National e-Governance Plan The National e-Governance Plan of Indian Government seeks to lay the foundation and provide the impetus for long-term growth of e-Governance within the country. The plan seeks to create the right governance and institutional mechanisms, set up the core infrastructure and policies and implement a number of Mission Mode Projects at the center, state and integrated service levels to create a citizen-centric and business-centric environment for governance.

It takes a holistic view of e-Governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared cause. Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is evolving, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy, reliable access over the internet. The ultimate objective is to bring public services closer home to citizens, as articulated in the Vision Statement of NeGP.

It includes :

The Government of India has approved the NeGP in May 2006 with the vision: "Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, throughout common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man".

The NeGP currently consists of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 Support Components to be implemented at the Central, State and Local Government levels. These include Projects such as Income Tax, Customs & Excise & Passports at the Central Level, Land Records, Agriculture and e-District at the State Level and Panchayats and Municipalities at the Local Level. There are also a number of Integrated MMPs like e-Procurement, Service Delivery Gateway and EDI which are integrated MMPs where delivery of services envisaged in the project entail coordinated implementation across multiple Departments of Government. The Service Delivery Infrastructure While the Mission Mode Projects would enable the backend computerization of various departments, thereby e-enabling them for any time anywhere service delivery, to achieve the vision of providing government services at the doorstep of the citizen, a common service delivery platform is being created. The three important elements that form the basis of this effective service delivery framework are, State Wide Area Networks (SWANs), the front-end outlets for the service delivery i.e. Common Service Centres (CSCs) and the State Data Centres (SDCs), as detailed below:

State Wide Area Network (SWANs) Wide Area Network is an advanced telecommunication infrastructure, which is used now-a-days extensively, for exchange of data and other types of information between two or more locations, separated by significant geographical distances. The medium of connectivity can be copper, optical fiber cable or wireless, as may be found feasible. Such wide area networks, in a way, create a highway for electronic transfer of information in the form of voice, video and data. Department of IT in Government of India is implementing an approved Scheme known as State Wide Area Network (SWAN) Scheme, envisaged to create such a connectivity in each State / UT, to bring speed, efficiency, reliability and accountability in overall system of Government-to-Government (G2G) functioning. When fully implemented, SWAN would work as a converged backbone network for voice, video and data communications across each State / UT. SWAN is designed to cater to the governance information and communication requirements of all the State / UT Departments. When fully implemented, SWANs across the country are expected to cover at least 50000 departmental offices through 1 million (10 lacs) route kilometers of communication links.

Government has approved the scheme for establishing State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) in 29 States and 6 UTs across the country at a total cost of Rs 3334 crore. This scheme envisages establishment of an intra-government network with a minimum of 2 Mbps connectivity from the State Headquarters to Block Headquarters through District Headquarters.

• PPP Model: The first option is to call for a bid from private entities, which would set up and operate this SWAN in the State for a period of five years.
• NIC Model: In the second model the State has the option for going directly to the NIC and the NIC would set up and maintain the SWAN for the State for a period of 5 years.

State Wide Area Network Scheme Department of IT obtained Government approval in March 2005, for the SWAN Scheme for an overall outlay of Rs. 3334 Crores. This outlay has a Grant in Aid component of Rs. 2005 Crores, to be expended by Department of IT in five years.

SWAN Features A wide area network deployed in a State or UT would have two components viz.

• Vertical Component
• Horizontal Component

The vertical component of SWAN is implemented using multi-tier architecture (typically, three-tier) with the State/UT Headquarter (SHQ ) connected to the each District Head Quarter (DHQ) which in turn gets connected to the each Block Head Quarter (BHQ). Each SHQ, DHQ and BHQ point of connection is called a Point of Presence (PoP), which is a point of bandwidth aggregation for several network links getting connected at this point. The bandwidth provisioning for network connectivity between all the above PoPs is a minimum of 2 Mbps. Presently, the connectivity provisioning between every SHQ and DHQ is for 4 Mbps and DHQ to every BHQ is 2 Mbps. For the horizontal component, the government departments at each tier are connected to the respective PoPs

The SWAN aims to create a dedicated Closed User Group (CUG) network of minimum speed of 2 Mbps by connecting around 7500 pops, providing Data, Voice & Video connectivity to more than 50,000 govt. offices. The networks aim at increasing the efficiency of the government delivery mechanism and optimizes the performance. The backbone thus created would provide reliable, vertical and horizontal connectivity within the State / UT administration and would facilitate electronic transactions between all the government departments.

