fact that the corruption scandals have brought public censure is cause for optimism, according to analysts at Hong Kong’s GaveKal-Dragonomics, who say that India’s banks may present an opportunity when compared to China’s massive state-controlled lenders.

“Although India’s public banks also have guidelines forcing them to lend to priority sectors, Indian banks are clearly more mature, and more accustomed to dealing with marketplace realities,” the research and advisory firm said in a note to clients.

“And the recent loan-for-bribe scandals should improve conditions, as they demonstrate that there is now a penalty for corruption.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/india-asias-other-economic-powerhouse/article1853707/page1/

My comments posted in the site: "How to tackle India’s problems of enormous crushing poverty, persistent corruption scandals and crumbling infrastructure"?:

Introduce Random, Anonymous, Secured Encrypted Unique Identity (UID) Number and a Multi Purpose Biometric Smart Card linked to a single money account as Debit Card for every citizen on a war footing and demonetize currency. Track anonymously all transactions and in the event of any corruption charge, make the transactions public.

Biometric Smart Card based transactions could be the magic wand to transform India through eradication of corruption from the system and ensure security of food, health, housing, education, employment and social security for all. We can see a developed India in 5 years.

Zero tolerance to corruption

2011-01-03T02:23:00.001-08:00

Every Indian should hang his / her head in shame that India stands exposed as a The Nation of Scams again and again. The IT Tribunal which has declared that tax is payable on commissions paid in the Bofors deal 25 years ago; whereas the former PM had told Parliament, no commission was paid in the Bofors deal and CBI had closed the case!!!!

Where is our "Zero Tolerance to Corruption"? On the contrary, it has come to a stage that we can tolerate any number of zeros to the right of a number, when it comes to corruption!! After all Indians created zero and it is now being claimed in abundance by our politicians and middlemen.

Do we have an answer for this growing cancer of society?

Phone banking to get safer in India with aditional one time password generated everytime; public demand biometric unique smart card identification

2010-12-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

Phone banking to get safer in India with additional 'one time password'; public demand biometric unique smart card - http://tinyurl.com/38pkkdm - my stand for immediate introduction of biometric smart card with random, unique identity number vindicated.

Deccan Chronicle, Chennai - Dec 31, 2010

Phone banking to get safer

Phone banking set to become safer and more complicated starting the New Year. From January 1, you will need to generate a new password sent by your bank every time you want to use phonebanking services. This password will be valid only for a limited period up to 24 hours, or till one transaction is completed. This one time password (OTP) will serve as an additional layer of security to guard against credit card fraud. Most banks have already commu nicated to their customers the new requirement.

“Based on a Reserve Bank of India mandate, we have introduced an additional measure of security for IVR transactions on your ICICI credit cards. This means that every time you pay for a purchase or service through any merchant’s telephone system (IVR), you will be asked to input a One Time Password. This will be in effect from January 1, 2011,” said a mail from the ICICI.

Which means that OTP will be mandatory for all interactive voice transactions (IVR). Many of the banks are offering their customers the option to generate this new password via an SMS. Some banks are offering their customers the facility to generate this password online. "It is a constant endeavour for us to provide security to our online customers. We continue to put in place robust mechanisms," says CMD of Union Bank, M. V. Nair. " I. Arokiasamy, president of Chennai Credit Card Association, says, "Banks must take more intelligent measures like fingerprint identification or human trait mechanism that is only unique to the card holder."

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2010/12/31/INDEX.SHTML

IS THE UNIQUE IDENTITY SCHEME A PROGRESSIVE STEP OR A WINDOW FOR DATA THEFT

2010-12-30T03:48:00.000-08:00

“IS THE UNIQUE IDENTITY SCHEME A PROGRESSIVE STEP OR A WINDOW FOR DATA THEFT?”

- topic for the Live talk on 6th Dec 2010 – as part of the weekly debate called “The Big Battle” conducted on every Monday between 8.30 am and 10.00 am on Chennai Live 104.8FM, Chennai’s only English Radio Station.

Edel was the RJ for the show.

Sanjay Pinto, Executive Editor, NDTV-HINDU was the moderator for the debate

Kris Dev, Social Activist and e-Gov Consultant, winner of Manthan Award for Unique Identification and Biometric Tracking of Beneficiaries of Payments under NREGS, co-founder of the International Transparency and Accountability Network and President & CEO, Life Line to Business, Chennai was one of the panelists. His stand was “UID scheme is a progressive step”.

Vinay Aravind, a Lawyer specializing in technology, Principal Associate, Poovayya & Co., Advocates & Solicitors, Chennai was the other panelist and his stand is “UID scheme is a window for data theft”.

Introduction:

Good Morning, I am Sanjay Pinto (SP).

SP: “By the end of this financial year 100 million of you will get a 12 digit number which will accompany your name that is the unique identification number and by 2014 add another 300 million to that. So we are asking you the big question on the Big Battle “IS THE UNIQUE IDENTITY SCHEME A PROGRESSIVE STEP OR A WINDOW FOR DATA THEFT?”
Kris Dev an Activist and winner of Manthan Award for biometric implementation in rural India believes that it is a progressive step – after that award, definitely he would think that way.

But Vinay Arvind the lawyer who deals with technology believes that it is a window for data theft and there are several loopholes as well.

Good morning gentlemen. Welcome to the Big Battle.

SP: Kris to you first: Now Nandan Nilekani, Chairperson of the UIDAI says it will enable inclusive growth; it will plug leakages in public expenditure. I ask you: exclusion and leakages are not because of one’s inability to prove identity; it’s caused by the deliberate manipulation of the system. BPL families who have ration cards are unable to get their quote of food grains not because they cannot prove the validity of their cards are disputed but because there are corrupt ration shop owners who don’t give them their due. Scholarship meant for poor dalit students, don’t reach the destination not because they cannot prove that they are dalits, because teachers and school administrators pocket the money and deny them the privileges. Women workers in NREGA don’t get their full quota not because they are not able to prove that they have worked more than the men if not as much as men but because supervisors and pay masters believe that women do not deserve the same wage and therefore pocket them. So I am asking you directly exclusion plugging leakages - answer.

KD: Sanjay, you are absolutely right. You hit the nail on the head, when you say that there is so much of endemic problem in the system – whether it is PDS or NREGA or microfinance, in all these sectors. To me the single solution, the magic wand that can eliminate all these problems is UID. You may question me how I am making this statement so vociferously. I am very clear a single unique identification and a fail-proof tracking system alone can change this. And a tracking system where you give a biometric smart card and an encrypted number. I don’t vouch for a 12 digit number. I would hit a 25 digit number.

SP: All right Sir, may I stop you right here Sir?

KD: Sure.

SP: 150 million people are likely to be excluded from the benefits of the UID scheme. Look at this. I shall give you statistics. In fact 30 million people currently holding NREGA jobs reported exclusion because there is no conclusive proof of identity to claim payment. Many of them in fact who worked on the field have their fingerprints are not clear; there is something called false negative. There are several people whose iris scan cannot be really done because they have corneal blindness. 6-8 million of these people have corneal blindness and diseases in fact for which iris scan cannot really be done. These are statistics from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. So what fool proof mechanism are we talking about?

KD: Sanjay, whatever statistics you have given is given by people who do not want to see systems in place.

SP: No, no you dispute this.

KD: I am very clear about that.

SP: All India Institute of Medical Sciences do not want to see this in place? There are private hospitals who are going to have access to the database. And for what? There is vested corporate interest, an axe to grind?

KD: I think there is a basic mistake in the premise. I am not here to argue for the government’s UIDAI project. I am here to argue for UID as a concept for unique identification and fool proof tracking.

SP: I am glad you made a distinction between government UID and UID, because it has no government sanction; it has no legal sanction. It has in fact not gone through the process of law making. It has no constitutional validity.

SP: Let me ask the lawyer now. Vinay Aravind, what are the loop-holes you have spotted in the UID. For instance, invasion of privacy. They have side stepped these basic issues.

VA: Fundamentally India is a country that doesn’t have a privacy jurisprudence. There is just this one Rajagopalan case . And there is also the PUCL case which clearly states there is no general law of privacy in India.

SP: Yes. Rajagopalan case of 1994 and PUCL case of 1996; but there is also the Hindu Marriage Act, there is Contract Act, there is CrPC, there is Juvenile Justice Act - all which talk of - there is international covenant on civil and political rights, article 21 of the constitution which guarantee protection of privacy. Bur this scheme many believe intrudes your privacy.

VA: Sanjay all of that taken together still provides very little jurisprudence. I advise clients regularly. We have foreign clients come and ask ‘what is the privacy law in India? What should we be careful against? I feel bad to say, there is very little to protect the privacy of people. ’ In a country like India with such a weak privacy jurisprudence, I don’t think enough due diligence has been done on the privacy impact of a project like UID before launching it. There is no due diligence happening right now. There is not enough attention being paid to privacy concern. Frankly, I think whatever the potential benefits may be, the potential harm that may come

SP: Outweigh these potential benefits. Kris Dev to take off from Vinay Aravind, he knows what he is talking about. He is a lawyer who specializes in technology.

KD: I can’t vouch for it. Just because he is a lawyer it does not mean he knows what he is talking

SP: As a Moderator, I will vouch for it. Let me ask you, do you get marketing SMS and calls when you are having a nap?

KD: Absolutely.

SP: All right. A country that cannot protect its database when it comes to TRAI, database are sold today. The Do Not Call Registry has become a joke, and imagine what will happen when we put out all these details and is up for public consumption.

KD: Absolutely. If people like whom you mention are running the show, this is what will happen.

SP: Who are these people?

KD: I don’t know. You are telling names.

SP: Who are these people I mentioned.

KD: I don’t know.

SP: TRAI. TRAI.

KD: You are putting words in my mouth.

SP: No I am not putting words in your mouth.

KD: Let me tell you Sanjay very clearly, what my concept is. You can call me in some way the father of unique identity implementation on the ground in rural India. I had done that in 2006. I got the national award – the Manthan Award. I am not blowing my trumpets. But what I want to tell you is, I am very clear in the concept as to how unique ID can be made secure; secure to the citizen. It can protect his rights as a citizen; and it can empower every citizen to demand and get what is due to them.

SP: Let me quote something. Section 33 of the Draft Bill empowers the NIDAI to disclose personal data – data on an order from the court in the case of national security or orders of a Joint Secretary. The IT Act and the Telegraph Act says any such disclosure made only on written orders of the Union Home Secretary. There itself, there is a violation. Personal and household data is being collected through the census 2010 and for the National Population Register. The information given for the census is not open to inspection or admissible as evidence. Here there is a clear contradiction. The law of the land is violated Sir.

KD: Yeah. O.K. Then you should change the law. I am not the person answerable for that. I can only answer for UID and I have a fool proof mechanism to make it secure. If you want to listen to me, I shall tell you the methodology for implementation.

SP: Please, please, we want to listen to you.

KD: O.K. My idea is, you introduce let’s say, a 20 or 25 digit random, encrypted, unique ID number for every citizen which nobody will know except the system. So no individual can know what his unique ID number is or anybody else number. Then how do you relate the unique ID? You issue a biometric smart card and the fingerprint, retina, iris, facial, palm vein and DNA – any one of these can be linked to the unique ID through the backend. It is like you holding a bank locker where you have a key and the banker has a key and unless it is jointly put, the locker cannot be opened. I asked the lawyer a few minutes ago, “do you know how the locker system works? Is it secure for the individual who has put his goods into the locker”? He said, Yes. And I am telling, in a UID system, you can have a triple lock and not just two locks. When you make things transparent, you cannot make all these allegations.

SP: Let me again quote – a NREGA beneficiary with worn out fingers may present his newly issued UID card as a conclusive proof of identity and claim payment and be rejected. I told you there are worn out fingers. There are false negatives. There is something called the degree and direction of pressure applied by placing the finger on the sensor. Excessive or greasy skin or dry skin. Distortions caused by entering a three dimensional object on a plane surface. There are noise and inconsistencies. That will blur the captured image. I am putting several limitations of the system. This has also been admitted by UIDAI scheme itself. The limitation is recognized in a working paper which states that fingerprint authentication is not fool proof.

KD: Sanjay, just because there are limitations, do not throw away the bath tub with the baby. Let me tell you, just because the internet is hacked, we do not throw away the internet. You see, the law maker is intelligent. But the law breaker is more intelligent. So the law maker has to make himself double more intelligent to break the law breaker.

SP: Will that ever happen?

VA: Kris, the problem is not technology. Even in a situation where I assume the technology is absolutely perfect, it is going to be run by the same politicians and bureaucrats (SP adds: absolutely) that nobody in this country has any faith in. Kris would you say you have faith in those people?

KD: No, no, no. My friend, the problem is you don’t trust the people, you don’t trust yourself. I am saying, did you doubt when you registered for an internet account? There is an agency called ICANN. It is an international agency and it is a publicly audited agency. I have been writing in so many articles that UIDAI should be an independent citizens’ authority, monitored by the citizens. Government should have no role over it, so that people like Sanjay and you have no doubts over it.

SP: Fair enough. That’s valid point Kris. We respect your views. That’s why you are on the Big Battle. But that’s an idealistic situation. You are giving us a case where you are plugging the loopholes yourself and this is how it should be but that is not how it is. We come back to it in a short while from now.

Edel: That was a very, very interesting discussion.

It’s the Big Battle from Chennai Live 104.8 FM

SP: Welcome back to the second round of Big Battle. I’m Sanjay Pinto. “Is the unique identity scheme a progressive step” as Kris Dev, Activist certainly believes or “is it a window for data theft”? as Vinay Aravind, a lawyer who specializes in technology apprehends.

Kris Dev, to you first. Kris Dev, but what’s your full name? It’s GopalaKrishnan Devanathan!

KD: Yes. GopalaKrishnan Devanathan.

SP: O.K. But what about those who are slightly superstitious? If they get a number and they are stuck with it for the rest of their lives. Even politicians add a letter to their name. There are people who apply for a fancy number and pay money to the public department officially to get those numbers. What happens to those who get a number? It’s in a lighter vein.

KD: Sanjay, I cut my name, because name is immaterial.

SP: All right.

KD: It’s the material that matters. The number just doesn’t matter, because it is at the backend. You don’t need to remember. Unfortunately people all the time think that they have to remember a 12 digit number. I am talking of a 25 digit or 50 digit number which nobody can know and it is encrypted and stored.

SP: Today nobody remembers even their phone numbers because it is stored in their phone memory. But anyway Kris, back on a serious note, something called, I am not calling you names.

KD: But you have already called me names.

SP: No. No. I have called you by your name. There is something called functionality creep and misuse of data. What is this actually? The centralized database where data is stored can be linked to other databases and the biometric information collected could be used for policing purposes. That’s possible. The bill does not contain any mechanism for credible and independent oversight and also the government may add features. You know what happens when profiling is done. You know what happened in 1947; the anti-Sikh riots in 1984; and the carnage in 2002. So it can be used for undemocratic, illegal and unethical and ethnic purposes.

KD: Yes. You are right Sanjay. I agree with you. If you allow things to go undemocratic, there is no way to stop it. If you want to kill the goose that lays golden eggs thinking you are going to get all together that’s what you are trying to do.

SP: Golden egg or rotten egg?

KD: I don’t vouch for what you are saying. Let me tell you very clearly, as I have always been mentioning, I am envisaging a model of a hub and spokes model of connectivity. You may ask me what it is. It is like a cycle wheel – a hub and spokes to the rim. Every village in the country, 650,000 villages are networked together. They are connected. A cluster of villages is connected to a block. A cluster of blocks is connected to a district. A cluster of districts is connected to a state. And a cluster of states is connected to the nation. That’s how a hub and spokes model of connectivity is networked.

SP: Were you a Professor in your earlier avatar?

KD: Yes. I was. So now what it means is, any citizen, anywhere in India can be uniquely identified by a number and tracked where he is or she is. So there is no need for duplication. You mentioned about 150 million people being left out of NREGA or PDS scheme. No one, no single soul in India can be left out. My idea is that UID must be mandatory not only for citizens but for every resident and every visitor coming into India.

SP: I will come to that. That’s an interesting point. Because it covers migrant labour. Vinay, it can actually cover non-citizens. You can track those not entitled to benefits but getting the benefits.

