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Rajasthan too opts for e-governance

Rajasthan has kicked off an ambitious e-governance programme to link its villages, towns and cities through the Internet.

The programme has received a boost with the two-day visit of President Bill Clinton to the desert state,.

An illiterate woman kicked off the e-governance programme in the state at Nayala village in the presence of US President Bill Clinton.

Kailashi Devi, tutored over two days to operate the Windows-based system, clicked on the Rajasthan state government's site and showed President Clinton the immunization card of the health department, thus formally launching the beginning of what officials claim will be a "computer revolution" in the state.

The project is part of the government's "vision of e-governance using information technology to provide a transparent and more responsive service-delivery system", said Panchayat Raj Minister C P Joshi.

Says Rohit K Singh, director (information technology), Rajasthan, "We will be providing computers to every village in the state in the next two years."

While computers will be provided to the 9,000 villages free of cost, private operators will run kiosks in the cities and towns.

"We have already received over 50 applications from Jaipur city itself," says Singh. Of the 50 odd applications, some are telephone booth operators and Internet café owners. Mr Singh says, "Those who have been allotted the information kiosks in towns can operate them for the public by charging a minimum fee for the services provided."

But the actual revolution will occur in the villages.

The 9,000 villages will have the latest computers that will store all relevant information regarding the state government, its departments and all necessary application forms such as those for ration card and electricity connection. "They can take a print out of these application forms and send it. The government has already changed its rules to make these application forms legal," he said.

The computer would also have almost every information needed on the government and its services -- from how to apply for government assistance to immuniziation needed for children. All of it is in Hindi.

Says Kaluram Meena, sarpanch of Nayala, which became the first village to get the facility, "Things would be much easier for us now. We can now know what all we deserve and what all we can get." He says the entire village is "excited about the new facility".

At Nayala, Kailashi Devi is the first person to learn computers.

"She can assist the villagers by charging a couple of rupees or so from each resident who make use of the computer," says Singh. He said across Rajasthan, people like her would be chosen and trained to use the computer.

"While they could earn some money out of it, the fact that ordinary or illiterate people are mastering computer operations could actually spin off yet another social revolution. Thousands of men and women, well past their twenties and mostly illiterate, could take to computers, inspired by people like Kailashi Devi," says another state government official.

While each computer can operate independently, the villagers can also access the state government's Intranet for regular updates. They can also surf the Internet from these machines.

President Clinton was moved by the computer revolution in rural India. He encouraged the group of women he met to harness Information Technology to improve life in the villages.

Already, some villages in the state have effectively deployed computers to boost their activities. At Nayala, the local dairy co-operative society that women run already has a computerised milk testing facility.

Every member of the dairy also has a smart card, and computerised system of recording everything from the cost of milk to the fat content. With that kind of precedent at the lowest levels, the state government should have no difficulty in meetings its objectives.

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