To ensure desired Quality of Service (QoS) by the Network Operator and the Bandwidth Service Provider, a Third Party Audit mechanism has been created in the SWAN Scheme which would monitor the performance of the SWAN network in each State / UT. The Third Party Audit (TPA) agency shall perform for a period of five years from the date of final acceptance test of the network and primarily monitor the compliance of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) which the State / UT would enter with the Network Operator and also with the Bandwidth Service Provider

SWAN Implementation Model There are two Options for SWAN implementation; the PPP Model and the NIC model. In the PPP model the State / UT identifies a suitable PPP model (e.g. BOOT) and selects an appropriate Network Operator agency through a suitable competitive bid process for outsourcing establishment, operation and maintenance of the Network. In the NIC model the State / UT designates NIC (National Informatics Centre) as the prime implementation agency for SWAN for establishment, operation and maintenance of the Network. NIC in turn would identify a Facility Management Service (FMS) agency for the State / UT concerned, to manage day-to-day management and operation of the network. Majority of the States / UTs have opted for the PPP model for the implementation SWAN. BSNL has been identified as a preferred Bandwidth Service Provider for SWAN Scheme across the country.
Current Status of SWAN Implementation

• Till date individual SWAN proposals have been considered and approved for 33 States/UTs with an total DIT outlay of Rs. 1,964.97 crore and Rs 562.41 have been released so far.
• The SWANs in 19 States/UTs namely, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Delhi, Pondicherry, Tripura, Lakshadweep, West Bengal, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra have been implemented.
• The 4 States SWAN namely, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand are in advanced stage of implementation, Network trials are being conducted at different tiers of SWAN.
• The 4 States / UTs SWAN namely, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya have identified the Network Operator and implementation is underway.
• The 4 States namely, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Nagaland, have initiated the bid process to identify the Network Operator for implementation.
• The 2 States namely Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu are in RFP/BOM finalization stage.
• The State of Goa and UT of Andaman & Nicobar Islands have implemented Wide Area Networks outside SWAN Scheme.
• Special arrangement has been made with BSNL for providing bandwidth on concessional tariff.

