Egram Gujarat 4b5tc

e-Gram An Information Communication Technology Project

Date: September 22, 2014 Institute of Rural Management Anand

Submitted By: Anu Dutt (34010) Aseem Acharya (34017) Nabamallika Dehingia (34080) Nisarg Dave (34085)

Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 E-Gram-A supply driven initiative ................................................................................................. 2 Social Embeddedness and Disruptive technology .......................................................................... 2 E-Readiness..................................................................................................................................... 4 Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................... 5 Digital Divide.................................................................................................................................. 6 S-curve for E-Gram......................................................................................................................... 7 E-gram-an E-Governance project ................................................................................................... 8 E-gram project and Parameters for Measurement ........................................................................ 10 Appendix 1: .................................................................................................................................... iii

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Introduction E-Gram is a government of Gujarat initiative started in 2003 under the aegis of Department of Science and Technology in 2003 with the motto, “while the world becomes global village, eGram Panchayat turns villages global”. This was started with the view to digitising all the Panchayat records of the villages of Gujarat. The main objectives of the e-gram project centre on developing the gram panchayat as the delivery point of e-services by various government departments for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in governance, while simultaneously improving access of rural villages to communication and commercial services that are dependent on a computer connectivity backbone. Through the provision of basic ICT infrastructure, the gram panchayat acts as a telecentre, or an ‘e-gram’ centre. Its reach encomes 13693 Village Panchayats, 225 Talukas and 25 Districts of Gujarat. Apart from issuing certificates of birth,death, caste, income, ROR etc, E-Gram, in few districts, has increased the basket of services to include additional services such as issuing of tax collection receipts, application forms for various development schemes, e-ticketing of railways, GSRTC, airlines, utility bill payments (electricity, telephone, mobile etc.), licenses, permits, NOC, insurance selling, employment forms, computer education, documentation service for various schemes, telemedicine, market linkages for agricultural commodities, RTO licenses, property cards etc. A Village Computer Entrepreneur is appointed who issues the certificates and charges a nominal fee for the same. The revenue collected is shared between the VCE and Panchayat in the ratio of 80:20. This arrangement helps in bringning about greater transparency in of management of earnings since a single person is not recieving it. The motivation behind this initiative was the attempt by the government og Gujarat to infuse the 5 Es in local governance: Ease, Economy, Efficiency, Effectiveness and Ethics. Provision of important documents such as birth certificates, ROR, death certificates etc. and more importantly, the digitization of Panchayat records would definitely make the local government system more efficient and transparent. To let the rural citizens enjoy the advantages of technological innovations, it is important to bridge the existing digital divide between rural and urban areas. This again, is one of the major objectives of E-Gram.

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E-Gram is an ICT for consumption project. ICT is consumed by the beneficiaries in the given case and is in the lines of NeGP policy of the central government. E Gram is a state mission mode project. If we look at the Millenium Development Goals, E Gram helps in addressing three of them, i.e., eradication of poverty, reducing child mortality and improve maternal health. E Gram has provided computer training and employment opportunities to around 12000 youth since its inception, by appointing them as the Village Computer Entrepreneur. Moreover, with digitisation of birth, death and other village information records, E Gram would directly assist various other welfare schemes, especially those related to health. It is needless to say that a lot of our health schemes have been a failure due to discrepancies in collection of primary village data related to mortality rate, child birth rate etc.

E-Gram-A supply driven initiative E Gram is definitely a supply driven initiative due to the fact that it was not necessarily addressing a need based activity. Rural citizens issued the important certificates from the district offices before the setting up of this ICT infrastructure. However one needs to understand the transaction costs in of communiting and number of labour hours wasted for an individual while doing so. This is probably one reason for the increased usage of this service. It makes the system more efficient and easy for the beneficiary. With the increase in basket of services as well, there is a high probability of EGram becoming a demand driven project. We would elaborate on this in the later sections.

Social Embeddedness and Disruptive technology E Gram uses disruptive technology such as computers, printers etc. It is a disruptive technology since it disrupts the use of the traditional manual collection or provision of the certificates from the district offices.

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Usefulness

•Access to basic services(Birth Death certificates etc.)

Ease of Use

Actual use

•VCE facilitate •Located in panchayat

•Increasing acceptance by people

E Gram is used in the local language hence increasing its ease of use. Moreover, it is easy to use for the beneficiaries since there is a Village Computer Entrepreneur to assist them and is located within the Panchayat itself. The Egram, unlike the CSC kiosks which have been set up all over the country, are not stand alone ICT infrastructure. They have been embedded within the existing structure of the Panchayat so that the rural citizens become more open to its use. The VCE also works in close co-operation with the Gram Mitras, who are the information disseminators of the village thus bringing in synergy between the existing and new structures. Here is a brief depiction of the way in which E Gram has been set up, not as a mere add-on, but after the creation and infusion of the required infrastructure (electricity, strong Panchayat structure etc.) which is essential for the success of any ICT intervention.

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If we look at the actual usage data, we see that there has been an increase in the issuing of RORs, birth and death certificates over the years through E-gram. E-gram, with its increased acceptance is socially embedded to a certain extent because of it being a useful service in the local context. Villages with the adequate infrastructure, of the Panchayat and efficient VCEs, can go a long mile in serving the beneficiaries with efficient and important services. With increasing dependence on E-gram, it would grow to be more and more useful in the local context, thus making it socially embedded.

E-Readiness E-readiness, ascertains how ready government is in employing the opportunities offered by ICT to improve the access to, and the use of, ICT in providing basic social services. According to the recent assessment, Gujarat is among the states having highest tele-density in the country. Thus it shows considerable interest of people, in Gujarat, towards ICT. People in rural areas of Gujarat

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are willing and are ready to use the services of E-Gram. This has been seen from the increasing number of s, a total of 13,684 unique s were done in the year 2013. E-readiness helps in achieving the development, through three aspects: Social Empowerment, Economic Empowerment and Political Empowerment. e-Gram services helps in curbing the social divide, by providing equal opportunities for the use of services. Services of e-Gram are economically beneficial to the rural citizen. Earlier people have to go to block level or district level office to procure various official information and forms. With some districts like Kutch, which have a vast geographical spread it was not economically feasible for the rural citizen to access various G2C services, which can now be easily availed at their doorstep.

Infrastructure ICT infrastructure is layered and constitutes a critical component. Network Layer: E-gram is funded by Gujarat government and basically forms all the policies regarding the services. The governing body is headed by hon’ble minister of Science & Technology. The executive committee is headed by Principal Secretary (PRHRD). Distribution Layer: At the district level, the District Development Officer (DDO) plays an important role in the e-Gram scheme, while the actual implementation occurs through the District Statistical Officer (DSO), who is responsible for all aspects of the project. In each district, District Development Officer taking lead and implementing Project in their districts and separate e-Gram unit is there for Project day to day monitoring. E-Gram Nodal Officer is appointed for day to day monitoring of Project. Each District Level Executive and Taluka Level Executive of TSTSP Team is reporting to the DDO’s. At the district level, the DSO reinforces the bottom-up and inclusive conceptualisation of every individual e-Gram centre as it is placed within the larger development vision of the state’s development policies. Access Layer: The front end of this system is the e-Gram enabled panchayat office at the village level. Each centre is operated by a village computer entrepreneur (VCE) who is selected by a committee consisting inter alia of the sarpanch (the elected head of the gram panchayat) and the talati (the village level istrative officer). e-Gram software is used for issuing a certificate. Twenty percent of the VCEs total earnings are reverted back to the gram panchayat in exchange for the free space and electricity infrastructure 5

Infrastructure Management: e-Gram is moving from effective management to responsive management. As the processes of services delivery and technologies have already been implemented, integration is not the issue any more. Each e-gram centre is equipped with computer, printer, scanner & UPS. In Panchayat Area Wide Area Network (PAWAN) all e-Gram gets connected with districts as well as State Capital. Emphasis is now given on the process automation and auditing is the main agenda, thus the management is shifting to responsive phase.

Digital Divide Digital divide is one of the major hindrances in using ICT for development. Digital divide is not only restricted to technological divide but has three major aspects. These aspects are also the parameters to evaluate the extent of digital divide. These parameters are – 1. Social divide – people from any caste and class can access the services offered by e-gram without any discrimination. Also e-gram provides services at village level reducing urban and rural divide. It removes stratification among people availing its services. 2. Economic divide – services provided by e-gram are not free of cost and it charges a minimal amount of INR 7 from every villager. There is no preference given to anybody on the basis of their economic status. E-gram also improves the quality of life of villagers as they do not have to incur additional cost of going to Taluka and saves their time. E-gram provides with a variety of services in return of a minimal cost. 3. Technological divide – e-gram has reduced the technological divide between urban and rural area to a large extent by providing access to internet to the villagers. They can use internet to see results of various exams and have access to various forms. Computerization has been done under e-gram which also bridges the gap. E-gram provides transparency in records and these records can be accessed from anywhere by anybody. It is also a more efficient method than the traditional one and provides timeliness in services provided. More and more people are shifting to e-gram increasing its productivity and with the wide range of services provided it is becoming highly adaptive.

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S-curve for E-Gram E-gram has crossed the readiness stage and is currently in the availability stage of system deployment. It covers all the 3 factors of readiness stage ie – 

Awareness – there is awareness among people using e-gram about the various services currently offered and the services going to be included. People are shifting to e-gram from the traditional methods for generation of birth and death certificates, land records and other services like e-ticketing, bill payment etc.

Services (duration)

Total

Electricity bill collection (2010-14)

22795893

No of land RoR certificate issued (2009- 43627989 14) E-ration card coupon issued (2011-14)

223165793

Gas bill collected (September 2013)

140741

This data shows the increasing dependence of people on e-gram. E-gram has extended its services as it aims to become demand driven in future. Awareness is being complimented by the transparency in the information that is accessible to anyone on the website. 

Infrastructure – in of infrastructure, e-gram has moved from effective to responsive management as integration among various services can be seen. Database containing data about birth, death certificates, old age pension records, bill payment avoid over usage of resources and reduces the discrepancies making the process transparent. From state to district connectivity is being provided by GSWAN and from block to panchayat level it is being done via VSAT. The first step undertaken was creation of panchayat buildings. The second step in infrastructure development was Jyotigram Yojana for 24 hour power supply to the villages. The third step included computerization in form of computer, printer, scanner and UPS followed by e-connectivity of panchayats as the fourth step through GSWAN and VSAT. The fifth step included provision of various services by e-gram. Infrastructure created by government tackles the uneven growth of internet by providing broadband connectivity at every e-gram center. The Panchayat Area 7

Wide Area Network (PAWAN) connects each e-gram to district as well as state capital. Auditing is being done by monthly visit to every e-gram with a purpose of technical to e-gram and training to VCE. Monitoring of proper roll out of G2C and B2C services by monthly MIS reporting. 

Digital divide – e-gram addresses all the 3 components of digital divide vis-à-vis social, economic and technological divide. E-gram is accessible to people from all caste and class and no discrimination is done on that basis. It charges a minimal fee for its services and is not free for a particular group. It reduces the technological divide by providing proper infrastructure to rural parts of Gujarat for example computers and internet with 24 hour electricity.

In the availability stage of system deployment, it is supply driven and not demand driven. People are using e-gram because it exists and not because there is an immediate need for it. But with the increment in services provided by the government and private players, the dependence of people is increasing to some extent. But it will still take some time to become demand driven if it at all happens. Initially the services provided by e-gram were limited to birth, death certificate and land records. So there were questions about its sustainability as a person needs birth and death certificates only once in a lifetime. But e-gram has now expanded the services being provided to bill payment, eticketing, employment forms, MGNREGA registration, e-recharge and many more which are recurring activities. These activities are not available in villages and people usually go to the block level for these services. There is also an ease of use as e-gram is in local language increasing its transparency. By providing these services which makes life of the villagers a little easy, e-gram seems to be moving towards sustainability. Judicious use of the available resources is a question which is hard to answer. But e-gram is helping in creating a central database which can be easily accessed by anyone. This database can be used in implementation of other developmental schemes and can help in convergence of these schemes.

E-gram-an E-Governance project E-gram – Vishwagram, a state level mission mode project implemented by the department of science and technology under the e-panchayat National e-governance plan (NeGP) was launched 8

by the CM of Gujarat with an aim of leveraging ICT for effective and efficient delivery of public services. By connecting the 13685 village panchayats of the state through broadband connectivity, the project is a new way of transcending inept and inefficient bureaucratic systems in the rural setting. With continuous expansion in the ambit of services, the project is not only bridging the digital divide and increasing ICT consumption, but is also providing gainful employment to VCEs and useful information dissemination that helps the rural people in making decisions that affect their lives. With active participation of the people and with new tie-ups with private players such as ILFS in skill development initiatives for the villagers, this project is proving worthy of an e-governance case. Apart from Gram panchayat being increasingly used a telecentre ed by ICT infrastructure, some villages are capitalizing on the available broadband connectivity to pilot tele-health, tele-veterinary and tele-agriculture initiatives in conjunction with the district level departments. This combination of offline e-gram modules along with online pilots presents the possibility for the achievement of the e-governance objectives of the e-gram project. Appointment of VCE and Gram Mitra involve participation of the hean of the village which is a deviation from usual provision of public services by the government. The mandate of the e-gram project extends beyond the village to include the taluka panchayat (TP) and district panchayat (DP) for improving service delivery. This is a significant design choice on behalf of the E-gram Vishwagram society (agency looking after operations of the project) since e-governance should necessarily encom all levels of istration, and cannot succeed as single point interventions in the governance systems. Centres are set up at the DP and TP levels, with services similar to those at the e-gram. The DP has also tele-conferencing facilities that are used to relay programmes to select village e-gram centres. With District Development officer (DDO) as the chief functionary at the district level and the actual implementation of the project through the District statistical officer (DSO), e-gram project is essentially a local development project operationalised through decentralized governance systems. The e-gram project is perhaps unique amongst the telecentre-based e-governance approaches in India in being scaffolded within local public Institutions. Rather than placing the ICT infrastructure as an add-on to pre-existing systems, the government re-designed the community extension model in the form of the gram mitra programme and created potentialities for true synergies between the re-shaped public systems and newly introduced ICT systems. E-gram exists as e-governance in two variants for the provisioning of services. 9

G2C services: 

Birth & Date Certificate

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Caste & Income Certificate

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Tax Collection Receipts

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Land Right Records services

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Application form of various development schemes

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ITI Application form

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Data entry work for government departments like Health, Sports, Gram sabha etc.

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Electricity Bill collection work

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E ration card Coupon – launched at 207 eGram centres as pilot

B2C services rolled out by VCE through entrepreneurship model: 

E-ticketing of Railways

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Utility Bill payments (Telephone, Mobile, DTH etc.)

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DTP work

Apart from the above existing services, services like appointment of VCEs as Business correspondent of SBI as a part of Financial Inclusion, starting of PAN card service, skill development programs delivered online through PPP model are envisaged in the near future. With the state departments converging for the provision of public services and the contents being delivered on demand basis, the e-gram project fits the ‘Critical Flow Model’ of e-governance. The notion of time and distance is made redundant by this model of e-governance as beneficiaries now do not have to travel long distance to avail the public services and they benefit from the increased transparency due to digitized processes.

E-gram project and Parameters for Measurement There are three main components of a project. First is scope or objectives of the project, second is the budget associated with it and third is the time to complete the project. E-gram was introduced as a project by government of Gujarat with the following objectives – 1. Development of panchayats as the delivery point of the different government services 10

2. Infusion of five E’s of governance ie ease, economy, effectiveness, ethics and efficiency 3. Bridging of technological gap between urban and rural sector 4. Provision of other commercial services Budget was also fixed at around INR 1.15 lakh per village for computerization and connectivity. The project had no exact time limit associated with it to achieve full coverage. Following parameters can be taken into consideration for evaluating e-gram – 1. Timeliness – e-gram provides easy access to villagers and those services which used to take a lot of time before e-gram can now be accessed faster. For a birth certificate or for payment of bill, a villager had to travel to taluka or block which was a time taking process. Now these and many more services are available at local level through e-gram and are less time consuming. 2. Quality of service – services being provided under e-gram have increased to a large extent and availability of a VCE helps in improving the quality of service as VCE’s are trained people. It also makes it a less time taking process. But on the other hand it raises a big question on the social embeddedness of e-gram as it does not remain citizen chartered. 3. Usage of the services – there has been an upward trend in the number of people using these services but it is still not a demand driven process. Conclusion With the increasing penetration of ICT for increased community participation and collaboration among various the public, private and civil society entities for acheiving sustainable and equitable development, E-gram vishwagram project of the Govt. of Gujarat is a step in right direction for bridging the digital divide through information dissemination and diffusion of knowledge. Started as supply driven initiative ed by State-wide ICT backbone infrastructure, the project has started gaining wide acceptance among people and showing increasing trend of usage by the people for its wide ambit of services. However, the project does not fully fit into socially embedded paradigm of ICT for development as the access layer beneficiaries are the not the direct consumers of ICT services. However the increased transparency and improved process efficiency promises increased uptake of this telecentre based 11

ICT based model of development as is evident from its actual usage numbers. Diversification of telecentre into rural telehealth and tele-agriculture centres apart from its offerings in G2C and B2C services segment is paving the way for project’s sustainability. Though this case might not be directly fit example of ICT backed development through direct ICT consumption scenario, however it does leverage ICT for development through employment generation for VCEs, reduced information symmetry and evolving collaborative models which helps in reducing ruralurban divide and increasing prosperity of villagers. With changing notions of development and fast changing trends in ICT, it remains to be seen, whether this model will cease to exist or will act as model for development prompting replicability across states.

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Appendix 1:

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