Govt asks to rate e-gov projects

The government has asked Computer Society of India (CSI) to rate e-governance

projects across the country. CSI has set up a Special Interest Group for this

purpose.

"Presently there is no monitoring agency of this nature. We have already

worked with the government of Kerala on Project Akshaya and have certified over

five lakh kiosks. The third party audit will reveal the existing gaps in such

projects. CSI has sub-mitted a proposal to the government in this regard and has

already prepared a detailed road-map," said ML Ravi, President, CSI.

According to Ravi, the IT ministry has earmarked a fund in order to take care

of the expenses for the project. "The joint secretary for IT, in a recent

meeting has promised financial support to the delivery of e-governance

awards," he informed. "The idea behind the rating is to create

benchmark for the others to follow and replicate success stories," he

explained.

Ravi estimated the e-governance market size to be around Rs 70,000 crore in

India. CSI has already instituted two e-governance awards in association with

Pune-based Nihilent Technologies to promote awareness about e-governance and

adoption of IT across India the joint secretary has also agreed to be on the

jury of the awards.

CSI is also holding an awareness program called 'UCT for rural management'

for the elected representatives of gram panchayats in Karnataka. Over 400 nodal

panchayats are expected to participate in this five-day program slated to begin

from Jan 26, 2005. Based in the success of this initiative, CSI is planning more

such initiatives in Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, Chattisgarh and West Bengal.

CSI has also planned to tap other verticals-IT for the silk industry-an

awareness pro-gram planned in Mysore and IT for fisheries in Cochin and IT for

the power sector in Delhi.

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