India Portal India Portal is a Mission Mode Project in the integrated service category under the NeGP being implemented by NIC. The MMP is to create a Unified portal providing 'single window access' to information and G2C services to be electronically delivered from all state sector institutions and organizations. The First version of Portal is operational now and was released by Hon'ble MCIT on 10th Nov'05 and the portal address is http://india.gov.in. The main sections of Portal include Government corner, Citizen Business, Overseas, Know India, Government services. Content repositories (Forms, Documents, Maps), sectors, Tenders etc. National Portal Coordinators (NPCs) have been identified from 35 States/UT who are responsible for the content development, compilation and maintenance. A web based Content Management System (CMS) interface has been developed to facilitate the contribution of government information & services on to the national Portal by (NPCs). The Hindi version of the India Portal is ready for the launch and other languages would follow subsequently. There has been an attempt by the National Portal to bring together all online services offered by the Central and State Government under a single umbrella for different categories of services like G2G, G2E, G2C and G2B. Around 303 new services offered by different State Governments have been added. About 372 new rules and 767 Acts of different States have been contributed to the National Portal and 1654 forms are published on the portal.
Standards An apex Body under Chairmanship of Secretary, DIT has been constituted with senior representatives from Government, NASSCOM, BIS with a mandate to approve, notify & enforce Standards formulated by Working Groups. Working Groups with members from DIT, Associations, Industry, Academia, Central & State Government have been constituted with the approval of DIT. Working Groups have been constituted in the area of open standards, technical standards, metadata and data standards, conformity assessment framework network and information security and localization and language technology standards.
National Service Delivery Gateway The National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG), a MMP under the NeGP is a standards-based messaging switch providing seamless interoperability and exchange of data. It aims to achieve a high order of interoperability among autonomous and heterogeneous entities of the Government (in the Centre, State or Local bodies), based on a framework of e-Governance Standards. NSDG as a messaging middleware acts as an intelligent hub and routes services requests from a Service Seeker (Service Access Provider) to a Service Provider (typically a backend Government department that puts up its service for electronic delivery) and in return sends the response back to the Service Seeker through the Gateway. The gateway achieves integration amongst diverse set of applications built on varying platforms through compliance with a set of e-Governance Specifications interoperability Interface Protocol and interoperability Interface Specifications (IIP/IIS) that are based on open standards such as the W3C, XML and SOAP specifications.
UID for Residents The Planning Commission requested the DIT to provide Unique ID to BPL population to monitor Poverty Alleviation Programmes & EGS. A pilot Scheme for Rs 46.7 crores was approved by DIT in January 2006. The objective of the scheme was to create a Central Database & generate UID for residents primarily for effective reach of social sector benefits. Currently, a central database of 68.77 crore records has been created and work is going on for a Proof of Concept to look at integrating the National Population Register and the UID. An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) was also constituted to go into the modalities of collating the two Schemes, which had a number of commonalities, namely the UID Scheme of DIT and the MNIC Project of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The EGOM in its last meeting approved the proposed strategy for collation of the UID and NPR and also approved the creation of a UID Authority under the aegis of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is currently working on obtaining financial approvals for the creation of the UID Authority.
Assessment As part of its mandate under the NeGP, the DIT is also undertaking independent assessment of e-Governance Projects in the country. During the first phase of assessment of 3 Projects under the State MMp category and 3 Projects under the Central MMp category were taken up for the assessment. The Projects undertaken for assessment in the State category were Land Records, Registration and Transport. The assessment of these projects was done in 13 States. The Central Projects assessed were MCA21, Income Tax and Passport. The assessment was done by 11 empanelled agencies on defined parameters through in person survey methodology.

The highlights of the findings of the State MMP assessment are given below :

• Number of trips to office reduced significantly
• Waiting Time reduced significantly in Property Registration and marginally in Transport and Land Records.
• Reduction in corruption seen in Computerization of Land Records.
• Property Registration shows marginal impact on corruption across all States.
• In Transport, corruption reduction is negligible except in one state where it has been virtually eliminated. Citizens show overwhelming preference for computerized systems in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand and Tamil Nadu.

Common Services Centres (CSCs) Government of India has approved the scheme of establishing Common Service Centres (CSCs) across the country. The CSC scheme envisages the establishment of 100,000 broadband Internet - enabled kiosks in rural areas, which would deliver government and private services at the doorstep of the citizens. An additional 10,000 CSCs would be set up in the semi-urban/urban areas. Visualizing a honeycomb pattern with one village surrounded by 6 villages, this implies that each village would have a CSC either within its own area or in an adjoining village. The CSC scheme would be a bottom-up model for delivery of content and services like e-governance, education, entrepreneur driven, Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Under the scheme, the Government is again not required to incur any capital expenditure up front. The State Government would call for bids from private parties called Service Centre Agencies (SCAs). The bidding parameter is the quantum of support that the SCAs would need for setting up and operating and running these centres over 4 years. The CSCs are also expected to be operational in most States by end 2008.

Currently, the bid process for selection of the Service Centres has been completed for a total of 92560 CSCs in 19 States. Out of this, the work has been actually awarded in 11 States covering 61491 CSCs.