VA: Sanjay, I’m not doubting the professed benefits of the UID Scheme. There is a lot of good that can be potentially achieved. But you have to weigh the benefits with the disadvantages. In a country like India, what is the safeguard the NIDAI Act provides? On a court order, this information can be released to any government authority. You know how easy it is to get a court order in this country. The lower judiciary and to an extent the higher judiciary is thoroughly corrupt. And that is the only safeguard. And that is the only thing stopping your information from reaching anybody’s hands. And now in a situation like that, those benefits, I don’t think are significant enough to warrant a situation where we move towards a police state where your private information is available for sale to anybody and everybody. The development priorities of a country like India are better served in other ways than to be embarking on this ambitious and highly dangerous project.

SP: Absolutely. Let’s see the pulse of Chennai through our listeners. We have got Mr. Raghavan on the phone line. A Social Worker. Good Morning Mr. Raghavan. Welcome to the Big Battle. What do you feel. Are you in favour of the UID Scheme?

Mr. Ragahvan: Good Morning Sanjay Pinto. I’m Raghavan. Actually according to my words, it is a window for data theft only, purely. Because what I am saying is, what about the voter’s ID given in India? The same thing. The government have to give full safety and security to each and every citizen who have given the total details to the government. O.K.

KD: Can I respond Mr. Raghavan?

SP: Mr. Kris Dev wants to join issues with you Mr. Raghavan. Please stay on the line.

KD: Mr. Raghavan, you are saying that it is an opportunity for theft of data. How secure is your life and information surrounding you, the personal information today, in a non UID environment?

Mr. Raghavan: Now you see, in the present situation, what kind of security and safeguard given to the citizen?

KD: I’m asking you the same question. I’m asking you do you think the life and data around you is secure now?

SP: The Choice is worse than the disease in that case.

KD: No, If you say no, then I have a plan or the scheme where it can be made secure. And if you don’t want to accept it, it is called the fear of the unknown. You don’t k now what is going to come. So if there was fear of unknown, we all would not be getting married and producing children because we have never done that before.

VA: But Kris, we are not talking about Kris’s UID Scheme; we are not talking of Nadan Nilekani’s UID Scheme.

KD: No. No. Sorry, I think there is a mistake. You are bringing in names. The very debate is on UID scheme and not Nandan’s UID scheme. Nandan is an individual.

SP: He is the Chairman of UIDAI. We are not talking of individuals.

KD: Let’s talk of the UID scheme which can be made fool proof. Can it be made fool proof or not is the debate and not go with a tooth pick to go into the details of the Act and saying whether it is o.k. or not.

SP: Why you are nick picking Vinay? I ‘ll come to you Vinay in a minute. In fact another thing Nandan Nilekani said is that there will be significant saving to the state exchequer by eliminating fraud and duplicate identities. The ministry of petroleum alone is estimated to save over Rs. 1,200 crores every year in subsidies now reportedly lost on LPG cylinders registered under bogus identities. So there is some kind of identity ..

VA: Sanjay you mean to say Rs. 1,200 crores is the price for our civil liberties?

KD: No. No.

SP: Yes. Yes.

KD: Sanjay, that is only the tip of the iceberg.

SP: He is asking you some question.

KD: I’m coming to that. Do you know in the PDS scheme we are losing about Rs. 20,000 crores to Rs. 30,000 crores every year? Are you aware of that? Officially the records are 20-40% of the PDS ration cards are bogus. And we are issuing rice at Re. 1 a kilo, we are giving free TV, free …, so many freebies are being given. Where are all the accounts for these bogus ration cards?

SP: All right. Despite having those ration cards, whether bogus or not, the Supreme Court had to say you have got millions of people dying of starvation and you have got food rotting in godowns. They don’t need a UID number. They already have ration cards. They already have proof of identity. Why are people dying of starvation in our country when we have our godowns full? This is a great grain waste actually.

KD: Absolutely. You are talking to one who filed an RTI petition to the Punjab Warehousing Corporation (SP: That’s why I’m asking you) where they said that the value lost in sale of inferior quality wheat which has gone rotten stored in the warehouses is Rs. 100 crores.

O.K. So now, the system is so beautiful that on one side we are having surplus food grains rotting in the warehouses. Because there is not sufficient food grains, we are importing food grains. On the third hand, they do not have systems to deliver the food grains to where the people need it. And on the fourth hand, we have farmers who commit suicide because they cannot have two square meals a day.

SP: All right. And they will stop committing suicide the moment they have the UID number?

KD: The moment you have a UID, see in my opinion as the co-founder of the International Transparency and Accountability Network, there must be total transparency and accountability in every action of every individual and organization

SP: That is what we call ythe killer instinct of Kris Dev. All this and more in a short while form now.

SP: Welcome back to the Big Battle. You just heard Kris Dev actually complaining about the coffee. That was not a mistake. That was deliberate. We wanted to actually test Kris Dev. Complaining about the coffee (KD: To test if I am still sensitive or gone insensitive!). But you are not complaining about the UID scheme. Is the unique identity scheme a progressive step or a window for data theft. Kris Dev an Activist believes .. he is batting non stop almost, he is going to score a century in this show also. I know he is very passionate about it. We respect your views, Kris. Vinay Aravind a lawyer who deals with technology has serious reservations about the UID scheme.

Kris let me start with you again.

KD: Why don’t you start with Vinay so that he can air his views also.

SP: As a Moderator, I see more merit on his side than yours. All Right. That’s why I’m asking you again. The data security. We know how many government web sites have been hacked. Recently the CBI’s web site was hacked. Not long ago the Indian Defense establishments web sites were hacked. Let me quote for you: this is in fact a confidential working paper titled “Creating a unique identity number for every resident in India”. It was recently posted on wiki-leaks. And the leak document admits that the UID database would be susceptible to attacks and leaks at various levels. I ask you a question Kris. If a country and its team cannot protect its own confidential documents, how can it protect the data of the citizens – your data and my data from the leak?

KD: Sanjay, I think there is a basic mistake in the premise that the country that it cannot defend itself and its documents.

SP: CBI’s website was hacked.

KD: That is because of the basic inefficiency of organizations. I do not want to go into merits and demerits of that. It is the right of every citizen – 120 crores of people to defend themselves. And if you say that such a strong force cannot do it, there is something wrong with you and not the system.

VA: There is nothing that is unhackable. There is no system that is utterly and completely ...

KD: Do you want to shut the internet completely?

VA: No absolutely not. The benefits of the internet far out way the potential harm that it can do. Whereas with the UID..

KD: That’s what you think. That’s what you think. Do you have proof of it?

VA: I don’t think it’s relevant here.

KD: No. It is relevant, because the same way, the UID also, the advantages would far, far out way the minority disadvantages. Now the question is, there is a caveat to whatever I say: “provided proper checks and balances are in place”.

VA: Kris, the problem is that your caveats are unrealistic. There is no possibility that this independent, internationally monitored, non governmental entity is going to be given charge of a database like this. And there is no possibility of such a thing happening ..

SP: Let me add on to this..

KD: All that you are saying is the powers that be will not allow such a thing to happen.

SP: Cool down. Cool down. I just want to ask you something. You are very passionate about your work. It’s more than evident. We know you. We can vouch for Kris Dev as an Activist.

KD: Thank you, I appreciate that.

SP: We shall vouch for it. It’s not to flatter you. But he is asking you a very pertinent question. Vinay Aravind the young man straight from the Indian Law School has years of practice..

KD: Yes. I can see he is much younger than what I am.

SP: But with sufficient visibility on the Big Battle. And he is speaking sense. He is asking you a simple question. You are giving us ..

KD: Sanjay, as a Moderator, you are not supposed to take sides that somebody is talking sense and somebody is not talking sense.

SP: No. No. I am not saying you are not. I am saying he is talking sense. I have every right to say that as a Moderator. I want to encourage a young man who is speaking from his heart.

KD: For sure.

SP: So Kris, he is asking you, he is telling you, that you are using one caveat after another. You are trying to plug all the loopholes in the scheme yourself. And saying this is an ideal scheme. Defend it. We are telling you, we are pointing out over the last hour almost. I have been giving you one instance after another. I’ll give you by the end of the show, 1025 reasons why we should not go ahead with the UID scheme.

KD: Sanjay I wish and I only hope Manmohan Singh and Nadan Nilekani are listening to our conversation.

SP: They can’t listen to it.

KD: Or at least our loud voice can be heard by them.

SP: Our loud voice can reach NDTV which is of course across the country. But unfortunately we are heard only in Chennai.
Let’s see from some other countries. I want to quote for you. May I? I would like to quote for you.

KD: I’m already aware. But go ahead and quote.

SP: The first act of the new government in UK was to scrap the UID project. And what did Theresa May the UK Home Secretary said, I quote: “The National Identity Card Scheme represents the worst of government. It’s intrusive, it’s bullying, it’s ineffective, it’s expensive. It’s an assault on individual liberty. It does not promise a great deal good. The government is dismantling it. The role of identity Commissioner created in an effort to prevent so called data blunders and leaks will be terminated”.

KD: O.K. See this is a clear case where they did not want systems in place for the progress of the nation. Because they think they are a developed nation and privacy is of prime importance. But in a country where 800 million are below poverty line, privacy is not an issue (SP & VA: Is it a luxury). One second. Empowering an individual is important. After 55 years, they tell me I need a Birth Certificate to get a Ration Card, there is something wrong in the system. I’m born here in India. I’m entitled to a Birth Certificate the minute I was born. And that should be available in my database.

VA: Why don’t we have an autocratic set-up in India?

KD: We are not talking of an autocratic system.

VA: 800 million are to be lifted out of poverty and civil liberties are the price that we are willing to pay.

KD: I never said that. I never said that. In fact I want to protect the civil liberties of those 800 million people which you want to kill by not having a system in place. Precisely that.

SP: 38 million people in the country don’t have proper fingerprints because of the hard labour they do and also because of corneal defects according to AIIMS. I gave you those figures. Where is the inclusion here?

KD: No. No. It’s totally wrong. I have gone into the field and have done the survey myself hands-on. You are talking from figures available on paper. You are talking to someone who has done the work in the field. I can tell you, today a Debit Card or a Credit Card has got only two controls. The Card and the PIN number; whereas a biometric system will have a third element which is called the fingerprint or iris or retina or facial or palm vein or DNA, which can be made fool proof. So you need not say that somebody may not have all the ten fingers and hence no fingerprints.

SP: Does UID scheme have a DNA?

KD: Yes. Absolutely. Already this has been implemented.

VA: Kris, the problem is, there are two levels of information. Fool proof identification. I can give it to you. They may achieve it. But fool proof of protection of your information. Some people should not be getting their hands on it. I don’t see them talking about it. I don’t see you talking about it.

KD: No. You don’t see them talking about it. Not me. You have never read articles which are written on this which have appeared in newspapers. How it can be protected. It is very simple. Let me tell you if you don’t know it. Every individual has a right to his information and no one else has a right to that information as long as it is privy to him. Meaning that, he does not infringe on the rights of others. The minute he infringes on the rights of others, then you have a right to know what is happening.

VA: Court order security?

KD: Yes. Court order security. You are saying that court orders are not secure. Well it can be made secure. Once there is transparency and accountability, then there can be no corruption.

VA: Only in Utopia UID can be implemented.

KD: Not Utopia. Not Utopia.

SP: A judgment was leaked. What security?

KD: See. We are living in an environment where we cannot think out of the box.

SP: Judgment was leaked in the Law Journal even before it was pronounced in the court.

KD: The problem is that you have a phobia of everything. You cannot think out of the box.

SP: As a journalist I will be cynical. Every citizen is entitled to be cynical in India.

VA: I admire..

KD: You are living in a corrupt world and naturally you cannot think outside the corruption.

KD: I’m sorry for that.

SP: You and I are part of that corrupt world.

KD: I’m sorry for that.

SP: You and I are part of that corrupt world. Whether you like it or not.

KD: I’m sorry for that.

SP: Why are you filing RTIs? Why are you filing RTIs?

KD: My mission is to educate the 120 crores of Indians saying that please ..

SP: Kris Dev wants to be made Chairperson of UID Scheme. Now he also wants to be made the Human Resources Minister. HRD Minister and UIDAI Chairperson.

KD: I have already volunteered my service. It’s a different matter they have not accepted my services. I have already volunteered my service to UIDAI on no payment basis. But they have not accepted my services.

SP: Why? Why? Why they are not accepting.

KD: You should ask them and not me. I won’t know why. My point is very clear.

SP: They feel it is not possible to put in place all checks and balances. My services are available pro bono to NDTV-HINDU also if you want to implement such a system. Now the question is are you open to implement such a system?

SP: I can’t speak for that on a show like this. It has to be done separately. I am now throwing the challenge to the people of India are you prepared to accept such a challenge. Kris Dev throws an open challenge to the listeners of Chennai Live 104.8 FM.

SP: What is the challenge once again?

KD: The challenge is: “Are you ready to transform India? Are you with me? Let’s introduce UID as a model scheme for India and show case. We can start with a village or a town and then show case it”.

SP: Are you planning to contest elections?

KD: May be!

SP: Welcome back to the Big Battle. “IS THE UNIQUE IDENTITY SCHEME A PROGRESSIVE STEP OR A WINDOW FOR DATA THEFT”? I’m Sanjay Pinto. Joining you on the panel Kris Dev an Activist Kris Dev believes it is a progressive step. Vinay Aravind, a lawyer who specializes in technology, somebody who has dealt with several cases of data theft, believes there are several loopholes and it’s certainly an opportunity for data theft.

SP: Let me go to Vinay Aravind as Kris almost gestures, don’t ask me any more questions; go to Vinay Aravind. But before that we have got Vinay’s namesake, we have got Aravind on the phone line.
Good morning Aravind. Welcome to the Big Battle.

Aravind: Hi Sanjay. Hi panelists.

SP: Hi, Good morning. What’s your take Aravind?

Aravind: It’s absolutely important that we go in for this UID.

KD: Oh! Thank you very much.

SP: Finally a supporter for Kris Dev. Go ahead, go ahead.
Everyone laughs

KD: But what controls do you suggest?

Aravind: I just wanted to call and voice my support for Kris.

SP: Sure, sure. Go ahead, go ahead.

Aravind: It’s very important that the person who is going to implement it and is
going to monitor this scheme is of utmost .. We need to have a person who is really strong and he or she should not be disturbed or influenced by the government according to their whims and fancies. That’s very important. Ultimately

SP: How do we ensure that Aravind?

Aravind: Under Mr. Kris; has a lot of things

SP: But, he is not the Chairperson. Nandan Nilekani is.

KD: Aravind, I didn’t call up and ask you to talk for me, I’m sure.

VA: Aravind, is it enough if that one person is honest?

KD: No, no.

VA: This database is going to be accessed by thousands of government departments.

Aravind: It does not necessarily have to be one single person. A person or a body or a panel or a committee, whatever it is.

KD: A citizens’ body.

VA: What about the rest of the government that is going to use that database? Who is going to guarantee that honesty?

Aravind: I feel like this. At the end, if this scheme is going to be implemented well, every person is going to have a unique ID. What I am looking at is every Indian is going to be recognized as an individual person and at the end of the day it may even help you finalise the vote. When you go to a voting station and you have the unique ID, probably for all you know, it may bring down the bogus votes..

VA: Aravind, nobody is questioning the potential benefits of a scheme like this. Do you think ..

SP: In its present form, in its present form as we know it. As we know it with the help of RTI is another thing as well, let me add that as well. But it’s an interesting point Aravind. I think he works in the IT sector. That’s an interesting point he has raised. We respect his views.

KD: Can I supplement Aravind?

SP: Yeah. Sure.

KD: Aravind it’s like this. See, once you have the UID scheme and total transparency, you will take the power out of the politicians and bureaucrats and give it back to the people.

Aravind: Exactly.

SP: We hope. We hope.

KD: I don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime or my son’s lifetime or my grandson’s lifetime. But for sure it should happen, because we have been talking of a developing India for the last 63 years. And I would like to see a developed India in the shortest time.

SP: Right. If you want to take credit and if you want a statue up in your name, at some point you will have to join politics, Kris.
But taking off from Aravind’s point, it’s an interesting point there. The rich and the middle class have some form of identity; the poor don’t. And they are completely cut off. This scheme would bridge that gap.

VA: Yeah. See. Firstly, I don’t imagine that this scheme is going to bridge that gap; because, even by their own targets, 600 million people by 2014 are going to get this ID. What about the 500 million who are left?

SP: After that, in a phased manner.

VA: The point is ..

SP: It has never been done in the country.

VA: You know what my name on my Voter ID Card is? It’s A. Vinayan.

SP: A. Vinayan! (Laughs). You know what my name is? It wa Bindo!

VA: My father-in-law’s name is Paul Mathew. His name spells: Pal Muthu!

SP: Pal Muthu!! (laughs). Paul Mathew became Pal Muthu!!

KD: I’ll tell you why this happens; because you give the name in English. They note down in Tamil and they re-translate to English.

SP: But we write in Tamil also. They mess it up.

KD: But I can assure Sanjay and Aravind, with UID, it just doesn’t matter what your name, initials and spellings are. You are the person and no one else. Period.

SP: 105787623. That’s your name.

KD: No. No. You don’t need to remember any number. That’s what I’m saying. It will be a 25 or 50 digit number, an encrypted number and all you will need is a biometric smart card to relate to you.

SP: Alright. Let me ask you another question. Arvind Vinay, see most people who don’t need a ration card, keep a ration card because that’s like a citizenship card today. For everything you still got that mindset – ration card copy. Alright? So several people (who don’t actually) what they do, many of them buy stuff from the ration card, to keep it alive and probably either throw it away or give it to the maids, whatever. So you are actually depriving the people who really need the stuff from ration shops, the fair price shops, the so called fair price shops, will get more by this.

Because, this (UID) will actually eliminate the burden of multiple identity proofs. Today you have for everything, you will have to fill up a form for gas connection, telephone connection; for proof of identity, you give a ration card; for proof of address, you give a ration card. For proof of identity, you give the latest phone bill.

KD: Driving license.

SP: Or Driving license. This (UID) will eliminate the burden of multiple identities.

VA: Sanjay, I don’t dispute; theoretically there is a lot of benefit to be gained from it. But there are two fundamental issues. Firstly, are they going to be able to achieve this? I have my serious doubts in the way they are proceeding; in the way these benefits can be achieved. And secondly, they don’t seem to be paying any attention to the privacy concerns of the people. I mean, the fact that ..

SP: What about the National Population Register? We all need that. Right? We are proud of our numbers; and not so proud perhaps. The National Population Register - this will lead to; there again, there is a tangible benefit, Vinay.

VA: The fact is, in a country like India, you have to see what you allocate the scarce resources. When you are trying to uplift 500 to 600 million people out of poverty, is your priority to tag them and give them biometric identification or to give them food, electricity, roads and water?

KD: No. We are not able to give food, electricity and water because of the failure of the system.

VA: Why? Please don’t tell me that you can’t make roads without UID.

KD: I’ll tell you. Please hold on. I in fact wrote, “No Telgi; no stamp paper”. Because, as long as Telgi was supplying stamp paper, it was a well oiled machinery and it was available all over India. O.K. Once Telgi. And once Telgi stamp paper was stopped, the availability of stamp paper has come down. So you cannot say, a wrong system is the right system. I object to that. What we need is a fool proof system where we can make available every service, to every citizen without fail.

SP: Was there a feasibility or cost-benefit analysis done before the scheme was introduced? Was there a thing? Rs. 45,000 crores, we are told is the estimated cost. Rs. 45,000 crores - you want to spend, of your money and my money and his money and their money, without actually doing a cost benefit analysis!

KD: Sanjay, this is a very, very small fraction of the total budget of India.

SP: It may be less than the spectrum scam; but that’s a different matter.

KD: And compared to all the scams, this is nothing. In fact the government started with Rs. 100 crores as the initial outlay.

SP: How many ‘zeros’ are there in Rs. 45,000 crores.

KD: I don’t know. Twelve zeros.

SP: Twelve zeros! You are obsessed with the number twelve. There are twelve digits in UID number.

KD: What is important is not the money. India can afford this. And if we can plug all the money laundering that is happening in India through the UID scheme and through a debit card system wherein the currency is demonetized, I think we would have achieved..

SP: When you have people who are supposed to monitor all the money laundering and their website is itself hacked. We know how equipped we are!

VA: What Kris is saying is, that if we can achieve a lot of other things, full transparency, honesty, accountability, then UID will work.

SP: What will happen then to Kris Dev then? What RTI application will he file then?

KD: No. No. In fact after filing so many applications, I said, RTI is a waste of public time, because it is diverting the attention of the public.

SP: Finally, finally, your witness please (laughs).

KD: Why because, it solves individuals problems of ration card or passport. But we as policy thinkers, we should be thinking of the bigger India to stop all the money
laundering, terrorism and other things that is happening. And UID alone can stop cross border terrorism.

SP: To quote the Cabinet Secretary Chandrasekar: “It’s a waste of time; it’s a waste of money”. Perhaps we are actually selling Utopia. What do you think?

VA: Absolutely.

SP: Final comments from you. NO?

KD: Absolutely NOT. You are totally wrong.

SP: You have made out case!

KD: It’s a caveat (SP: again a caveat) implement it properly. Implement it properly. See. You are all talking of the problems of implementation. I don’t think you are ever doubting that UID is a good scheme. You yourself said, a single UID number can replace all the other numbers – the PAN number, the Ration Card number, the Passport number, the.. what not, I don’t know – there are so many numbers!

SP: We are talking about medicines when there is a drug scam. You know what happens. People get confused. We are talking about that. We are talking of the inherent danger in the system. We are talking of lack of checks and balances. We are talking of data theft. We are talking about privacy – your privacy and my privacy.

VA: If something as profound and massive as the UID, the concept and implementation cannot be distinguished. The concept and implementation are very much the same. If implementation is a concern, the concept is a concern.

KD: No. Implementation is what we will have to tackle. You are not doubting the basic ..

VA: How are you and I going to tackle implementation?

KD: That is precisely what we as intelligentsia have to do.

SP: You will file more RTI applications. We will cover it on NDTV and put it out on Chennai Live. You will get publicity.

KD: No. Not necessary. Not necessary. You are under the premise that the government is not capable of implementing it correctly. So you are all the time saying let us not have it. I am only saying..

SP: Let the government first protect its own CBI website. The government has got a premier investigating agency called CBI. Let the government first show us the way by protecting its own website and prevent it from getting hacked.

KD: Do you doubt the ability of the majority of the intelligentsia of this 120 crore people?

SP: We don’t. We don’t. You are going in an emotional tangent.

KD: Including yourself and myself? We cannot design a proper system.

SP: I believe in Advaitha philosophy.

KD: Why do you all the time say someone else cannot design.

SP: I believe in Advaitha philosophy.

KD: If we can design a good system for India, why not we give it?

VA: I doubt the political inclination and the will of these

KD: It is not there. I’m with you on that. The political will and bureaucratic will,
will not be there. But that should not prevent the people from demanding implementation.

SP: Alright. This debate can go on and on. There are different platforms for that. To end this let me give you an anecdote:

Twenty CEOs boarded a flight. And they were all informed privately and separately that plane would be the first unmanned commercial aircraft. Nineteen of the CEOs got out of the flight. They gave some excuse. One CEO remained. Do you know why? He said, I’m sure if my company software was used in this flight, I’m very sure, the plane will not take off! I don’t know if it is the same with the UID scheme!!

Listeners you can write to Edel or Sano and give us your views. That’s all the time we have on a rainy Monday morning. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you gentlemen for being so passionate about your cause and stand. Thank you very much.

KD & VA: Our pleasure.

Comments on the approach paper of Planning Commission for the XII Five year Plan of India

2010-12-02T21:38:00.000-08:00

My comments posted in UNDP Solutions exchange - Employment Community on the Planning Commissions Approach Paper for the XII Five Year Plan of India:

Unfortunately nothing is truly measurable in India! We have no citizen centric systems and structures in place even after 63 years of Independence, except those to benefit the officials and politicians. We have no proper statistics in place. We do not know our exact population, the demographic study, the number of citizens needing good health, education, skill training available, accorded and benefited, employment in various skills, etc., etc. Everything is in some ways more a guesstimate than a reality.

What we need is a fool proof tracking system to identify the various needs of citizens - food, clothing, health, housing, skills, employment, social security, etc. We need to establish systems of planning, bench marking, executing, monitoring, feed-back and accountability.

Every thing should be people centric and bottom-up from the hamlet / village level to national level and not bottom-down from the national to the village level as at present and managed by people themselves and certainly not official centric just for creating records.

Every action of every individual and organization must be by default transparent to the public (stakeholders) and should be audit-able by the stakeholders themselves. There should be a fail-proof audit trail on all activities and public expenses leaving nothing to chance or open to cheating. Today corruption is institutionalised from the village level to the national level. It has permeated all sections of society in all fields of endeavour. This needs to be urgently addressed if we have to derive true benefit from the twelfth five year plan.

This can help transform India and make sure our plans are truly beneficial to the common and man, the voiceless in the remotest corners of India and not just to benefit the powers that be in Delhi or State Capitals.

Recent Public Activities on Technology for Democracy and Anti-Corruption

2010-12-01T02:37:00.001-08:00

Participated in a number of Public debates and presented paper in National Conferences on transparency for accountability:

1. Our honorable MPs Salary slip Vs Report Card – 04 OCT 2010

http://www.ndtv-hindu.com/features/chennai-speaks-out/2010/oct/04/132/our-honorable-mps-salary-slip-vs-report-card

2. How can we stamp out corruption? Published On: October 23, 2010

With corruption hitting the headlines due to CWG, we discuss whether corruption can be eradicated from our country.
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-big-fight/how-can-we-stamp-out-corruption/171466

3. Battle of Ideas - Satellite Events 2010 on ‘A new technological democracy?’ Nov 23, 2010 of Institute of Ideas, London.

http://battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/2010/session_detail/4591/
http://battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/2010/speaker_detail/5439/

Bribe giving and bribe taking

2010-11-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

It's a sad day in the history of independent India when a High Court declares that bribe has become an accepted norm now' (Deccan Chronicle, Dec 1, 2010). The court has observed: 'the bribe culture has got so deep rooted, no work is done without paying bribe; It is hard to imagine if any work gets done in government offices and offices of public authorities without payment of bribe'. The Court has made these observations while upholding the conviction and sentence of 18 months imprisonment for accepting a bribe of Rs. 1,500 seventeen years back in 1993.

On the 2G scam, Kapil Sibal has stated "As we function in a democratic set up, we must ensure transparency in the functioning of the government and justice and equity in formulating and implementing policy".

If 18 months imprisonment can be awarded for taking a bribe of Rs. 1,500, what should be the punishment for giving and taking of bribes in crores and crores of rupees? What should we do as a nation to stop all cases of bribes and how do we recover the money? How do we set up institutional mechanisms to prevent giving and taking of bribes and money laundering? How do we prevent our democracy from being derailed by horse-trading and vote buying? Can a fool-proof methodology be evolved for the public to monitor all activities in a democracy to ensure total transparency for total accountability? Without this, democracy would be a farce and more a kleptocracy; and nepotism would be the order of the day!

Flagship welfare programmes review by Govt. of India

2010-07-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

It is gratifying to learn that the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India is holding a Performance Review Committee meeting on July 16-17 to take stock of the progress of the various flagship programs.

The Govt. of India knows very well that the flagship programmes are not yielding the desired results in truly alleviating rural poverty and improving the life of the poorest of the poor. At best the benefits are spotty and hardly commensurate with the investment and efforts in monitoring. The funds are invariably utilised for unproductive purposes and are not genuinely creating assets of long term value to the community. The leakage of funds is said to be high.

On the contrary the flagship programmes are having a negative effect on the economy; agriculture and farm production and other labour intensive works are seriously hampered due to shortage of hands. Instead the Govt. would do well to revise these programmes to generate genuine employment opportunities to increase agriculture and farm production and productivity in labour intensive areas and prevent migration of labour from rural to urban centres.

India to review its flagship programmes

It will take stock of the progress made under different schemes aimed at improving infrastructure at grass root level

New Delhi: The Government of India will review the performance of its flagship programmes to ensure that thousands of crores being pumped into these schemes reach their intended beneficiaries.

The programmes to be reviewed on July 16-17 include Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), the preparations for BPL Census, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and National Social Assistance Program.

The Ministry of Rural Development is holding a Performance Review Committee meeting to take stock of the progress under its various flagship programs on July 16-17 here.

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA led the way in the financial year 2009-10 with 5.25 crore households being provided employment in the rural areas across the country.

It has generated 282.58 lakh man days of employment in the year 2009-10.The average number of days of employment in the year per household in the year has gone up to 54 days.

The Ministry of Rural Development spent Rs 37938.16 crore on the scheme which amounts to 68 per cent of the expenditure as against the total available funds. Mahatma Gandhi NREGA provides for a legal guarantee of 100 days of work to job seeking adults from rural households doing unskilled manual labour.

This is the first meeting of the Performance Review Committee of the Ministry in the current financial year. The Performance Review Committee Meetings over the years have been an important monitoring tool for the Ministry of Rural Development to take stock of the progress of the various flagship programs running all over the country.

http://igovernment.in/site/india-review-its-flagship-programmes-37992#comment-11371

on NREGA implementation and its benfits

2010-07-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Passionate About India - Arindam Chaudhri blog.

June 25, 2010

NREGA IS A GREAT DEVELOPMENTAL INITIATIVE, BUT THE GOVERNMENT HAS TO ENSURE THAT THE ADDITIONAL INCOME IN THE HANDS OF THE RURAL POOR GETS MOBILISED
TOWARDS LONG TERM PRODUCTIVE MEANS AND NOT ALCOHOL!

When NREGA was launched in the year 2006, it was one of the biggest leaps taken by the UPA government to productively engage the underprivileged rural folk and connect them to the mainstream, a move which was due for long. From Rs 11,000 crores as the initial outlay, the same NREGA has grown to Rs 40,100 crores in the current year, encompassing each and every district of the country. Although a phenomenal initiative, from the very beginning, the NREGA has been marred with delivery bottlenecks. Like in most other cases, corruption this time too at every stage robbed the poor rural folk of their dues. The only consolation being that at least something is reaching them, compared to nothing in the past! But then, I recently came across this disturbing news! It has been reported that Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) sales have been going up as an aftereffect of the NREGA scheme. On hindsight, this was clearly predictable, but this was something that should have never happened in the first place! Predictable, because this is apparently a global phenomenon, that an immediate spurt in income disproportionately increases the propensity of consumption, and if it is backed with illiteracy and lack of awareness, the outcomes are even more hazardous, like we are seeing in our case! But then, what is most unfortunate is that a scheme which had the promise to transform the rural economy is actually pushing it to a bigger crisis! And if corrective actions are not taken on an immediate basis, we ourselves would be blamed for funding this nation into becoming a nation of alcoholics!

So when the government was all set to distribute around Rs 40,000 crores through NREGA, apart from ensuring that the money reaches the targeted population and does not get eaten up by the system, the government should have also ensured that there was a serious cap on the supply of alcohol in these regions. What happened was just the reverse. In fact, over the past few years, liquor outlets have on an average doubled in the rural areas. In Bihar, for example, the number of liquor outlets in the rural areas in the year 2006/07 was around 2800, which has gone up by more than 6000 currently. And this is all set to rise further as it is reported that the Excise and Prohibition Department is about to sanction one liquor vend in every three villages. It’s tragic that state governments don’t show a similar commitment for opening schools and health centres across each village. The bigger tragedy is that the per capita consumption of cereals is reducing every year, whereas that of liquor is increasing. The per capita consumption of cereals has fallen by almost two kg in the last decade. Bihar is not the only case in point, a similar growth in liquor supplies and consumption is being observed across the country. In Andhra Pradesh too, in a recent auction of around 6500 liquor vends, the rural areas put up the highest bids!

Reports also state that the liquor traders are very upbeat about the rural economy as various developmental schemes like the NREGA are enhancing the purchasing power within the rural populace, which has been driving up their sales. The government has also been extremely helpful in providing these liquor traders the reach without any concerns about the long term impact this is creating.

As I said earlier, the government should definitely put an immediate cap on the licensing of liquor outlets, particularly in rural India. This might also trigger the supply of illicit liquor and might even create an entire black economy around liquor. So the challenge to restrict consumption of alcohol and divert the new income towards consumption of cereals, saving, and into social investments like education for their children, is going to be a tall one, both for the Centre and the state governments!

One way to arrest this challenge is to issue the NREGA cards to the female member of the family rather than the male member. Globally, it has been observed that whenever income levels go up, women fare relatively better with respect to overall family welfare, as compared to their male counterparts. Even the famous Grameen Bank, which works on a micro-finance model and has had a huge success in transforming Bangladesh, hinges on this very premise that funding women with loans is any day a better bet than providing loans to men.

All in all, I would like to reiterate again that NREGA is a great developmental and transformational initiative. But then, successfully implementing the scheme across the nation is just half of the job done. The government also needs to ensure that the additional incomes generated by the rural folk are mobilized towards long term productive means. That would be the real challenge and transformation in the real sense!

http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.com/2010/06/nrega-is-great-developmental-initiative.html

My comments posted in the site:

NREGA should become a great developmental initiative. Instead it appears to be a damp squib as it is felt more as a dole distribution scheme in another name, not truly adding value to the local community in terms of creating long term assets for the over all economic development and prevention of migration. It is a big drain on the scarce resources of the Government and it may now be too late to reverse the damage done by NREGA as the rural poor cannot now imagine living without free money from NREGA, so much so the agriculture productivity has come down drastically. Please see the below links on the initiatives to streamline NREGA:

Villagers get digital identity - Biometric tracking gives a tamper proof identity to villagers http://www.indianexpress.com/news/aids-counsel-a-call-away/21904/2

Bihar shows smart card way to cleaner rural job scheme - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/33365.html

NREGA going hi-tech in Bihar - Vidya Vishwanathan - Civil Society Online - June 2007
http://www.civilsocietyonline.com/June07/india07ngrea.asp

The 'BSC' of Identity - A Biometric Smart Card Device can be a fool-proof ID for citizens, says this ICT Consultant - http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2007/03/19/stories/2007031900110300.htm

ID Cards get smarter - http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=326049

4Ps Business and Marketing Magazine - A Plan Media Publication, New Delhi, India - Special Feature - COLUMN CITIZENRY - A prescription to end corruption - Unique identification of every citizen will help kill the corruption malaise in developing economies http://www.4psbusinessandmarketing.com/17072008/storyd.asp?sid=2112&page....

Backward Bihar goes for the smartest cards - Times of India – April 04, 2010
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/entry/backward-bihar-goes-for-the#comment-form

Unique ID - Letters Column - Deccan Chronicle, Chennai - Monday, April 12, 2010.
There is no doubt that Unique ID can be the panacea for most evils of modern society, if implemented correctly. It can help the government to save crores of tax payers’ money year after year lost on account of leakages in the system. UIDAI should ensure compliance with International Data Security Standards and be vested with the responsibility of registering every citizen and resident in India and issuing Biometric Smart Card with multi modal biometrics (finger prints, iris, facial, palm vein and DNA). All transactions of all individuals and organizations must be mandated through the use of the Biometric Smart Card. This can help to plug all the loop holes in the system and ensure transparency and accountability. http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2010/04/12/INDEX.SHTML?ArtId=010_030&Search=Y

Corruption pandemic

2010-07-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

Letters column of Editorial page of Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, July 05, 2010

CORRUPTION PANDEMIC

It has become a daily affair to read about high-level corruption among politicians, middlemen, godmen, businessmen, educationists, bureaucrats and elected representatives (CBI seals IAS official's house, July 4). It is a matter of grave concern that corruption has become the order of the day in almost all spheres of public activity. It makes one wonder if it is the present form of democracy which is responsible for such high levels of corruption? What is the answer to the problem of corruption? How do we eliminate the cancer of corruption from our society?

KRIS DEV Chennai

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2010/07/05/INDEX.SHTML

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2010/07/05/ArticleHtmls/05_07_2010_008_025.shtml?Mode=0

The article I had sent is as follows:

Corruption galore

It has almost become a daily event to read in the newspapers of high level corruption among politicians, middlemen, godmen, businessmen, educationists, bureaucrats, lower officials, elected representatives, professionals, etc. - "Raids don't spare politicos or godmen" and "CBI seals IAS official's house" - DC June 4, 2010.

It is a matter of grave concern among all well meaning citizens of the country that corruption is the order of the day in all most all public activities from birth to death nay from womb to tomb. It makes one to think, is it the present form of democracy that we follow, that is responsible for such high levels of corruption? Is it morally and physically feasible for the government to conduct raids objectively on all such cases of corruption apolitically, abureaucratically, etc?

If not what is the answer to the problem of corruption? How do we elemnate the cancer of corruption from our society? It has become a endemic problem, out to devour our democracy. Is it not high time, public debate is initiated at all levels of society for arriving at a consensus and a clear time bound action plan?
--
Kris Dev, Chennai

NREGA funds misuse

2010-06-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, June 18, 2010 published in Letters Column - Editorial Page 8:

NREGA fraud

It is gratifying to note that a Panchayat President was sacked and staff suspended over corruption in NREGA funds (Panchayat Chief sacked over NREGA funds - Deccan Chronicle, Chennai - June 17).

It is regularly reported by social audits that a part of NREGA funds totaling over Rs. 40,100 crores are being siphoned out in collusion with officials. Is it possible for the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department to check over 250,000 panchayats of India?

Would it not be better to introduce Biometric Smart Card based work tracking and payment? By this, payment by cash can be stopped. The Biometric Smart Card can be linked to a money account as a Debit Card to empower the poor to draw rations from PDS shops and make purchases from the open market using the Smart Card. This can plug the leakages in the NREGA funds and PDS system.

Kris Dev, Chennai

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2010/06/18/INDEX.SHTML

Delivery of services through Panchayats

2010-03-23T00:32:00.001-07:00

Making RSBY or NREGA or any other welfare scheme of the GoI or State Governments to work successfully for the benefit of the citizens is not easy because it is not citizen centric and mired in corrupt practices.

There is resistance of people to pay Rs. 30.00 to get a RSBY card for a family of five, as they feel it would be another waste of their money, mainly to benefit others (TPAs, Insurance Companies, Registered Hospitals, etc).

It is observed, whenever individuals or organizations or government or public sector employees claim medical reimbursement, invariably hospitals inflate the rates and charge high fees, saying, after all the reimbursement is from other agencies and why the patient should bother. There is no fixed service fees. Invariably patients are admitted and many unwanted high cost tests / scans are under take to fleece to the maximum.

It is time, there is a cap on the limit of money a hospital can take subject to rendering genuine service. This where the catch is. Who is to judge what is a genuine service?

Instead of a card for a family, RSBY should be integrated with UID Smart card for every citizen from birth to death and proper tracking needs to be included. Every citizen should get uniform good service. It should not be, you name the person, I shall tell you the type of treatment we extend.

One example that of Cancer Institute, Chennai, a non-profit, mainly charity organization. Here the Doctors are de-linked from the Administration. There is only 2 categories - payment and free categories. If the monthly earnings of an individual or family is above rs. 1,000, then it is payment. Else it is totally free. The payment is same, irrespective of if the patient is rich or poor. The treatment is also the same, irrespective of if you are rich or poor. There has been no instance of visible corruption or favoritism in treatment.

In many villages, the Village Nurse would give importance, only if the family is politically connected or is rich enough to influence the community leaders. The health registers and stock of medicines are not updated even for years and there is no system of checking!!

Invariably, the PRIs are steeped in corruption. The only way we can make people get truly benefited is to de-link the service providers and service seekers. Introduce Multi Purpose Biometric Smart Card cum Bank Debit Card based transaction mandatory and track all transactions for transparency and accountability. Eliminate the cancer of corruption, through a major surgery, if we want the benefits to genuinely reach the poorest of the poor. No cosmetic change can improve the systems.

This may sound extremely negative; but unfortunately that is the fact of the matter. Unfortunately, most Service Providers including NGOs prefer to fish in troubled waters and keep the water agitated and deny the common man their rightful dues, so that they can survive! That is how the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and the gap is widening day by day. Apparently some benefits are shown to reach the poor. But at what cost to the nation is not seen,as electoral aims have come to play a major role and are seen to be more important than citizen welfare in a democracy!!

The above was in response to a post in UNDP Solutions Exchange - Decentralization Community discussions (se-decn@solutionexchange-un.net.in) as follows:

"We are currently engaged in providing civil society partnerships to state governments in the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) scheme (www.rsby.in) launched in April 2009. It is a smart-card based health insurance system.

There are numerous cases where Below Poverty Line (BPL) families have been financially wiped out because of a health related catastrophe, such as an accident, a problem pregnancy, or any other severe medical condition. While universal access to healthcare is the responsibility of the government and is the desired scenario, in the absence of the same, affordable health insurance for all assumes even greater importance. Health insurance is one way of providing protection to poor households against the risk of health spending leading to perpetual poverty. The objective of the scheme is to protect BPL households from major health-shocks that involve hospitalization. RSBY is currently the most inclusive and comprehensive national health insurance scheme, especially for a section of society for whom quality healthcare forever seemed out of reach. At a one-time enrolment fee of merely Rs 30/-, the scheme provides coverage to five members of the family, up to an annual total coverage of Rs 30,000. The scheme covers most serious illnesses and procedures that require hospitalization.

The scheme is currently running in 22 states and some states are entering its second phase. However, given the vastness of the country and the levels of literacy in the country, the utilization of the scheme has not been as much as desired. Even if enrollment is satisfactory, beneficiary utilization is not necessarily optimal. In a population with relatively low literacy and poor understanding of healthcare processes, the beneficiaries lack the support and guidance to utilize the benefits of this unique scheme to their maximum advantage.

It is also important to note that many of the components coming under the broad premise of primary health care like family welfare, health and sanitation, women and child development, social welfare, including welfare of the handicapped and mentally retarded etc and poverty alleviation programmes are subjects transferred to rural local governments as per the Eleventh Schedule of Article 243 G of 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India, though the actual situation might vary from State to State.

Members may also note that the Union Budget 2010-2011 has announced that the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) benefits would be extended to all such Mahatma Gandhi NREGA beneficiaries who have worked for more than 15 days during the preceding financial year. This is also important as Panchayats play a major role in the implementation of NREGS.

In this context, we request inputs from members on the following:

· What are the special institutions, systems, etc which are needed at the village and block levels to increase utilization of such RSBY by BPL population?

· Could you share experiences in awareness generation and increased utilization of RSBY or similar schemes among the identified population by PRIs?

· Is there a need for building any specific capacity/capability in the PRIs for improving utilization of RSBY among the BPL population and other NREGS beneficiaries with the aid of PRIs? Recommended and/or proven strategies for the same would be invaluable".

Empowerment of the differently abled - visually challenged

2010-03-12T04:41:00.001-08:00

A Right to Information (RTI) workshop was conducted on March 11, 2010 for the differently abled - mainly visually challenged and a few physically challenged to make them become informed citizens, thereby empowering them to become a part of the mainstream and contribute their mite to the growth of community and society.

The programme was conducted for about 40 participants who are residents of an Nethrodaya, an NGO located at 47/1, Nolambur,Mogappair West, Chennai-600037. Ph: +91-44-2653 3680 / 2653 0712. (www.netrodaya.org) that provides free lodging and boarding to poor differently abled - mainly visually challenged youth - girls and boys to get proper education and professional employment, mainly using Job Access With Speech (JAWS) Software in computer applications and simultaneously graduate education. One of them was doing his Ph.D. course.

The RTI workshop was inaugurated by Mr. S.Ve. Shekher, M.L.A., Tamil Nadu, a citizen welfare activist and one of the most popular Tamil playwright and film actors. The workshop was launched by Mr. Govinda Krishnan, Founder and Trustee, Nethrodaya.

The RTI workshop was conducted by Kris Dev, RTI Activist, Life Line to Community and e-Gov Consultant, Life Line to Business (LL2B). The co-ordination was done by Abilash, a student of Madras School of Social Work.

The participants expressed concern that due to their disabilities, they were denied jobs despite their ability to operate computers independently and they were denied their due rights to actively participate in the mainstream of society.

One example given by them was that they were denied acknowledgment for submitting employment applications, despite repeated requests. Hence they had to run from pillar to post to get information, thereby denying them the right to get employment. They complained of lack of systems of working in government organizations and lack of transparency and accountability. It was felt that e-Administration tool for tracking of all activities using Biometric Smart Card could be one of the solutions to their problems.

In the workshop, they learnt the provisions of the RTI Act 2005, how to file an application and how to get information without having to run from office to office and desk to desk. Support required to file RTI applications in future was assured to them, thereby making them more at ease.

The pictures taken at the workshop can be seen here. Due to a technical glitch, the date is shown as Sep 1. It is actually Mar 11, 2010.

http://picasaweb.google.com/krisdev/RightToInformationForDifferentlyAbledVisuallyChallenged#

Kris Dev, RTI Activist
krisdev@gmail.com +91 98 408 52132

Transforming society

2010-01-28T02:29:00.000-08:00

Many right thinking citizens have launched / joined new political organizations that have sprouted with a promise to create a clean government and offer good governance to the citizens, if elected. But they are not able survive the onslaught of big political prties with huge funds and sort-term promises to the poorer sections of society,just to appease them to catch their attention and vote.

Instead why not pitch for transparency and accountability in all actions of all individuals and organizations. It would help save thousands of crores of tax payers' money and help transform communities and society.

We can move away from Governance and instead move towards self-administration in a transparent way where any one and every one can voice their views and cast thier vote on any subject without fear or favour.

This would drive away the fly-by-night and get-rich-quick politicians, middlemen, businessmen, bureaucrats, etc. We can do away with many of the present day unproductive employment and services which only helps to propogate more and more of their clan to the detriment of the larger community and society.

Republic Day celebrations for the elite only

2010-01-26T03:23:00.001-08:00

I found the R-Day celebrations being attended mainly by the high and mighty on invitation and hardly any sight of common man was there. In the name of security, only the elite are allowed to witness. What about the 80% of India which constitutes the marginalized and rural poor? Where is the R-Day celebrations for them? It was mainly the military mite on show. The cultural display was far behind. There was hardly any thing to showcase the efforts for upliftment of the poor, except just one tableau on IAY. Should it not be the priority of the Government to focus on the 80% needy population of India? Why not wean away from terrorism and wars and get in to real development of the nation? Why not introduce transparency for accountability in all actions of all for transforming India from a poor nation to a rich nation?

Freedom or Slavery - an introspection

2009-12-28T23:15:00.000-08:00

FREEDOM OR SLAVERY - AN INTROSPECTION

--------------------------------------
Dear fellow citizens,

As I write this note, there are about 3 billion people, the world over, whose main attention is riveted on the question, whether they would get their next meal and if so, from where; and may be there are an equal number, who may be planning, how they would spend their time and money, to enjoy their next meal!!

We may think, we have achieved FREEDOM as nations from the foreign masters; but hardly do we realize, that we have got into a bigger slavery - slavery of hunger, poverty, disease, illiteracy, unemployment, famine, floods, etc.

Slavery from genuine wants such as clean water, sanitation, hygienic and healthy food, minimum clothing, all weather proof housing, education, employment, freedom of speech, fear of life, etc.

We are living in a world of constant fear - fear of life, liberty, property, etc.

We have created so many divisions and sub-divisions within our own lives, community and society, by which we have put shackles around our mind and body and made ourselves immobile from the freedom of free living.

We are living in a Hippocratic world, where we like to flaunt our wealth and make others feel small in front of us. We don't have the courage to feel strong in front of others. We have built an inferiority complex around ourselves.

We have no pride left in us. We have no pure blood circulating within us. In fact, it is not our own blood; we are living on borrowed blood - a borrowed life (a provocative statement to sink in the reality).

It's time, we changed all these. And change we must, to create a new world order. We need a new world order - a world order free of social, cultural, spiritual, ethical, ecological, economic, ... poverty, which we have institutionalized over the generations.

We need a new world order where no individual, family, community, society need live in fear or danger of annihilation - self created or forced from outside.

We need a new world order - neither capitalist nor communist nor socialist. I would like to call it "TRANSPARENTIST", for all round peace and prosperity.

We need a new world order where every activity of every individual and organization is transparent and accountable to the whole world. Where we need fear none and hide none.

Our confidence in our internal strength must be unshakable by any power on earth and we must do all that is within our power to create all round peace and prosperity.

The life on earth is short. We are born without our own permission and we are going to die without our permission. We are born naked and alone and we are going to die naked and alone. We are not going to carry any wealth with us, when we die. Most people live poor, to die rich!

The wealth we bequeath to our progeny's is not going to support them for their entire life time. They should know how to stand on their own legs and survive the vagaries of life.

So it is best we live a decent and noble life of our own and die a peaceful death. We should contribute our mite for the growth of the society and leave a better world, when we die, than when we entered in, on our birth. This must be the goal of every individual.

The current day general pervading feeling among the youth and adults alike is, survive somehow; grow somehow; become rich somehow. The means need not justify the ends - cheat, loot, plunder, etc. Somehow avoid being caught. Even if caught, somehow try to escape. We are seeing this all around us, day in and day out - from mighty to meek, all follow the same methodology.

Our present value systems must change. We need value based living, where everyone should be treated equal. We feel powerful before the powerless; and powerless before the powerful. This is animal instinct - survival of the fittest.

I know some /. many may not agree and jump on me; but, for the long term survival of mankind, we need to create a new and better world order, than what we are in today. Not just economic prosperity; not just material prosperity; but all round prosperity. Lest we would continue to see, more and more of the problems of mankind, that we are seeing today.

May peace be unto all.

Seven principles of public life

2009-12-23T02:31:00.000-08:00

Just now read the following.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life was established in October 1994, under
the chairmanship of the Rt Hon The Lord Nolan, by the then Prime Minister, the Rt Hon John
Major MP, with the following terms of reference:

“To examine current concerns about standards of conduct of all holders of public
office, including arrangements relating to financial and commercial activities, and
make recommendations as to any changes in present arrangements which might be
required to ensure the highest standards of propriety in public life.”

THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC LIFE

SELFLESSNESS

Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.

INTEGRITY

Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties.

OBJECTIVITY

In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

OPENNESS

Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

HONESTY

Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

LEADERSHIP

Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

These principles apply to all aspects of public life. The Committee on Standards in Public Life has set them out here for the benefit of all who serve the public in any way.

http://www.public-standards.gov.uk/Library/Seven_principles.doc

How many of us in the world can say they follow the seven principles of public life? Is it easier said than done? Is there a benchmark for adhering to these principles?

Save Indian Democracy

2008-07-22T05:19:00.000-07:00

The brazen display of hard cash on the floor of the parliament given as bribe in the cash for vote is a shame on Indian democracy.

We are living in kleptocracy. One Telgi scam could cost the exchequer Rs. 30,000 crores. the non performing assets of nationalised banks is a whopping Rs. 200,000 crores.

Corruption and bribery is the order of the day. Demonetize currency. Ban currency circulation. Introduce Biometric Smart card linked to a single bank account as Debit Card for all transactions and make it public to root out corruption.

Liberate India from all predators out to swindle the nation and keep us free from corruption.

LL2B link in kamat.org

2008-07-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.kamat.org/community/profile/?BlogURL=http://ll2b.blogspot.com

ID cards get smarter

2008-06-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

ID cards get smarter

People like them

Geetanjali Krishna June 14, 2008

There's something about innovative ideas that gives me a huge buzz, and as a writer, I've seen my fair share. Some are the sorts whose time has come. Some come after their time has passed. But once in a while, I come across that rare idea whose time is bound to come. Kris Dev and his biometric smart cards fall in this category.

Think about it. We have pan cards and ration cards, driving licenses and voter ID cards. Lose one and you're in big trouble — to get one made may take months of battling bureaucratic red tape. Yet, even with all these cards, there is no foolproof identification of citizens. According to estimates, around 15 lakh of the four crore PAN cards issued are duplicated — by the simple expedient of providing different addresses, father's names and suchlike. Another case of identity theft came to light recently. After the 2005 floods in coastal Andhra Pradesh, an international NGO decided to give Rs 500 each to affected villagers. A local middleman put his thumbprints across 135 names of affected villagers before he was caught!

Kris Dev has come up with a solution to this — Biometric Smart Cards for all. An e-governance consultant and ex-SAIL official, Chennai-based Dev believes that these would herald the end of corruption and the beginning of e-governance in India. This card would contain a set of fingerprints (all 10 fingers), parent's names, date and time of birth, place of birth, blood group, identification marks, height, weight, address, and digital photo. Whenever the smart card is used, a computer would compare the fingerprints registered on it, with those of the user. "It will make the identification fool proof," says Dev.

Smart I-Cards could fulfil many purposes — they could be used as voter ID cards, track income, expenditure, insurance, and PDS benefits, among others. "Moreover, they could help to keep track of movement of people, particularly in sensitive areas, thereby avoiding cross border infiltration, and minimise terrorism," he says.

In addition, says Dev, they would reduce corruption by eliminating personal contact with officials. All transactions can be seen live on the Internet and citizens can track for themselves the progress of various complaints, schemes and payments. It is no wonder, then, that Dev's biometric smart cards won the 2006 Manthan award for creating India's Best e-Content in the category 'E-Inclusion and Livelihoods'.

It all sounded very good, I thought, but what about implementation? Last week, when Delhi had yet another voter card registration drive, there were lines of people waiting just to be photographed. What would happen when all of India's billion-plus citizens have to be not just photographed, but finger printed too? Dev believes that issuing smart cards will not be substantially more difficult than issuing voter cards. All that's needed, he says, is a biometric device costing about Rs 20,000, a laptop computer, a webcam or digital camera — and personnel for operating these devices of course. Each card would cost between Rs 150 to 200, depending upon the amount of information it can contain on it, and can run on a simple 12-volt car battery or rechargeable battery.

Dev's smart cards have already been successfully tested on small village populations in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. "People think that smart cards are too hi-tech for rural India, but I found that villagers were very receptive to them," says he.

While writing this column, I read that the finance minister has reiterated his pledge to issue only biometric pan cards to new applicants. Maybe Dev's smart cards are an idea whose time will come … and sooner than I'd thought.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=326049

Kris Dev.

ps. Geetanjali is a thinker and thought provoking writer on issues affecting the common man and woman.

Community Centric Sustainable Development

2007-12-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

Amithanallur Village in Ellapuram Block of Thiruvallur District, Tamil
Nadu, India is struck by a new Tsunami - the "Community Awakening
Tsunami".

The village is poised for a big change - It is waking up from its
slumber. The sleepy community is now turning vibrant thanks to the
initiatives of the community themselves led by their leader Mr. G.
Karunanidhi, Panchayat President and the initiatives of Social
Activists and NGOs.

In the Grama Sabha meeting held on Gandhi Jayanthi day (October 2,
2007), it was resolved to set up a Community College christened as
"Amithanallur Community College (ACC)" by the community, of the
community and for the community. A Self Help Group (SHG) was set up to
administer the affairs of the College in a meeting held by the
community on November 18, 2007 (a few photos attached).

Mr. G. Karunanidhi, Panchayat President of Amithanallur, a local resident
of the village (son of a freedom fighter and Village Head of
Amithanallur for fifteen years,after independence), is truly following
his father's foot steps and the driving force behind the community
college. He was proud to present us his development activities for the
community and the women of the community were all praise for him.

Panchayat Presidents of three other neighbouring villages viz.
Thirunilai, Akkrampakkm and Madura vaasal are members of the SHG. They
were supported right from the beginning by Mr. K. Rangaiyan, Retired
Block Development Officer of Ellapuram Block, Mr. Pal Arasu, a
Gandhian worker from Kanniya Kumari District with more than 40 years
of dedicated community service and Mr. H. Ramalingam, President and
Mr. Purushothaman, Secretary, and members of GCT78, (alumni of Govt.
College of Technology, Coimbatore 1978 Batch), a not for profit NGO
set up for Benchmarking Engineering Services in Social Sector.

Mr. Kris Dev, ICT & e-Gov Consultant, Life Line to Community /
Business offered to extend development support to the Community
College, to set up Village Knowledge Centre.

The community college will cater to all the people in the Ellapuram
block of Thiruvallur District, consisting of 53 Village panchayats and
Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), the project
anounced by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Honourable Prime Minister, in his
speech on 15th August, 2003 on the concept promoted by Dr. Abdul
Kalam, Honourable President of India, to bridge the rural-urban divide
and achieving balanced socio-economic development.

Anbarasi, K, a married woman with a child, who has passed the 12th
standard, came forward, to become the first Principal of the College.
She is determined to pursue her higher studies and obtain a doctorate
degree and lead by example. Her husband. Sankar, D., who has studied
up to 5th standard and working in a factory as a loader, is also
determined to take up vocational course as part time student.

One of the first few enrollments, was Aravind Nehru, a sixth standard
student, who desires to become a Collector. Another was Ganapathy
Govindarajan, a 11th standard student who wants to become a doctor, as
the village has no doctor. The community volunteered to extend support
to deserving students.

The Community College passed the resolution to conduct various
informal courses to empower the community members in their chosen
field of specialization. Informal certificates named "Kanavu Pura
(Dream Bird)", "Vellai Pura (Peace Bird)" and "Seyal Pura (Action
Bird)" would be given to deserving citizens in the next Gram Sabha on
26th Jan 2008.

Amithanallur Community College, a transparent community initiative,
through its Grama Sabha, would truly empower the marginalized rural
poor and deserves support from all including central Government, State
Government, National and International NGOs, NRI Community,
Educationists and Educational institutions, corporates as a part of
their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

A NDTV video clipping can be seen at
http://youtube.com/watch?v=G2GMi0ziP1Y.

Kris Dev,
ICT & e-Gov Consultant,
Manthan Awardee 2006 for e-Inclusion & Livelihood Creation.
Life Line to Community / Business, Chennai, TN, India.

Manthan Awardee 2006 for e-Inclusion & Livelihood Creation.

(http://ll2b.blogspot.com) Ph: 91 98 408 52132 / 1 (206) 274 1635 (VOIP)

Co-Founder, International Transparency & Accountability Network (TrAcNet)
http://TrAcNet.blogspot.com

Epoch making changes in the offing in India

2007-06-16T05:21:00.000-07:00

Epoch making changes in the offing in India

Bihar, was a notorious state in India, for its bad governance, for decades, is in for a new wave of change, under the dynamic leadership of Mr. Nitish Kumar its gentle yet no nonsense Chief Minister.

Recently under the directive of the Chief Minister, the Minister for Rural Development, Mr. Vaidyanath Mahto, the State Administration headed by Shri. A.K. Chaudhary, IAS, Chief Secretary and Department of Rural Development headed by Mr. Anup Mukherjee, IAS, Principal Secretary, embarked on a plan to root out corruption in its grass root poverty alleviation programme - National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a centrally sponsored scheme, for generating employment opportunities in rural districts, for creation of assets for sustainable living, to alleviate poverty.

An article in the e-World of a leading daily on the topic "Biometric Tracking Gives Tamper Proof Identity to villagers" by Jaya Menon, featuring Kris Dev, a Management and ICT Consultant, specializing in decentralization and e-Governance, Co-Founder of Life Line to Business (LL2B), Chennai, recipient of the prestigious Manthan Award 2006 instituted by the Digital Empowerment Foundation, a national chapter of the World Summit Award, Austria, in the framework of the United Nation's World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in association with American India Foundation, for creating India's Best e-Content in the category 'e-Inclusion and Livelihood creation', for his pioneering work "Biometric tracking of payments under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act" for the grass root initiatives among poverty stricken and calamity prone in backward tribal hamlets of rural Andhra Pradesh, said "Kris is still waiting with crossed fingers for the first invitation to a village in India for implementing the project".

This article set the ball rolling and Mr. Anup Mukherjee wrote to Mr. Kris Dev as follows: "Just read about your exploits,,,. Very exciting. It says, you are still waiting for the invitation to a village in India for implementing the project. If your solution does all that the article describes, it would be ideal for Bihar where people find ways to beat all systems. In fact we are also thinking of biometric muster rolls for our Rural Employment Guarantee schemes. Would you be ready to start a pilot project in Bihar"?

In the meantime, more articles appeared in leading Indian newspapers and magazines on Biometric Smart Cards for NREGP implementation.

Bihar State Electronics Corporation Ltd., (BSEDC), a Govt. of Bihar Undertaking, invited Life Line to Business (LL2B) to give a demo of the biometric tracking to the officials of Rural Development Department. Based on the satisfactory demo, Life Line to Business (LL2B) was recently asked to conduct a proof of concept for 100 NREGP beneficiaries in a rural block of Bihar, between June 5 and 8, 2007. Kris Dev and Ashwin V.G.of Life Line to business (LL2B), went from Chennai to Patna to do the field work, carrying their laptop, web cam, scanner, biometric device, etc.

The villages identified for the proof of concept was Kurkuri and Dhuparchak Musahari, most under developed, in Gonpura Panchayat, Phulwarisharif Block of Patna district. The proof of concept was done among 170 men and women who are registered beneficiaries and having NREGP Cards with photographs. The registration and verification was done using different optical biometric devices.

The first biometric device used was a Fingkey Hamster computer linked optical finger size biometric device for registering all the ten fingers (twice each finger for getting the best value of minutiae counts) and a photograph of the beneficiary taken and all his personal data such as name, father / mother / husband name, date of birth, address, etc. registered and their NREGP Card with the photograph and details was scanned and attached to their details, for creating a permanent database.

After the registration process was completed, the verification was done immediately, by entering the NREGP ID number and the beneficiary was asked to place any finger on the biometric device. Lo, the individual's photo would instantly pop up from the database on the computer monitor. This gave a high level of confidence to an illiterate labourer, as seeing their own photo popping up on placing any finger, was believing that biometric registration of all ten fingers gave them unique identity.

The photograph would pop up in the computer monitor, every time any finger was placed on the biometric device, by entering their NREGP ID number, when a one to one match of any of the ten fingers takes place. Simultaneously, the attendance was marked as 'in' or 'out' depending on whether it was the first or second entry and a permanent record created in the database, for attendance tracking. The photo popping up on placing a finger and the attendance tracking, and a simultaneous print out of the attendance could also be made available.

For the field work, it was desired that a mobile optical biometric device with its own battery power back up would be more suitable for daily attendance tracking. A stand alone hand held biometric device that can run with rechargeable batteries and store 1,500 finger prints was used for the registration and verification. The device also had the capability to register the NREGP ID and all the ten fingers (each 3 times for getting the best minutiae count).

Registration and verification of finger prints was 100% successful with both the devices. It is also possible to integrate finger print registration with a smart card which can store the finger prints and personal data for use any time any where. If the smart card is linked to the post office or bank account, then the payments can automatically credited into the post office or bank account and the multipurpose smart card used as a biometric debit card for making purchases or for drawing money from ATMs.

The poor citizens can track by themselves the attendance, the work done and the payment received. No one would be able to cheat them, as the smart card and the print outs are permanent records of all transactions.

Bihar would have the unique distinction of becoming the first state in India to introduce biometric tracking for NREGP to root out corruption, empower the poor and alleviate stark poverty.

The citizens of India are now waiting with crossed fingers for Nitish Kumar to show the way, for the transformation of Bihar that could pave the way for empowerment of poor citizens in all sectors such as health, education, noon meal scheme, employment, old age pension, etc.

ICT for empowering the marginalized and bridging digital divide

2007-06-14T20:13:00.001-07:00

The Indian Express Tuesday June 12, 2007

Front Page Story

Bihar shows smart card way to cleaner rural job schemes (in India)

Jaya Menon

Posted online: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 0000 hrs

Villagers working under NREG scheme get tamper-proof identity cards through biometric authentication

CHENNAI, JUNE 11: Devanti Devi, Dilip Shaw and Bisuandayal Manjhi of the Gonpura panchayat in Bihar will soon be sporting smart job cards that also double up as ATM/debit cards. They are workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme (NREG) and are among 170 men and women in two villages who would be the first to be registered as NREG members through a foolproof biometric verification device.

For three days from last Tuesday, after the initial hostility and scepticism, villagers in Kurkuri and Dhuparchak Mushahari in Phulwarisharif block of Patna district, gathered at the Panchayat office to place their fingers (all 10) on a Korean-made biometric device. Each finger was registered twice for getting the best value of minutiae counts (the whorls and ridges on a finger).

Then the villagers were photographed and all their personal data was registered on their NREG Card. With the photograph and details scanned and attached to their names, the state created a permanent database on the workers.

After the registration process was completed, the verification was done immediately by entering the NREG ID number, and the beneficiary was asked to place any finger on the biometric device, a small machine that is easily portable to the worksite. The individual's photograph instantly popped up from the database on the computer monitor.

"The technology has been proven through a transparent system. Now we have to link it to our NREG process which will give every member a job card or a smart card and cover entire Bihar," Anup Mukherji, Commissioner of the Rural Development Department, told The Indian Express.

All that a panchayat would need for implementing a fool-proof registration and verification process is a biometric device costing about Rs. 20,000, a laptop computer of about Rs. 25,000, a webcam or a digital camera and a personnel for operating the devices.

With Nitish Kumar keen on making the poverty alleviation programme a success in his state, his government had initially hit on the idea of fingerprinting each of the NREG workers at the time of registration and during payment of their wages. But this was hardly effective since verification of the fingerprints was a mind-boggling process and required a forensic expert to certify each of them.

It was around this time that an article in The Indian Express on January 28 this year on a biometric tracking concept devised by Kris Dev, a Chennai-based e-governance consultant, caught the attention of the Bihar administration. Mukherji got in touch with Kris Dev and asked him to prove to the state government that the technology worked at the ground level. "If your solution does all that the article describes, it would be ideal for Bihar where people find ways to beat all systems," Mukherji told Kris Dev.

Dev went to Patna in February to make a presentation to the Bihar State Electronics Corporation and later at two villages. On June 7, Nitish Kumar watched the demo in the two villages that Kris Dev presented and gave a spot clearance for the concept to be implemented throughout Bihar.

"It is surprising that Bihar should become the first state in India to introduce biometric tracking for NREG," said Dev today.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/33365.html

Forwarded by:

Kris Dev, ICT & e-Gov Consultant, Manthan Awardee 2006 for Creating India's best e-Content in the category 'e-Inclusion & Livelihood' creation. http://ll2b.blogspot.com. (0) 98 408 52132.

Biometric tracking gives a tamper proof identity to villagers

2007-05-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

Biometric tracking gives a tamper proof identity to villagers

Jaya Menon - Chennai

Remote Gurrampeta, a tribal hamlet, seemed hardly the ideal place to distribute smart cards after an experiment with sophisticated personal tracking or access control systems. The backward village with 150 families was poverty-stricken and calamity prone. All that the tribals here wanted was a decent livelihood that would give them at least a meal a day. So, when Kris Dev and his IT savvy team from Chennai hit this rural reach of Andhra Pradesh, carrying their 'access technology' equipment, comprising a biometric device, a 9" by 6 "equipment weighing barely 500 gms, and a laptop, the villagers did not exactly jump with joy.

''In fact, after setting up the equipment to start their experiment, it suddenly struck us that there was no power supply to Gurrampeta village,'' says Kris Dev, a management and ICT consultant, specialising in decentralization and e-governance, co-founder of the Life Line 2 Business (LL2B). He recently won the Manthan Award in the category of 'e-inclusion and livelihood creation.'' The April 2006 experiment by Kris and his team in three villages of Andhra Pradesh, Gurrampeta (V R Puram Mandal in Khammam District), Mohammedabad and Jakulla Kootha Palli (Amadugur Mandal in Ananthapur district) coming under the National Rural Development Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) for 'Biometric Tracking of Payments under NREGA and others' was adjudged the best among 25 states in India.

Back in Gurrampeta, Kris and his colleagues, found a 6-volt car battery and kicked off their experiment which promised to usher in radical changes at the grass root level ''where villagers working in agricultural fields, construction sites or factories were always being exploited by greedy, corrupt middlemen.'' Their village initiative had been possible only after several rounds of counselling and explanations. It was quite understandable, as the villagers had only recently been taken for a big ride.

Soon after the 2005 floods in coastal Andhra Pradesh spread over Khammam district, the Hyderabad-based Centre for World Solidarity, a NGO, announced solatium of Rs. 500 each for many villages including Gurrampeta. ''A middleman, authorised to distribute the relief money, put his thumbprints across 135 names of affected villagers and pocketed funds worth Rs. 75,000,'' says Kris. Only 15 villagers actually got the relief. Kris explained to the disillusioned villagers that this would never happen with a biometric device where each of them would have a 'unique identity' by registering their thumbprint into the machine and their photographs integrated through software. So, every time they put their thumb on the optical scan for verification, their photographs would pop up. The biometric device has a provision to enter the citizen's ID and displays the ID and name on a LCD screen.

''When a villager signs in for work, he registers on he biometric device. He does the same when he finishes work. So, there is an official record of the man days he puts in which cannot be tampered with and he has to be paid for work done on those days. We have work records (muster-rolls) in villages showing how supervisors have tampered with number of working days of villagers so that they could pocket the extra cash,'' said Kris. ''A biometric-based smart card where the citizen uses the information of what he has, what he knows and what he is, ensures a high level of security,'' he added.

Now, villagers of Gurrampeta, neighbouring Mohammedabad and J K Palli are thrilled with their new identity. But this was just an experiment. Convincing the policy makers to introduce the process on a permanent basis has proved to be more difficult. In fact, one officer wanted to know if the biometric device would work as well with work-worn hands as it did with his 'soft' fingers. ''We showed him that the device worked with everyone —a villager working with machines in a factory, whose work-roughened palms were full of corns and those working in cement factories,'' points out Kris. So, while he had convinced villagers that a unique 'biometric' citizen identity would dramatically change their lives, the greater challenge has been to convince the various state and district administrations.

The investment would be a mere Rs. 20,000 in every village for a battery-run biometric device in conjunction with a suitable software that can register citizens uniquely, avoid duplication, create a data base of citizens and permit online transfer of information for the district and state administrations to view online. Kris is still waiting with crossed fingers for the first invitation to a village in India for implementing the project.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/21904.html

Biometric Smart Card, a fool-proof ID for citizens

2007-05-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

The Hindu Business Line, India.

Monday, Mar 19, 2007
ePaper

eWorld - E-Governance
Info-Tech - Interview

The `BSC' of identity

Paromita Pain

A biometric smart card device can be a fool-proof ID for citizens, says this ICT consultant.

Talk of free and fair elections and likely the sceptical scoffing will be accompanied with jibes like `Maybe Krishh (the superhero Hrithik Roshan played) can help you get there.'

Well, folks, sceptics and all those ready to vote out there, we have news for you. Kris is here to help solve voting problems.

eWorld recently chatted up Kris Dev or Gopala Krishnan Devanathan, ICT (information and communication technology) and e-Governance Consultant, and NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) Implementation Activist on his Biometric Smart Card (BSC) device. The device won the 2006 Manthan award for creating India's Best e-Content in the category `e-inclusion & Livelihood' for Biometric Tracking of Payments under NREGA.

Over to Kris Dev:

"Today there is no unique and foolproof identification of citizens. A Biometric Smart Card is the answer to this. The process is simple. Every citizen could be uniquely registered by a Citizen ID and all their particulars — such as name, father's name, mother's name, date and time of birth, place of birth, blood group, identification marks, height, weight, address and their digital photo can be made available," says Dev.

All this information can be put into a database and stored in a Java 32kb contactless smart chip and issued as a Citizen ID card, he explains.

Whenever citizens go for voting, they need to carry the BSC. The authentication is done using any finger, by placing it on the finger print verifier and comparing with the finger print in the chip. The record of voting can be stored in the chip as well as the voting machine and downloaded to a computer and transferred to a central server.

Besides voting, the biometric card has other uses. It can be used by an individual literally from birth to death, to track all transactions including medical history, education, skill training, employment, income and expense tracking, insurance, compulsory savings, income tax, old age pension and PDS benefits, among others, says Dev.

"It can help to keep track of movement of people, particularly in sensitive areas, thereby avoiding cross border infiltration, and minimise terrorism," he says.

The card can also be used for G2C (government to citizens) transactions and to register citizens' grievances online using the proposed 600,000 Community Service Centres of the National Alliance for Mission 2007 - `Every Village a Knowledge Centre' project of the Government of India.

Such a device, says Dev, will minimise corruption, by eliminating personal contact with officials. All transactions can be seen live on the Internet and citizens can track, for themselves, the progress of various complaints, schemes and payments.

Easy to apply

Implementing the card process is seen as not too difficult since the peripherals required are minimal and cheap.

As the Manthan Web site says, "The product can be operated with a simple 12 volt car battery or rechargeable battery. The device can help to register up to 1,000 finger prints and then compare the actual beneficiary with the template, thereby ensuring the right person gets paid, for the services rendered. The device uniquely identifies the thumb impression of each beneficiary, linked to their ID."

Dev suggests, "Every citizen can be issued a biometric Smart card which can also act as a Bank Debit Card for about Rs 100-200 per person, depending on the volumes."

The spur

Surprisingly, the voting system in the country didn't give birth to this concept.

Dev was motivated to develop it by the crying need to track payments made to citizens under the Work for Food programme and National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes. In a remote AP village, they found middlemen swindling the entire flood relief released by an NGO, using fraudulent muster roll.

Of course, they encountered stiff resistance when they sought to implement the card system in this context.

"Everyone said, `oh! It is not adopted anywhere in the world. It will work only for white-collar officials and not for workers and farm labourers," recalls Dev. "They said suddenly, after going to the field, that there is no power in the whole village to test the device. We sought a locally available 12 volt car battery and ran the device." The beneficiaries were, of course, totally captivated.

But is this completely tamper-proof?

Dev avers, ""It can be made 99.9 per cent tamper proof. Even if the biometric verification is not possible in a rare case, the Citizen ID retrieved from the Smart card with the photo can be good proof."

Biometric tracking using the iris has been done in AP for public distribution. "But the iris scanner is a costlier device" says Dev. "Hence we came up with a suggestion to use a low-cost device that would serve the needs of the common man."

Besides, it can be made better. "We have tested use of stand-alone devices in the field where the daily worker's attendance can be tracked and the data downloaded to the local computer. It can also be connected to a telephone line to send to the block/district server. The Smart card would help to store the entire attendance information. To eliminate any doubt in the mind of the worker, an Instant printout of the attendance slip can be given using a palm printer. The pay slip can be generated automatically and credited into the account for use through the BSC, says Dev.

Various State Government Departments, NGOs and Micro Credit organisations, among others, have shown interest in adopting the technology.

Mindsets and funding are tedious roadblocks. Also, says Dev, "The Indian Government must bring about an amendment in the NREGA and RTI Act, to include Biometric Tracking of Citizens."

paromita@thehindu.co.in

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2007/03/19/stories/2007031900110300.htm

Successful implementation of Paper-less Office Tool

2005-11-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

We are glad to inform, that we have successfully implemented a Paper-less Office Tool, using OPEN SOURCE tools such as Java, JBoss with PGSQL as backend, all running on Linux.

The implementation of the tool has transformed the work culture of Government organizations and all employees right from the lowest clerk to the highest official have embraced the tool, as it simplifies their working and makes life easy for everyone.

All incoming letters are scanned and digitized and from then on moves electronically and attached to e-Files which get instant approval and outward tapal is sent. This has dramatically improved the service level and cut down the average process time by 50%.

A copy of the Certificate issued by Mr. P.W.C. Davidar, IAS, Member Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, India and Mr. Sudeep Jain, IAS, Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd. is attached..

This is a unique e-Governance initiative. The tool complies fully with the Tottenham system of office administration, followed in the Secretariat, Governmentt departments and undertakings. We can integrate any language and Digital Signature into the tool.

We have implemented the tool in Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd. (ELCOT), a Govt. of Tamil Nadu Undertaking, for the last almost 2 years, based on which, they have entered into a marketing agreement with us.

We have implemented a customized paper-less communication solution for Industrial Guidance Bureau, Govt. of Pondicherry, connecting 19 departments / municipalities / panchayats on a simple dial-up, for granting time bound and transparent clearance.

We had implemented the solution in the Office of the Spl. Commissioner of Treasuries and Accounts, Chennai for five months from Jan to May 2005.

We have now implemnted the tool successfully in Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.Our tool can be adopted as an e-Governance tool by any Government organization.

Kris Dev
krisdev@gmail.com

2005-06-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

TN's e-Gov experiences spotty, but ongoing

Tamilnadu's foray into e-governance has not yet lived upto potentialbecause policy makers may be implementing top-driven projects withlittle public participation. Still, the state does have its ownexamples of how things could work. Krithika Ramalingam reports.

23 March 2005 - When the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development ofWomen (TNCDW) announced its paper-less office in summer of 2002, manycitizens in the state waited with bated breath for the full rollout ofe-governance. The idea of files moving from desk-to-desk at the speedof thought got the babudom great press. But three years down the line,e-governance has been a late starter, operational in around 15 of the108 urban local bodies in the state under the three-year-old WorldBank funded scheme or failing to sustain where it had earlier beenimplemented.Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts believe thee-governance experiment in Tamilnadu has been slow because the policymakers are busy re-inventing the wheel, moving into investment-centricmodes and implementing projects that are top-driven with little publicparticipation.The Information Technology Act does not empower the public to insistthat documents be accepted in electronic form by any governmentdepartment. This has become an excuse for the slow roll-out. -- NVijayashankar, cyber law expertTake the example of Tambaram Municipality, near Chennai. It was one ofthe first urban local bodies in the state to introduce online paymentof property tax and water tax and issue birth and death certificatesin July 2003. The turnaround time for files came down to not exceeding5 days from weeks. But after the yearlong mentoring by an ICT NGOstopped, the system has gone to the dogs.
"Now the touch screen that they used to collect the taxes is stored ina dusty room in the Tambaram Tahsildar\'s office away from the public.The records are not updated and residents often are asked to bringback old receipts for the municipal officials to cross check thedetails of the property. If e-governance is to bring down turnaroundtime for mundane work like tax collection and issue of documents, thenTambaram Municipality is an example of how not to run it," says KMahadevan, a resident of Goriwakkam in East Tambaram.Santosh Narayanan of Foundation of Occupational Development, the NGOwhich mentored the project till July 2004, says the municipal staffwas originally so enthused that the next day they had turned upnattily dressed in ties and their attitudes toward work changed. Thenthe Municipal commissioner was transferred and the project lost steam.The online grievance redressal system on the web addresswww.snegham.com is defunct with the site becoming a victim of cybersquatting."Information and Communication Technology projects take commitmentfrom the top, the participants should be receptive to the idea, andthe political set up should concur. Vendors or NGOs can only givelogistical back up from outside, but cannot drive the projectsthemselves. If the end-user is not involved, e-governance is bound tofail," says Narayanan.This could be the template into which most of the failed ICT projects– be it on the e-administration, e-government services or e-governance– fit. The Sivaganga district collectorate returned to paper-centricoffice after a brief dalliance with e-governance, the project scrappedafter the district collector who had introduced it was transferred.The weekly web durbar of Thiruvallur collectorate – grievanceredressal mechanism through which the collector simultaneously", connects to 50 villages – is floundering after a change in head.Legally also, India's Information Technology Act does not have aprovision to prevent the return to non-computerised workflow.Information Technology expert and author of Cyber Laws: I T Act 2000and beyond, N Vijayashankar, says permanence of e-governance should beworked into the Information Technology Act. He says: "Section 9 of theAct does not empower the public to insist that documents be acceptedin electronic form by any Ministry Department of the CentralGovernment or of the State Government. This has become an excuse forthe slow roll-out." Vijayashankar is also an advisor to the KarnatakaGovernment for its e-governance policies.But it is not as if Tamilnadu does not have examples of how thingscould work. Using software from Andhra Pradesh Technology Services,bought at a ridiculously low cost of Rs. 10,000, TNCDW ChairpersonQudsia Gandhi and Executive Director Dr Santhosh Babu cut redtape tosize in their office.The tapals/petitions were scanned, coded and sent to relevantofficials, establishing a workflow process that could be managed andmonitored at any point by the head of departments. This reducedpaperwork, which was used only in the final stages to take printoutsof file summaries once the files were closed. Also, it made tracking afile's progress simple. This workflow process and document managementformat has become the most popular one for e-administration tools."But the most valuable part of the exercise was learning about changemanagement. When the idea was floated around, it became evident thatmany among the staff had reservations. Questions like 'would jobs belost? Will there be a re-allocation of responsibilities if one werenot to be familiar with computers?' were repeated. We had to speak toeach staff individually to enlist their support," says Dr Babu. And inthis case, the system is functional even after both Qudsia Gandhi and
Where the government-owned corporation seems to score over governmentdepartments is that there is greater autonomy of functioning, bothfunds-wise and in administration. For the 40-seater office, neitherchange management nor funds was an obstacle as moststate-government-owned corporations have budgetary allocations forcomputerisation/e-administration processes. On the other hand, in hugegovernment departments such person-to-person contact forimplementation or raising funds - through annual budgetary allocations– is more time-consuming.To cut costs, an expert committee on e-governance headed by the vicechancellor of Anna University – central technical university –recommended the use of open source software. One such open sourcevendor is Lifeline to Business Pvt Ltd, an ICT company that hasentered into a market agreement with the Electronics Corporation ofTamil Nadu (ELCOT). But before marketing it, ELCOT decided toimplement e-administration in its own offices.ELCOT is a government-owned corporation overseen by the stategovernment\'s IT department. It has been appointed to monitor thestate\'s e-Governance mission and is the implementor of policydecisions taken by the IT department.Since April 2004, after evaluating other software, ELCOT has switchedto a web-based, platform-independent e-administration software of LL2Bthat uses a Linux-based application. (Linux is renowned for becomingthe global open source community\'s rebuttal to Microsoft\'s proprietaryWindows operating system.) LL2B\'s president V D G Krishnan said theopen source route more than halved the costs, which could then be usedto train users. This advantage has enthused the Chennai MetropolitanDevelopment Authority, Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Boardand the Treasuries Department to go the paperless office way.", Concerns of transparency and accountability have also been the movingforce behind e-governance and Krishnan believes tools such as his willopen up the system to public scrutiny. Other ICT experts however,differ radically from this point of view and fear that e-governancecould fail if the implementers internalised the inherent faults of theprevalent system into e-governance. "Technology by itself cannot bethe cure for what ails the system. The person manning the computerscould still demand speed money; it would require a change in valuesystem of the society," says Santosh Narayanan.During a recent collections drive, suburban water tax collectors forTambaram and Alandur found defaulters in their paper-based recordsamong those who had already paid through kiosks. Many were forced topay up a second time rather than face disconnection of drinking water,reports one resident. In Tambaram and neighbouring Alandur Municipalities, thecomputerisation of tax collection has neither resulted in an increasein payments nor transparency, nor effectiveness. Residents repeatstories of how computer-unsavvy the local body officials were, unableto retrieve duplicates of lost receipts."A part of the public-partnered underground drainage scheme in AlandurMunicpality pre-dates e-governance. The receipts for deposit paymenthave not all been digitised and there is some confusion about who haspaid and who has not. Those who have misplaced the deposit receiptsfind it difficult to get duplicates because of this duality." says anAlandur-based flat promoter.In both these muncipalities the back-end operations for property andwater tax collections are yet to be completely and coherentlydigitised. "The tax collectors during a recent a door-to-doorcollection drive found defaulters in their paper-based records amongthose who had receipts from payments in the kiosks. Many were forcedto pay up a second time rather than face disconnection of drinking
Change would also be required in the government\'s approach toe-governance, say experts. Though the need for a central e-governancedirectorate has been identified, it is yet to be set up. Tamilnadu\'se-governance mission lacks a clear policy guideline and the privateparticipation has been poor with inappropriate tendering processes,especially among small and medium enterprises with innovative ideas.Vivek Harinarain is the top bureaucrat for Information Technology inTamilnadu. He confirms that Tamilnadu is in the process ofestablishing the e-gov directorate, which will take stock of existinge-governance processes. "With the metrics from the nationale-governance action plan, the ELCOT has already started businessprocess re-engineering to weed out the mistakes from existingprojects", says Harinarain.Vijayshankar throws light on tendering practices in government thatcause outcomes to go wrong. "For example, the government should seekthose who will be able deliver birth and death certificates at thecost of Rs.5 per document that measures up to certain criteria insteadof floating a lowest-bidder tender describing the processes that mightnot be cost-effective", he says. If the government were to seekvendors who could deliver a service at minimal cost instead ofdescribing the processes through which the services should berendered, private participation would be greater, argues Vijayshankar.Other issues about intellectual property rights violation are raisingtheir heads with competing, sometimes even collaborating vendors,infringing on copyrights. With the government willing to give only anin-principle sanction for most projects, vendors are fearful if the\'Antares vs. CommerceOne\' situation would not be repeated, he says.(In July 2003, Antares Systems Ltd had sought CommerceOne and AndhraPradesh Government be restrained from infringing its copyright in its",e-tendering software product Tenderwizard. In its complaint, Antaresalleged CommerceOne, along with Microsoft and Compaq, bidding jointlyfor the e-procurement initiative and thereafter, copied and reverseengineered the e-tendering software of Antares and deployed thesoftware.)Despite these difficulties, Tamilnadu's IT department is going aheadwith its e-governance initiatives. The statewide, wide area network toprovide data, voice and video connectivity project was undertaken inthe last financial year. Though late, ELCOT has started astandardization project to evaluate e-governance tools and enter intomarketing agreements with vendors, as part of its e-governmentmission. "The less-paper initiative (LL2B's e-governance tool) has wonawards from the Department of Administrative Reforms and PublicGrievances. It was an economical decision to market thise-administration tool. There will be revenue sharing between the ELCOTand LL2B", says Vivek Harinarain.In Chennai itself, the state's capital, pilot projects have only meantonline payment of bills for customers of Metrowater and theelectricity utility, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). IT officialsare now scaling up this project to cover other public utilities andother services such as payment of old-age and widows' pensions.

⊕Krithika Ramalingam23 Mar 2005Krithika Ramalingam is a Chennai-based development journalist

ICT and e-Gov for achieving MDGs

2004-11-16T00:09:00.000-08:00

Case study on: “ICT and e-Gov”

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has today become an integral part of governance, especially in India. ICT is viewed as a tool that will help deliver services, both in the public and the private sector, to the ubiquitous common man. What used to take years to compile and analyse, now takes just a few seconds or minutes!

E-governance, as a concept, involves leveraging ICT to streamline the administrative process — it involves computerisation of records, facilitating efficient transactions between various government departments, networking offices and using websites and e-mail to bring administrators closer to people.

In the past decade, e-governance has been a popular buzzword among politicians and bureaucrats alike, especially in India. One quasi-Government organisation in Tamil Nadu, has decided to go the distance, by implementing e-governance at a micro level – their office is now completely paperless and file-transfer takes place in an electronic format.

Using a tool aptly titled “e-Administration”, Chennai-based Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd. (ELCOT), with the help of an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) organisation called Life-Line to Business (LL2B.COM), has introduced a workflow and document management process sans physical movement or use of paper.

Designated by the Government of Tamil Nadu to promote IT industries in the state, ELCOT, besides supporting IT entrepreneurs also promotes joint ventures in electronics, communication and IT. They also help develop infrastructure for the software industry in the form of IT parks and by providing effective communication backbones.

LL2B.COM’s ‘e-Administration’ tool allows ELCOT officials to sanction purchases, approve official activities and transfer files flawlessly in completely electronic format. With a view to introduce transparency in their workflow process, all the files processed in the organisation are made available on a central server, while the status of pending files can be obtained at any stage. There is no physical movement of files at any stage — only the final order copies are printed and stored as physical record.

The Nuts and Bolts
As part of its e-governance initiative, the Government of Tamil Nadu embarked on a paper-less office drive for introducing transparency and accountability in its internal and external transactions.

ELCOT, the nodal organization for IT activities in the state, decided to introduce “e-Administration” — a paperless File Management System, which ensures speedy disposal of files. The entire process — creation, movement, monitoring, and approval of files takes place electronically, resulting in better utilisation of manpower. “This helps avoiding delays which leads to better governance,” according to Sudeep Jain, I.A.S., MD, ELCOT.

‘e-Administration’ is the brainchild of ICT and e-Gov specialist, VDG Krishnan, who has over a quarter of a century hands-on managerial experience in the Public Sector in India and a leading MNC in North / South America. He is the Founder President of Life-Line to Business (LL2B.COM Pvt. Ltd). His urge was to develop a simple yet effective solution, that can help to transform the Governments, Corporates, SMEs and NGOs. The tool was conceived by him, after his return to India, as an apt solution for e-Governance in the developing world, based on his experience in both the developing and the developed world.

e-Administration, is a web-enabled, platform-independent, paperless solution developed on an Open Source platform, for paperless communication within and outside an organization. It uses open source offerings such as J2EE, JBOSS, PGSQL all running on Linux.

The tool, according to Krishnan, can reduce the cycle time for file approval from an average of two to three weeks to one week. This can also result in a considerable reduction of paper-usage within an organisation, thereby saving valuable natural resources.

According to Krishnan, LL2B’s tool, empowers every employee in the organization to discharge his or her duties efficiently. It has also reduced the dependence on subordinates and makes the organization system-oriented rather than people-centric. This is likely to result in increased productivity.

Being a Linux platform, local language content can also be easily added. This tool can be used by any organization whose activities involve dealing with multiple agencies, for simultaneous review and action. The tool also aids knowledge management and integration in NGOs for self-assessment, decentralised field updating and centralised review and monitoring.

The Process
ELCOT conducted trials with products offered by four to five SMEs – for independent evaluation, with a view to adopt the best tool. The SMEs were asked to implement the necessary customisations, to suit the requirements of ELCOT / Govt.

Trials were conducted over three to twelve months, with equal opportunity given to all the vendors. In each department, one system was configured as the server and five nodes (on an average) connected as clients, for live testing.

Says K. Appuswamy, General Manager (e-Governance), “Many organizations had conducted trials, but only LL2B’s model worked successfully, at ELCOT.”

LL2B.COM’s product was one of the five LAN based solutions tried out — the front-end was based on Visual Basic while the backend was Microsoft Access / SQL, running on a Microsoft Windows 2000 server, in the initial trials. This tool was initially installed in ELCOT’s Marketing Department for about 5 officers. Seeing the effective use of the tool, more officers and staff came forward voluntarily to use the tool. Steadily the number was increased and the solution upgraded to a browser based, web version, for removing the dependence on client systems.

Currently, e-Administration system connects about 150 users, in three different locations spread over a distance of about 25 KMs, including their Corporate Office at Nandanam, their Communication Division at Perungudy and their Chairman Mr. Vivek Harinarain, I.A.S., who is the Secretary, IT, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, at the Secretariat, through a dedicated powerful four-way Xeon dual Processor with RAID facility, running a versatile Oracle 9i database as backend on Linux advanced server, centrally located at ELCOT Corporate office.

The tool simplifies the process of generating files and enables moving note sheets electronically, for approval. Instead of physically carrying note sheets for approval, from table to table, the employees began using the tool. Receipt of the e-document was indicated by pop-up alert messages on the officers’ monitors.

All letters received from external agencies could now be scanned and converted into electronic documents, which would then be added to the central repository. This system enables a user to check the status of a file, at any stage. More importantly, delays are minimised as the files can be traced instantly through the network — employees can now know which officer has kept the file pending.

“The biggest advantage of ‘e-Administration’ is that it enables us to view, at any stage, the status of pending file. The details are available on a central server and can be accessed by anyone, having the authority. This way, workflow is simplified”.

LL2B’s “e-Administration” tool not only effects a dramatic reduction of stationary usage, and time taken to process documents, it also serves to introduce transparency in the working of any organisation.

The employees of ELCOT also took to the system rather well. According to Appuswamy, “Our employees became more and more comfortable with using the tool as the trials progressed. It’s quite user-friendly and doesn’t require a lot of technical expertise. I myself began using the system without any formal training, and have been using it successfully for eight months now.”

Accolades
At the 7th National e-Gov conference held in Chennai in November 2003, MD, ELCOT received a merit citation award from Government of India, for implementation of “e-Administration, as a tool for e-Governance”.

The Industrial Guidance Bureau of the Government of Pondicherry has implemented an integrated e-Platform, a quickly customized solution of ‘e-Administration’, to automate the activities of the Department of Industries and Commerce. (Refer Budget 2004-2005 Address of H.E. the Lt. Governor, Pondicherry http://www.pon.nic.in/open/depts/finance/lgspeech2004.pdf).

Item 7 of the speech reads as follows:

"..Removal of poverty may not be practically possible without focusing special attention on creation of gainful job opportunities. The Tenth plan at the national level envisages creation of 50 million new employment opportunities over a period of five years. Therefore, focused attention will be given to few critical sectors such as
Industries, Information Technology, .. etc. which have very high employment potential.

Item 19 of the speech reads as follows:

"..The manufacturing sector of the economy has potential to absorb the surplus labour force. The labour intensive manufacturing units can provide gainful job opportunities for skilled as well as semi-skilled labour force. We will continue to encourage new entrepreneurs to choose Pondicherry as their destination for establishing new industrial units and procedures will be simplified to obtain licence /
permission to start units. We will continue to pursue the policies of promoting pollution free, less water and less power consuming industries in our Union Territory.

Item 20 of the speech, reads as follows:

"Industrial Guidance Bureau with integrated e-Platform has been established by substituting single window clearance system to speed up the process of industrial clearance / permission for setting up of new industrial units. A total of 21 Departments including Municipalities / Commune Panchayats have been integrated with a dedicated electronic network for granting permission to set up an industry and also to commence production".

This saves a lot of time, effort and cost to industrialists and citizens as well as officials of various Departments. As against submitting 10 copies of documents in the manual system, in the electronic system, only one signed copy needs to be submitted, thereby saving 90% of paper, resulting in conserving of natural forest
resources.

A unique initiative, being attempted for the first time in India, 21 Departments — including municipalities and Panchayats are connected on a simple dial-up. The central repository server will be located at the District Industries Centre, Pondicherry. This will form a dedicated electronic network. The network will allow the Government to grant permission, for example to set up an industry; it can also help a manufacturing unit obtain a Licence to commence production, etc.

Says Krishnan, “This would save a lot of time, effort and cost to industrialists and citizens as well as officials of various Departments. As opposed to submitting 10 copies of documents in the manual system, in the electronic system, only one signed copy needs to be submitted, thereby helping save paper. It can help to fuel investment in the State and generate employment for local people.”

Such an integrated e-Platform can be used by the ministries and Undertakings of the Central Government as well as various State Governments, where ever multiple agencies are involved in scrutinizing applications and granting time bound clearances for plan approval, building constructions, setting-up industries, etc. It can bring about the much desired transparency and accountability.

Various Central and State Government Departments and Undertakings including the Andhra Pradesh Technology Services, the Governments of West Bengal, Orissa, Manipur, Goa etc. State Bank of India, the Canadian Consulate in Chennai, British Trade Office (Bangalore), Ministry of Industrial Development, Malaysia and the State of Sarawak, Malaysia have shown interest in “e-Administration”, a web enabled solution, developed using open source. This can considerably cut down the budget expenditure for e-Governance, according to Krishnan.

Instead of resting on their laurels, LL2B plans to reach out to the various Government Departments and Undertakings as well as Corporates, SMEs and NGOs by implementing their solutions in as many public and private organisations as possible, in India and the developing world, by offering the basic solution free and charging only for the customisation, installation, training, hand holding, annual maintenance and upgrade support, either directly or through ELCOT, with whom LL2B has a marketing tie-up. This is expected to benefit vastly Governments in India and the developing world, by saving on e-Governance expenditure. “We are currently holding discussions with the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, to implement ‘e-Administration’ in their offices / institutions across the city,” says Krishnan.

Shri. D. Jayakumar , the Hon. Minister for IT, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, had stated in the State Assembly:

“The Government has also decided to take up development of four generic softwares – paperless office, electronic delivery of services, development of government portal and integrated district information system”.

“Of these, the paperless office was already in place in ELCOT”.

While it’s naïve to believe that “e-Administration” paperless office solutions like LL2B’s, may just be the panacea for our red-tape ridden bureaucracy, it certainly is a step in the right direction — one small step for e-governance, a giant leap for democracy!

Why ELCOT took the plunge:

1. The number of major departments: 4
2. The average number of files generated per department per year: 150
3. The average number of physical movements per file: 20
4. The average number of cycles per file from start to end: 8

The total number of manual entries / file movement from desk-to-desk per year: 4x150x20x8 = 96,000 manual entries or file movements per year.

The workload is not evenly distributed as it depends on a hierarchy for granting sanction and/or approval of files. The Managing Director (MD) typically has to view and approve approximately 200 files per week. That is an average of 40 files per working day! This is apart from the various meetings he has to attend. Files pile up when he is on tour and he is forced to carry work home. When the officer is away, files are kept pending. The officer may not even know that there are files pending, even if they are urgent. These problems cause inordinate delays in the workflow process. A tool such as e-Administration ensures prompt disposal of files and access to a central database, where the status of files can be monitored at every stage, thus ensuring efficiency and transparency.

Sudeep Jain, MD, ELCOT confirms that while average cycle time for file approval was earlier 15 to 21 days, after the implementation of the electronic system, it was brought down to 5 to 7 days.

Source: ‘ E-ADMINISTRATION THE KEY FOR E-GOVERNANCE - INITIATIVES FOR CREATING A PAPERLESS OFFICE’, by Sudeep Jain, IAS, Managing Director, ELCOT, Chennai-35, presented at the 7th National e-Gov Conference in Nov 2003, conducted by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, Govt. of India.

Further enquiries on “e-Administration” or on implementing e-Governance / Corporate Governance, may be addressed to Mr. Krishnan at krisdev@gamil.com.

e-Administration in Government organizations

2004-09-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

The Hindu Business Line
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications

Monday, Sep 06, 2004, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

eWorld - E-Governance

Take those files away

Raja Simhan T.E.

This government undertaking in Tamil Nadu is going paperless, with files moving from PC to PC rather than desk to desk.

IT'S a welcome change in routine for the tapal attendant at the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot), a State Government undertaking responsible for developing the electronics industry in the State. Until recently, he had to manually segregate hundreds of letters and the papers would then start making the rounds through the office. However, today, the attendant just scans the tapal, whether it is a letter to Elcot's chairman or to any other official, in a scanner, and the document automatically makes its journey through the computers.
In similar fashion, Vivek Harinarain, Tamil Nadu IT Secretary, who is also Chairman of Elcot, sitting in his office in the State Secretariat, monitors Elcot's activities electronically. Earlier, he had to visit Elcot, located about 10 km from the Secretariat, to browse through the files. Now, Elcot's Managing Director and senior officials can also access and clear files while away from office.

Welcome to the age of electronic administration (e-Administration) in Tamil Nadu. The e-Administration has introduced a workflow and document management to track all activities at Elcot and ensures timely response to queries among officials. It is the beginning of a long journey to transform State government offices into paperless ones. And, helping Elcot in this effort is a small Chennai-based software firm called Life-Line to Business (LL2B).

The e-Administration software of LL2B has been in use in Elcot for the last 10 months, and it connects 75 senior-level employees of Elcot and 15 in the IT department through a common platform, says V.D.G Krishnan, President and CEO, LL2B. The company has installed the Web-enabled product in Elcot that allows officers to conduct day-to-day business such as sanctioning purchases, approving leave tours and sending files to colleagues. The tool will help the government create transparency in the department's functioning. Every senior official at Elcot, limited to his role in the hierarchy, can track the movement of any file as the entire chain of command is connected. The status of every file can be checked at the click of the mouse, he says.

The e-Administration software uses Java open source technology and runs on Linux open source platform with Oracle 9i as the back end. The software enables senior officials to look at the files real time. The software also generates periodic reports in different formats, he says.
According to Sudeep Jain, Managing Director, Elcot, which has the mandate to promote e-governance in Tamil Nadu, the most generic form of e-governance is to convert the document flow (files) into electronic mode. "We were very clear that unless we convert Elcot into a near paperless organisation we will not be able to drive e-governance in the State," he says.

Today, all files in Elcot are available on a server in electronic mode, helping to make the organisation completely transparent and efficient. The initiator of a file or anyone in the hierarchy can view the contents simultaneously even if the file is pending at a higher level. Anyone higher in the hierarchy can pull up a file pending with his/her junior colleague. Also, the software, at the click of a mouse gives the status of pending files at each level — viewed by the IT Secretary on his computer at the Secretariat. The result is speedy disposal of files, he says.
There is no physical movement of files. Only the final order copy is printed and stored as a physical record. Productivity and efficiency have dramatically improved as officials can now clear files from any location — office, home or on the road while travelling. Earlier it would take anything from 10 days to 60 days to clear a paper file. It is now two days to 10 days, he says.

Following the success in Elcot, the paperless organisation programme is being considered in organisations such as the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, says Krishnan.

Elcot/LL2B has also bagged an order from Pondicherry Electronics Ltd to computerise its Industrial Guidance Bureau of the Department of Industrial Development. An integrated e-Platform connecting 21 departments, including municipalities and panchayats, has been implemented for simultaneous review and grant of `No Objection Clearance' in a time-bound manner for the setting up of an industry, he says.

raja@thehindu.co.in

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2004/09/06/stories/2004090600020100.htm

For any clarification, please contact:

V D G Krishnan
ICT Specialist
LL2B.COM Pvt Ltd.
vdgk@yahoo.com

LL2B.COM devices eAdmin tool

2004-08-03T01:26:00.000-07:00

A news item that appeared in The Economic Times, July 29, 2004, in the Economy Section (page 3) is reproduced below:

Quote:

LL2B.COM devices e-admin tool

Our Chennai Bureau 28 July

A Chennai based firm IT has found a good scope for its web enabled e-administration tool using open source technology. Which can help to introduce work-flow and document management for tracking all activities and ensure timely response to customers.

LL2B.COM is focused on developing and implementing its web enabled, platform independent, paperless office solution using open source technology. It has implemented the tool for the state-owned Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) and it is in operation for the last 10 months.

ELCOT and the firm bagged an order from Pondicherry Electronics Corporation to computerize the Industrial Guidance Bureau of the Pondicherry Government. An integrated e-Platform connecting 21 departments including municipalities and panchayats in Pondicherry has been implemented.

Now, the firm has offered the basic solution free to end users. Mr. V.D.G. Krishnan, President & CEO of LL2B.COM said, since the solution uses only open source technology, the end users need not invest in any licensed software, including operating system. This is in line with the policy of Governments to promote the technology.

Unquote.

"e-Administration" can help to transform the administration of any Government / Organization, to bring in transparency and accountability and prevent failures.

V D G Krishnan
ICT Specialist
LL2B.COM
Chennai-20.
5211 5995.

e-Administration of LL2B.COM Pvt Ltd

2004-07-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

Tamil Nadu To Have Paperless Depts Soon

source: FE May 26, 2004 and eFE 27 May'2004

In a move that promises to put an end to theubiquitious red tapism prevalent in governmentdepartments, the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu(Elcot), has chalked out a plan to make governmentdepartments ‘paperless.’

With the intention of facilitating the transition to apaperless office, Elcot will henceforth be providingthe document management system software (which enablesoffice transaction through computers) free of cost togovernment departments.

According to Mr Mohan, general manager, Elcot, “Elcothad been using the document management system, asoftware which enables the online transaction offiles, a year back. This has helped us in reducing thepaper work and has facilitated the speeding up of fileprocessing and transactions. It has further improvedaccountability and transparency.”

Mr Mohan said, “Based on this experience, Elcot is nowlooking at extending this initiative to othergovernment departments by offering the software toother departments. In fact, we have recently bagged anorder for this product from the Pondicherry IndustrialGuidance Board. Elcot will offer the basic softwarefree of cost to the government departments. However,we will be charging a fee for the customisation of theproduct.”

Mr Mohan said that the product was developed by theChennai-based company, Life Line to business.com(LL2B.com) under the aegis of the e-governance groupof Elcot.

“We have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) withLL2B.com to market the software among the governmentdepartments. Elcot stands to gain in this MoU since wereceive 5 per cent of the customisation fee charged,” he added.

Elcot has identified government departments like theChennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewarage Board,the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA),etc, to implement the ‘paperless office’ initiative.

“We hope that the government departments will showwillingness to accept the product, thereby removingthe inordinate delays in file transactions,” Mr Mohan said.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=60019

Transparency and Accountability in Governments and Corporates

2004-07-24T05:14:00.002-07:00

Reproduced below is an article that appeared in the Business Standard Tuesday 22 June 2004:

“With e-governance, admn takes a virual leap in TN”

Our Regional Bureau, Chennai 21 June.

Tamil Nadu government’s IT Secretary, Vivek Harinarain is an empowered man these days. A new workflow tool that is used by his Department and Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot) allows him to monitor every bit of work that comes under his control even from his home. The software ‘e-Administration’, connects 75 senior level employees of Elcot and 15 in the IT Department through a common platform. With this tool, Harinarain, who is also the Chairman of Elcot, has full control over the work at Elcot, while sitting in the IT Department 10 km away.

e-Administration is a step taken by the TN Government in its e-governance initiative, which could be a giant leap in terms of transparency and accountability. From routine communications to clearing files, everything is now paperless. e-Administration is developed by Chennai based software firm, Life-Line to Business (LL2B).

N Mohan, General Manager – Communications, Elcot said, “This tool has been tried and tested at Elcot. The product being web-enabled, allows the user to log-in even when they are not in office. In terms of efficiency, it has made a big difference to the users. The tool allows officers to conduct day to day business like sanctioning purchases, approving leave tours and sending files to colleagues.

V D G Krishnan, ICT Consultant, LL2B said, “The whole idea is to create transparent and efficient organization. The entire chain of command would now be connected using this tool and hence all the users, limited to their position in the hierarchy, would now know what is happening to every case that comes to government for action.

Though officials down the line at Elcot did not have much of a choice about using the tool, they have adopted it fully. Today logging into the e-Administration system is the first thing these officers do when they report to work. Infact, this also doubles up as an attendance register that will tell the bosses whether a particular employee has reported to work and if so, whether he was at work on time.

A senior official at Elcot said a strong level of dependency is already developed on this tool which can be seen as a sign of mature system put in place.

Using e-Administration as a basic tool, LL2B has also developed a customised package for the Industrial Guidance Bureau (IGB) of Pondicherry Industries department. This software connects over 20 different departments in the Union territory who have to clear any industrial licence. From water and sewerage board to pollution control board, various departments can approve or disapprove a particular project online.

In fact, Krishnan informed that the software developed for IGB will evolve into a system where the Industrialist would also be able to log into system and check the status of the project. “We have suggested to the Pondicherry government to allow users outside the government to log-in with licence application number and secure password. With this there will not be any more running from pillar to post”. He added that Pondicherry government was receptive to the idea and plans to implement in the next two months.

“For the time being the Pondicherry government posts the status of each project on its official website”, he said. The plan to allow industrialists to log-in with the application number and passwords adds security and privacy, which is missing at this point of time.

The software also allows the users to mark deadlines for every task with an add- on feature of setting reminders.

Elcot has now signed a marketing agreement with LL2B to implement the product across the country. The order of Igb was secured by Elcot and implemented by LL2B.COM Pvt. Ltd.

The marketing agreement also covers another product developed by LL2B called e-Connect.

Krishnan said, “e-Connect is a Computer Telephony Integration Tool incorporating advanced hardware and software integration technology for automating the telephone communication for any telephone line, particularly for helplines, similar to call center tool”. The tool among a host of functions, will allow managers track the time taken on each call, allowing full control over wastage of time and productivity improvement.

The agreement does not specify the revenue sharing arrangement between Elcot and LL2B. Krishnan however said that Elcot would receive 10 percent share for its efforts in marketing these products. “We have already written to many state governments in the country. The Orissa government has evinced interest in this e-Administration tool,” Krishnan said. He added that a similar implementation is explored b y the Andaman and Nicobar Island administration.

What if the state’s chief minister becomes the super-user for e-Administration in Tamil Nadu? “That could be the best thing that ever happened in Tamil Nadu on the governance front. It would mean complete transparency in the way the state machinery works,” Krishnan said.

e-Administration for a paperless office

2004-07-24T05:14:00.001-07:00

Reproduced below is an article on Tamil Nadu Government’s initiative in paperless administration that appeared in The New Indian Express of July 6, 2004:

Tamil Nadu Government sets sight on a paperless administration

Tuesday July 6 2004 00:00 IST CHENNAI:

The Tamil Nadu Government has taken its first steps towards realising its goal of a paperless administration.After having successfully installed a document management system software in the main server at its Corporate office at Nandanam here, and integrated it with its communication division at Perungudi, about 10 km south, the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot) has taken it further by intalling it in the office of the Secretary, Information Technology department, at the Secretariat 10 km to the north.

The result? Information Secretary Vivek Harinanarain, who is also the Elcot chairman, can use the new work-flow tool to track every function that comes under him. The software, ‘e-Administration’, connects 75 senior Elcot officials and 15 IT department Officials at the Secretariat on a single, web-based platform.

‘e-Administration’ is a web-enabled, browser independent, paperless office tool, developed by a Chennai company, Life Line to Business.com (LL2B.com), using Java open source technology. It runs on Linux open source platform with Oracle 9i as the back end.‘‘The initiative has helped us to convert Elcot from a traditional paper file-based office, to a truly modern electronic office,’’ beams Elcot chairman Sudip Jain. From routine communication to clearing of files, workflow in Elcot is now paperless.

Among other things the tool involves hierarchy management to provide for creating roles, responsibility and relations between various levels, document management and workflow management. It can generate periodic reports in different formats.‘‘The idea is to create transparency and efficiency. Every senior official at Elcot, limited to his role in the hierarchy, can track the movement of any file as the entire chain of command is connected. The status of every file can now be had at the click of the mouse. The entire task of file processing and transaction is speeded up,’’ says VDG Krishnan, CEO of LL2B.com.

In fact, within a few months of installing it in its corporate office, Elcot received a citation of merit during the National Convention of e-Governance held in Chennai in November last year.

Encouraged by the success of the system, Elcot entered into an agreement with LL2B.com to market e-Administration as an ICT solution, and has already bagged and almost completed execution of its first order from the Government of Pondicherry. LL2B.com has developed and intsalled a customised e-Administration package for the Podicherry Industrial Guidance Bureau, connecting several agencies and departments involved in giving clearances, including the Pollution Control Committee, Water supply and sewerage agency, Electricity Board and 20 municipalities and panchayats.

‘‘What we have done is to create a single-window system of clearance of industrial proposals. All approvals or rejection of proposals to set up industrial units can be now be done on-line by the department or agency concerned. Transparency and accountability are the key words. The status of any application can be tracked by an authorised personnel at any given time, and the reasons for rejection of proposal or delays for the approval of the proposals can easily be found out on-line. The entrepreneur need not run from pillar to post,’’ says Krishnan.

With the state government planning aggressive promotion of e-governance in 21 departments and agencies, Elcot is working at implementation of the system in some more departments at the Secretariat to make governance ‘‘less paper’’ if not paperless. It has also recommended implementation of customised LL2B packages in agencies like CMDA and CMWSS Board.

‘‘Such work flow management systems can lead to enormous savings to the government in terms of manhours as well as cost of creating and maintaining paper files,’’ says a senior official.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20040705124325&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&rLink=0

Krishnan V D G
vdgk@yahoo.com

e-Governance for better governance

2004-07-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

TOWARDS A SOCIAL CAUSE - SPECIAL ICT OFFER FROM LL2B.COM

LL2B.COM PVT LTD (Life Line to Business), a little known ChennaiCompany, has been in the news recently, for developing a webenabled, platform independent, browser independent, paperless officesolution, using open source technology, called "e-Administration".

They have installed at ELCOT, Chennai, a trial version, which isrunning satisfactorily for the last 10 months. This has helped ELCOTto become a truely paperless office, ushering in, transparency andaccountability, along with it.

Secretary, Information Technology, who is also the Chairman of ELCOTcan monitor all activities of ELCOT, electronically, sitting in hisoffice in the Secretariat. The MD of ELCOT can clear files, evenwhen he is away from office.

ELCOT, having first hand knowledge about the use of the product, hasentered into a marketing agreement with LL2B.COM, to market thepaperless office solution, for a period of 3 years.

ELCOT / LL2B.COM bagged a prestigious order from PondicherryElectronics Limited for implementing an integrated, single windowclearance, e-Platform, for Indstrial Guidance Bureau, Dept. ofIndustrial Development, Govt. of Pondicherry, within a period of 21days. The basic software was offered free of cost.

Towards its social commitment to further the e-Governanceinitiative, LL2B.COM has come forward, to offer the basic "e-Administration" software, free of cost to any userorganization. "Only the cost of customization, installation,training, hand holding and annual maintenance are payable by theusers" said Mr. V D G Krishnan, ICT Specialist and President ofLL2B.COM.

The "e-Administration" tool can help to empower every employe in the entire vertical hierarchy of any organization, to set targets ateach level, monitor the satisfactory performance, from the bottommost to the top most, thereby helping to better serve citizens &customers. This tool can help to transform the entire society.

Mr. Krishnan said, it is now upto the user organizations to takeadvantage of this offer to usher in e-Governance, transparency andaccountability in their working. LL2B.COM may be contacted at 52115995, Chennai or www.ll2b.com.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20040705124325&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&rLink=0Krishnan.

ps this is not a sales pitch. But a genuine offer. I am notexpecting any pecuniary benefits from anyone on this offer.