State digital highway all set to get wider by about 50 times by next year
Currently, most acknowledge, public response is anything but enthusiastic. Officers note with concern that although the online birth certificate facility was piloted in the state in 2005, less than 10 per cent of birth certificates issued in the
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala may have made impressive strides in e-governance with its projects like e-district, Akshaya, FRIENDS citizen service centres and Information Kerala Mission (IKM) making headlines and other states looking to it for inspiration, but public response to its e-services has sadly been lacking.
It’s now, however, hoped that the people will be more receptive to its e-services with the state digital highway all set to get wider by about 50 times by next year thanks to the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) , a Central project, which is expected to iron out the delays and glitches.
Currently, most acknowledge, public response is anything but enthusiastic. Officers note with concern that although the online birth certificate facility was piloted in the state in 2005, less than 10 per cent of birth certificates issued in the state are applied for online even today.
"The response of people to e-services is not impressive. Most still seem averse to online services despite their ease and effectiveness. Massive awareness drives are required to woo people to make use of the online platform," says Dr. M Samsuddin, executive director of Information Kerala Mission (IKM).
A latest review report of the e-district portal that offers a host of online services, worryingly, shows s a dip of more than one lakh certificate transactions in September compared to the previous month, although the figure is around 23 per cent higher when compared to the corresponding month last year.
THE BOTTLENECK
One of the major hurdles in e-governance in the state is the low bandwidth of the digital network. Local self -government institutions are presently connected mainly through the Kerala State Wide Area Network (KSWAN) , which has a bandwidth of only two mbps, a major hindrance in rolling out new online services.
But now the National Optic Fibre Network hopes to create a 100 mbps digital connectivity for around 2.5 lakh grama panchayats in the country. All the existing servers like the state data centres, will be able to make use of this network for seamless data transfer. The plan is for the Bharat Broadband Network Limited, an agency of the Department of Telecommunications, to , establish , manage and operate NOFN in association with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
NOFN holds out hope for Kerala as it could make delivery of its existing e-services faster and allow more services , including video data transfer, to reach the grassroots. In effect, NOFN will make it possible for the rural masses to benefit from high speed data connectivity.
"At present we are travelling through a road which is getting congested by the day owing to the increasing traffic. But this road will soon get wider by 50 times owing to NOFN, ensuring seamless flow of traffic. The success of this project depends on how the local self government institutions as well as the public make use it," says Kerala State IT Mission director, K Mohammed Y Safirulla.
"A major hurdle we now face is insufficient connectivity. With a two mbps KSWAN as well as 512 kbps virtual private network, often the e-services get choked. NOFN is expected to be an effective solution ," says Dr. Samsuddin.
The Information Kerala Mission (IKM) , which he heads, handles ICT applications of 1209 local self- government institutions in the state and is working on a project on video conferencing using NOFN.
IKM, which has already initiated 16 applications, including issue of birth, death and marriage certificates, has many more in the pipeline like issuing of building permits, building tax payments and direct debit of social service pensions.
Meanwhile, the Cheekode grama panchayat in Malappuram has more reasons to cheer with the implementation of the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN). Out of the 1,209 local self government institutions in the state, Cheekode grama panchayat is the only institution that does not have an internet connection because of technical problems in establishing connectivity.
With NOFN, this issue could be addressed as optic fibre connectivity will make inroads into this remote village as well. “Owing to some technical issues, we could not provide an internet connection for Cheekode grama panchayat. Hope NOFN will address this issue,” said IKM executive director Dr. M Samsuddin.
With Kerala cadre IAS officer Aruna Sundararajan taking over as the chairman cum managing director of Bharat Broadband Network Limited, Kerala could expect its due share from central infrastructure support for digital connectivity.
BBNL is a special purpose vehicle set up in 2012 under the Department of Telecommunications for establishing, managing and operating National Optical Fibre Network.
Ms. Sundararajan who was serving as the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation managing director took over the new responsibility last week. Incidentally, during the last week, the state government announced that Kerala would be the first state to have high-speed internet connectivity in all panchayats by March 2015.
( Source : dc )
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