Event

Madhya Pradesh wins CSI-Nihilent Best e-Governed State Award for 2008-09

Anurag Jain, IAS, Secretary IT, Madhya Pradesh (extreme Right) receiving the Computer Society of India and Nihilent Best e-Governed State Award from S Mahalingam, President, CSI (third from the right) at the CSI Annual Convention at Pune. Also seen are Ravi Teja, Country Manager - India, Nihilent (second from the right), Dr Deepak Shikarpur, Chairman, OC CSI 2009 (fourth from the right) and Anil Srivastava, IAS, MD, MP Warehousing and Logistic Corporation Madhya Pradesh (on the extreme left)

The State of Madhya Pradesh has been conferred the Best e-Governed State Award at the Computer Society of India (CSI) and Nihilent e-Governance Awards for 2008-09. The district of Jalgaon in Maharashtra won the award of excellence in the District category while Education Department, Madhya Pradesh and Finance Department, Gujarat received the award of excellence in the Department category. 23 e-governance initiatives were awarded under various categories.

The CSI-Nihilent e-Governance Awards 2008-09 for e-governance initiatives during the period April 1 2008 to March 31 2009 were announced at a function held at the 44th Annual Convention of CSI at Pune. Held for the seventh successive year, the awards are an annual process of identifying and recognizing the best e-Governance initiatives in India in citizen services at the State, Department, District and Project level.

Speaking at the awards function, Piyush Gupta, Convener of the awards, said, “The aim of these awards is to recognize and replicate the successful initiatives in achieving good governance using ICT. We have continuously improved the evaluation process, making these awards the true benchmark for quality conception and implementation of e-governance initiatives. Over 75 entries were received this year.”

Ravi Teja, Country Manager - India & Head – Enterprise Transformation Practice, Nihilent, said, “e-Governance is a tool to ensure equitable and easy to avail good governance. The biggest challenge is change management encompassing cultural, organizational, process, people and technological challenges. A metrics driven governance would enable a government department or municipal corporation to perform its functions efficiently and effectively to achieve its public mission.”

A book entitled Fostering e-Governance: Compendium of Selected Indian Initiatives (edited by Piyush Gupta, R K Bagga and A Sridevi) from this year’s awards was released on the occasion. It gives an insight to all stakeholders in e-governance and shares the critical success factors in the implementation process.

Madhya Pradesh was awarded for its initiatives such as computerization in government departments, manpower development for IT, guidelines for setting up of information kiosks and development of web sites by all government departments, facilitating good governance. MPOnline, a citizen services portal delivers a wide range of government services (copy of land records, forms for professional examination board, birth/death, caste certificates, etc.), improving transparency and accountability, and reducing delivery cycles.

The district administration of Jalgaon, Maharashtra received the award of excellence in the District category for developing an Integrated Voice Response System (E-Lokshahi) that provides 24 hour online public grievance redress system and FAQ forum being used widely through telephone and mobile.

The award of excellence in Department category was conferred on two departments—an e-Government initiative of the Education Department of Madhya Pradesh received the award for enhancing the quality of education imparted to 1.6 crore students enrolled in 1.1 lakh schools by optimal utilization of the 3.5 lakh teachers and other resources. The Finance Department of Madhya Pradesh was recognized for implementing e-governance best practices such as a comprehensive dashboard with drill down facility, uniform Decision Support System reports for decision making, electronic payment to pensioners, online receipt of various taxes with real time accounting in state accounts; e-mail and SMS Alerts for citizen and business owners, digital signatures etc. Awards at the Project level for G2C, G2E, G2B, G2G, G2g and G2C categories were also announced.

CSI 2009

Computer Society of India held its 44th annual national convention in Pune from October 8-10 The event drew IT geeks from all over the globe and visionaries from computer industry, government and corporate sector reached Pune. The late Professor, Dr A K Pathak and Dr Deepak Shikarpur, Chairman, Organizing Committee were the duo responsible for getting this prestigious event back to Pune after 31 years. The event was dedicated to the late Dr Pathak who passed away last year. It was inaugurated by Padmabhooshan Dr R A Mashelkar. The convention had various tracks such as keynote and plenary sessions, tutorials on advances in IT, technology showcase exhibition, young IT professional track, e-Governance awards, popular talks etc. The theme of the convention was ‘Technology led inclusive growth’. The exhibition of CSI 2009 was inaugurated by Dr R A Mashelkar. Dr R A Mashelkar (center) inaugurates CSI 2009 technology showcase while flanked by Dr Deepak Shikarpur, Chairman, Organizing Committee, CSI 2009 (left) and Rajan Erande, Chairman, CSI Pune chapter (right) (From left to right) Rajan Erande, Chairman CSI Pune chapter; Dr Anand Deshpande CEO Persistent; Dr D B Phatak; Dr Deepak Shikarpur; Dr R A Mashelkar; S Mahalingam, President, CSI and Dr P Thrimurthy, President Elect, CSI

The selection process included online submission of nomination forms, field visits by team of experts to assess project implementation and impact on people benefited by these projects and presentations by short listed nominations, followed by the final selection based upon a combined score. All Government agencies (both Central and State/UT Governments, down to the District level), Government organizations and semi-government corporations, district collectorate, municipal corporations, autonomous bodies including public sector were eligible to apply for the awards.

The selection committee comprised S P Singh (Sr Director, Dept of IT, Ministry of Information & Communication), Dr Mahesh Chandra (Dy Director General - National Informatics Center), L C Singh (President & CEO - Nihilent), Professor M P Gupta (Center for Excellence in e-Governance - IIT Delhi), Piyush Gupta (GM, Capacity Building & KM - National Institute for Smart Government), Dr Ashok Agarwal (Convener, CSI Special Interest Group on e-Governance), Lalit Sawhney (Past President, CSI), Dr R K Bagga (Advisor, IIIT Hyderabad & Past Convener, CSI-Nihilent e-Governance Awards), Dr G P Sahu (Asst. Professor, M N National Institute of Technology & Co-Convener eDistrict Awards 2008-09), Dr Anurbha Mukhopadaya (IIM-Lucknow), Dr Nityesh Bhatt (Nirma Institute of Management), S R Das (Retd. Scientist G, DIT & Advisor, e-Governance Center, IIPA), and Satish Babu (Co-ordinator, IEEE Computer Society Activities Board, IEEE Region 10 Asia Pacific).

About the CSI-Nihilent e-Governance Awards

CSI and Nihilent joined hands in 2002 to focus on the area of e-Governance and instituted the CSI-Nihilent e-Governance Awards for categories covering Central, State, Departments and District level efforts. This is the seventh year for these prestigious awards. An independent selection committee drawn from the industry, academia and the government adjudicates the awards. www.csinihilent-e-governanceawards.org