• Connectivity for the Last Mile : The CSC scheme requires broadband connectivity infrastructure in rural areas reaching up to the village level. Towards this end the DIT and the Department of Telecom (DOT) are in the process of implementing a connectivity plan dovetailed with the roll-out of the CSC scheme, which would not only provide connectivity for these CSCs, but would make broadband connections available in those areas for any other agency, whether government or private, should it so require.
• Thus while being the end user of broadband; the CSCs have also to act as a catalyst in ushering in broadband into rural areas. The connectivity infrastructure is being created through three distinct initiatives. the first two seek to use the infrastructure already created by the BSNL for last mile connectivity, and the third seeks to use the resources available under the USOF.
• Leveraging BSNL rural exchanges : Existing BSNL rural OFC- exchanges (approximately 20,000) are being upgraded to allow them to provide broadband (512 Kbps) connectivity to about 25,000 CSCs, with partial funding support from DIT. These exchanges once upgraded would also be able to provide connections within a radius of 4-5 kms to other users as well.
• Wireless Connectivity from BSNL: In those areas where there is no other existing telecom service providers (TSPs), BSNL towers are being used to provide wireless broadband connectivity with partial funding support from DIT. It is expected that a further 25,000 CSCs would be able to be connected in this manner.
• Last mile connectivity through USOF: The USOF will be inviting existing TSPs to provide last mile connectivity with funding provided by the USOF. This initiative would provide connectivity to the remaining 50,000 CSCs.

State Data Centres (SDCs) State Data Centres are proposed to be established across 29 States & 6 UTs in the country along with Disaster Recovery (DR) in order to provide shared, secured and managed infrastructure for consolidating and securely hosting State level data and applications. SDC would provide better operations and management control and minimize overall cost of Data Management, IT management, deployment etc. SDCs would ordinarily be located at the State Headquarters and help the State Government, State Line Ministries and Departments in providing central repository (database consolidation), application consolidation, State Intranet/Internet portal. State messaging infrastructure, remote management, business continuity site etc. needed for their G2G, G2C and G2B services. The various Mission Mode Projects (MMPs), both at the Central level, State level and also the integrated services of the NeGP are expected to use SDCs to deliver their services. The SDC scheme was approved by the Government in January 2008 at a total cost of Rs 1633 crore. DIT has sanctioned SDC proposals of 23 States at a total cost of 1077 crore.
Capacity Buliding In order to implement NeGP pervasively and vigorously there is a felt need to build capacities to conceptualise and develop e-Governance initiatives and thereafter monitor and supervise its time bound implementation. Specialized skills are required at the State/UTs as well as at the Central level to provide technical support to the policy & decision-making process as well as to manage implementation and oversee the transformation. The skill sets that are typically needed are in the areas of Programme Management, Developing Business and Financial Models, Technology, Enterprise Architecture, Business Process Re-engineering and Change Management. Except certain technical competencies, these skills typically are largely missing within the government. In this context, Capacity Building has been included in the 'implementation approach and methodology' of NeGP and addresses the 'Human Resource Development' and 'Training' Components of NeGP. Government of India has in January 2008 approved a Capacity Building Scheme for setting up State e-Mission Teams (SeMT) at a total cost of Rs 313 crore. The objectives of the Scheme are:
e-District e-District has been selected as a National MMP under the NeGP and is to be implemented by the DIT. The objective of the MMP is to undertake the backend computerization of a number of high volume citizen services, which are being provided at the District level, by the District Administration to enable the delivery of these services through the CSCs. A core set of 6 category of services have been identified at the national level which have to be implemented across all Districts and the States can make their own choice of another set of 4 services which are the States' own priority for implementation. The guidelines for e-District have been circulated and currently DIT has sanctioned pilots in 12 States. Once the pilots are implemented, the lessons learnt from these pilots would be taken into account and a Scheme would be formatted for implementation of the MMP across the country.

SWAN Consulting Assistance SWAN being a technology-intensive project, the Scheme provides for support funding for consulting assistance for the States / UTs intending to implement the Scheme. Under the Scheme, the States / UTs have been advised to hire a Technical Consultant, funding for which would come from the DITs share of the individual project outlay. The Technical Consultant would assist the State / UT in all aspects of implementation including conceptualization, project development, bid process management, implementation supervision, network acceptance testing etc. Following is the list of the consultants, identified as on date, in the respective State / UT: