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ICT based Citizen service
AKSHAYA
India

The Problem

In the nineties of the last century United Nations ratings for the different regions of the world recorded Kerala as an economic miracle. In several social parameters the State was at par with the developed West. This unbelievable feat was achieved in spite of a lesser per capita income and lack of industrial back up. A section of educated among Keralites utilized the services of information technology for further economic development. But the vast majority did not take to this technology for consolidating and furthering the achievements on the social front. A digital divide developed in the State as elsewhere between a minority that could use information technology for development and the majority that could not do so. Planners in the socio-economic front soon realized that the consolidation of socio economic development in Kerala was possible only by removing the digital divide in the society. The vast majority of the populace have to be equipped with the tools of Information and Communication Technology to achieve tangible progress. The less privileged sections had to be empowered with ICT. Those at the helms in the three-tier Panchayat system in the State realized the importance of ICT for socio-economic development and they came forward with a proposal to bring information technology to common households.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Akshaya conceived as a landmark ICT project by the Kerala State Information Technology Mission(KSITM) to bridge the digital divide and to bring the benefits of ICT to the entire population of the State. In the initial phase the focus was placed on educating one person in each family to be e-literate. Kerala state has 6.5 Million families, The first step was establishment of grass roots level ICT centres at each of the Panchayat/Municipal ward. Which was called as Akshaya e-center(AEC). AECs worked in close coordination with the Local Self Government Institutes (LSGI). Nurturing Village level entrepreneurship and networking them into one state-wide entity has been major achievement which paved way for subsequent successful delivery of variety of citizen services.
Malappuram, a backward district of Kerala was selected for piloting e-literacy and project was launched on 18th November 2002 by the Honorable President APJ Abdul Kalam. Modus of operandi was to first conduct a survey of the families that required e-literacy and then to carry out the e-literacy to the selected families by AEC under supervision of the LSGI. After completion of training,each ward is declared 100% e-literate by the LSGI after verification. The AEC was paid by the LSGI for the work carried out. History was created when Malappuram was finally declared 100 % e-literate in 2005. The success was soon replicated in seven more districts in phase two and subsequently to the balance six districts in phase three. Till date Akshaya has been able to make 3.25 Million families e-literate.
The impact made by Akshaya in the citizen service delivery front are note worthy. The citizens of Kerala had struggled in obtaining copies of public records, submitting applications or to seek information regarding the day to day affairs. Akshaya made the process simple by delivering G2C and B2C Services. Many of the services, namely, e-filing of commercial taxes, online application of ration card,Registration of BPL families for health insurance, delivery of multiple services of E-district etc could be made 100% online only because of Akshaya's ubiquitous network with in reach of every citizen of the state. As an example Akshaya enrolled 1.9 Million BPL families within 45 days for health insurance.
The e-pay service- Helping pay utility bills namely, Electricity, Water, telephone etc. helped the citizen to save time and moneyl. Akshaya has till date has transacted worth over Rupees 2 Billion.
Akshaya responds to local needs too. Projects like e-manal, e-consignment, entegramam local portals, local labour portals etc are examples of localized services.
Knowing education as the catalyst of rural development Akshaya tied up with world class educational institutions and provides excellent opportunities to the citizens especially in the remotest area. Akshaya is largest partner of IGNOU(Indira Gandhi Open University) in state with over 2500 students. With Intel Learning Program Akshaya has trained over 83000 school children. Job oriented training is being imparted through Medical Transcription Courses. Akshaya specially cares for the differently enabled. INSIGHT- an ICT based training Course designed for visually challenged is implemented through Akshaya.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The Project Akshaya was initiated by Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) as a pilot project in Malappuram district. As a sequel to the successful implementation of the pilot project, the Government decided to replicate Akshaya State-wide. Accordingly, Akshaya Directorate was set up under IT Department and a high-level body viz. State Level Executive Committee (SLEC) for Akshaya under the chairmanship of Hon. Chief Minister.
Akshaya Director is the head of the Akshaya State Cell. District offices are set up under the State Cell. Presently Akshaya have District Offices in all the all districts. Below this is the Akshaya e- Centers(AEC) which is the last link in the chain and the back bone of the organisation.

STAKEHOLDERS OF AKSHAYA
• SLEC – State Level Executive committee
o Broad level planning and control .
o Ensures participation of various departments of the Govt for delivery of G2C services.
o Major Policy decisions.
o Organizational and Monetary support.
• Kerala State IT Mission - The Principal Secretary IT is the Chairman and the Director IT Mission looks after the day to day functions.
o High level Planning and Guidance.
o Review and revision of Govt policy for ushering in electronic delivery of G2C services.
o Creation of more G2C services.
o Act as a catalyst between Government and Akshaya.
o Planning and execution Citizen Oriented Projects like INSIGHT( courses for differently enabled) , entegramam( local portal for LSGIs) etc.
• Akshaya State Project Office
o Over all Planning and execution of the Akshaya project.
o Facilitating and contracting G2C and B2C services through Akshaya.
o Business Development .
o Organising training and skilling of the entrepreneurs.
o Man Management and Administration.
• District Functionaries: At district level, District Collector is the Chief Coordinator and District Planning Officer is the District Coordinator of the Project. Besides the Akshaya District Office consists of Assistant District Coordinator, Project Assistants and Block coordinators who are exclusive staff of Akshaya. They over see the implementation of the Project at district level as per the guidelines laid down by the Akshaya State project Office and government guidelines. They also manage ,monitor, evaluate and control the AECs in the District and maintain a close liaison with the LSGI.
• Local Self Government Institutions (LSGIs): LSGIs play an important role in implementing the Project at grass root level. Role of LSGIs is imbibed in the Project even in its conceptual level. The functions are;
o Selection of locations for Akshaya e-centers
o Selection of entrepreneurs
o Sourcing of e-literacy fund and other local project related funds.
o Campaign activities
o Implementation of post e-literacy phase & e-governance activities etc.
• Entrepreneurs: Akshaya works on Public Private Participation (PPP). The investment for setting up and operation of the e-centres is made by the entrepreneurs. The AECs act as delivery point for citizen services. He is a social entrepreneur who will run his business by using the network.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The strategy was simple “Think Big, plan well, start small, scale fast”. This project was to impact every family in the state that is over 30 Million people. This was a novel idea, out of the box , ambitious, perhaps never attempted before.

The objectives:
• The Global objectives of the project were firstly to bridge the digital divide and secondly to empower the citizens through ICT.
• The Akshaya objective in the first phase was to make at least one person in each family e-literate and in second phase was to deliver of citizen services and specialized services using ICT.
• Government’s objectives were to
• Create a sustainable ubiquitous network of CSCs to carry out the above objectives
• Implementation of a suitable business model for self generation of income.
• Providing necessary assistance to sustain the network including Financial, Organizational and Policy support.
• Generation of G2C services for delivery to the citizens using the Akshaya network.

Strategies Adopted

Phase 1: The Objective being huge in scale could not be achieved by mere government machinery. Therefore it was decided to engage village level entrepreneurs. Though the organization at the state and district level was of the government, the last link to the citizen consists of the Akshaya entrepreneurs who run the Akshaya e-Center (AEC) who works on a PPP model creating a sustainable network across the state without incurring much expenditure but was scalable and flexible to the needs of the citizens. However gaps in overall plan were to be overcome by addressing following issues:

• Skill Sets by district-wise training.
• Course Development: for basic computer skills was developed at the state level.
• Publicity and Campaign Management: Seminars, workshops , street plays and social animators besides Media also played a responsible role.
• Funding was done two third by the LSGIs and one third by the citizen.
• Survey and Completion was done jointly by the Akshaya entrepreneur and the ward member.
• Monitoring and Control - LSGI and Block coordinators at grass root level, and Collector at District Level.
Phase Two:
The CSC Phase was the natural transition, necessitated by the needs of the society and sustainability of the Akshaya entrepreneurs. The most challenging task at this stage was creation of G2C services. Actions taken during this stage.
• Automation of Government Departments: The national E-governance Action Plan (NeGP) acted as the effective catalyst for automation of the government both at the center and state.
• Services Delivery: An application was created to do e-payment, basically collection of bills and online applications.
• Distance Learning and E-learning – Akshaya entered into an agreement with IGNOU, Intel Learning Program and Keltron for Medical transcription courses.
• Content Development for Specialized Courses – INSIGHT an academic course for differently enabled people was developed by Kerala State IT Mission and is effectively delivered through Akshaya.
• Local Content Development with LSGI funding: Especially for entegramam, a local portal in Malayalam at for local news of the citizens.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Akshaya was conceived early 2000 envisioned to address needs of the citizens especially on e-literacy. Considerable planning was done prior to execution. Such a project being envisioned for the first time across the world, with ambitious objectives, it was necessary to involved different stakeholders in planning, execution, monitoring and control. This resulted in the constitution of State Level Executive Committee (SLEC) with CM as Chairman. Secondly a cell was constituted under KSITM for the project proposal based on the concept. Sanctioning and execution of the pilot was the next big step. Malappuram district, the largest and one of the backward districts was selected.
Project Planning and execution phase.
• First step was the establishment of village level Akshaya entrepreneurs who owned and created ICT centers at the Panchayat/Municipal ward level.
• Success of Malappuram was soon replicated in seven more districts. History was created when Kannur was declared first 100% e-literate district in India.
• Akshaya also came with more advanced courses and tied up with organizations like Intel in 2004, Medical Transcription with KELTRON in 2007 and IGNOU in 2008 to impart quality education in the remotest area.
• Akshaya made its mark in providing G2C services at citizen doorstep in 2005 by launching e-pay services- paying utility bills like electricity bills, water bills etc.
• Perhaps one of the hurdles that Akshaya faced was the non-English speaking population of Kerala. To tackle this, Akshaya embarked on a new initiative with the objective of creating capacity and content in the local language – Malayalam by launching Malayalam Computing in 2008.
• ‘Entegramam’ project launched in the year 2009 was another milestone development aimed at bringing forth web portals that cater to the needs of the citizens locally. In times to come the portals will be used for local transaction, enabling it with more business features. This project has been implemented in nine Gram Panchayats and one Municipality in Kannur District. This will be soon implemented in selected local bodies in Malappuram and Kollam Districts.
• In 2010, Akshaya surpassed all the limits and played a major role in helping Kerala Government to spread the use of IT in to Micro levels and ensure all the citizen services reach every citizen of the state. Akshaya now has to its credit 200 crore rupees worth transactions and it is the friendly face of the government that provides a multitude of services to the citizen.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
• Any major change brings chaos. Even though Kerala was at par with several social parameters with the developed West, a huge gap was developed within the State between a minority that could not use IT for development and the majority that could not do. The e-literacy campaign launched was not easily accepted. It was the persistent effort of the Akshaya entrepreneurs and awareness campaign of the government that helped in changing the mindset of the people and could accept the change e-literacy could bring in.
• Another hurdle was the non-English speaking population. Introducing IT had the challenge of also tacking non-English speaking population. It is then Akshaya decided to create capacity and content in local language by launching Malayalam computing in 2008.
• Creation of a state wide infrastructure was a major challenge. Akshaya CSC network encourating Village level Entrepreneurship provided the right answer. Akshaya works on Public Private Participation (PPP). The investment for setting up the e-centres is made by the entrepreneurs. It would come around Rs. 3.00 lakhs for setting up an Akshaya e-centre.
• Sustainability of Akshaya entrepreneurs was another major challenge. When e-literacy program was on the funding came from the government. But when the government funding stopped and there was not adequate G2C services or B2C services the income levels of the entrepreneurs dropped. This short patch was over come by quickly switching over to specialized services like e-learning, CHIS( comprehensive health Insurance scheme) registrations, data entry works etc. Constant innovation is the only answer to sustainability of the centers.
• The major Challenges in the CSC phase was basically two, namely, Resistance to automation by the government departments and acceptance of the citizen to digital documents. This was made easy by pioneering examples in the banking and transportation industry, especially, the Indian railways. The benefits of automation were soon realized and one by one departments started embracing digital world.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Akshaya Centers are monitored by Akshaya District offices. Presently Akshaya have District Offices in all the fourteen districts and the total staff strength is around 130. District offices were set up under the State Cell. Akshaya work as The Director is the head of the Akshaya State Cell. The unique feature is that except the salaries and administration cost of Akshaya project there is no financial involvement of Government. Since Akshaya centers are run by private entrepreneurs running of these centers are met by them.

Akshaya works on Public Private Participation (PPP). The investment for setting up the e-centres is Rs.3 lacs made by the entrepreneurs for setting up an Akshaya e-centre with 5 to 10 computers, printers, scanners, webcam, other peripherals and necessary software. The entire recurring expenditures for running the centre are also born by the entrepreneur.
The funding for E-literacy came from the LSGIs, based on the number families getting educated.
The subsequent funding came in the form of transactions for delivery of services, say G2C or B2C.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Economic Sustainability: Akshaya works on Public Private Participation (PPP). The investment for setting up the e-centres is Rs.3 lacs made by the entrepreneurs for setting up an Akshaya e-centre with 5 to 10 computers, printers, scanners, webcam, other peripherals and necessary software. At present Akshaya Centers through its services generate sufficient income to cover its cost of operation and make their livelihood.
Social Sustainability
It has not been uncommon for villagers to travel long distances to district/Taluk headquarters in order to obtain copies of public records, submit applications, meet officials, or to seek information regarding their day-to-day needs or to inquire prevailing prices in commodity markets etc. This involves the loss of a day's income as well as the cost of transportation. Once at the government office, the relevant record, information, or official could be unavailable, forcing repeated visits and additional expenses. In effect, government officials working with paper records enjoy a monopoly over information. Villagers may also face discomfort, harassment, and corruption on the part of public officials, or are often given incorrect information about government programs or market prices. In fact, compared to urban populace, the rural people were often forced to pay a disproportionate share of their income for gathering information.

Akshaya which is all over the state made the lives of people easy by channelizing the G2C and B2C services through Akshaya Centers. Hence Akshaya became a inseparable part of the society, practically empowering the citizens through ICT and delivering those much needed services through a single window close to their homes.

Environmental Sustainability
Entrepreneurs who run Akshaya Centers are selected through a series of process with the involvement of
Local Self Government Institutions. These entrepreneurs understand every pulse of the society and act as a friendly face of Government. They have been able play a pivotal role in enhancing the welfare of the community in a friendly manner.
Institutional Sustainability
Akshaya is controlled and managed as a state owned organisation. This institutional support helps to channelize many services of the government with out any obstacles. The government rules also govern Akshaya functioning. Besides Akshaya itself has grown as a large institution thriving on the support of its network and economies of scale.
Regulatory Sustainability
Regulatory support has been critical to growth and sustainability Akshaya. The government policy clearly lays down Akshaya as the only authorised CSC empowered to deliver G2C services. Besides , government has made it clear that services delivered through Akshaya are reliable and is working as an extended arm of the government. Hence with out obstructing other existing channels Akshaya has been able garner many G2C services for its sustainability.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Akshaya Project was an enormous step towards making the Government accessible to citizens, in ways that can not only save huge costs to the Government but also bring in a platform for increased transparency, less corruption, better delivery of government services, greater government responsiveness and accountability, and empowerment of citizens, especially poor ones.
Akshaya has grown to become single window provider of content, services, information and knowledge, for public and private enterprises - through a collaborative framework facilitating socio-economic growth in rural villages of the State.
Inclusive Development: By reaching the remote rural locations of the State on a sustainable basis, and offering a variety of world-class services, the Akshaya e-centers encouraged social inclusion of hitherto hereby marginalized communities and under-privileged sections of the rural society. The project opened up immense opportunities for women participation at various levels as entrepreneurs, master trainers, social animators and finally as trainees etc.

The Project has brought to the fore the enormous managerial and entrepreneurial talent of women that remains untapped. The number of women who have come forward with the choice of an entrepreneurial career by starting an Akshaya e-center is significant. The women entrepreneurs account for around 53% of the total entrepreneurs.

Lessons Learned
• Government controlled PPP model best suited for CSCs(Tele-centers)- A unique feature of Akshaya project is that it works on government controlled and owned PPP model and it served as a suitable model of socio economic development since it used locally available Human resources. This model, not only minimized the establishment cost of the Government but also helped to create employment for more than 15000 people.
• ICT a major tool for Empowerment. ICT is a powerful vehicle to enhance citizen service delivery and for many different needs of the people like distance learning, survey, local interactive portals etc. No doubt use of ICT has increased responsiveness, transparency, efficiency and accountability all spheres of citizen citizen services delivery, especially in G2C.
• Policy and process changes are mandatory to roll out of G2C services
• Monitoring and Control from Top Level crucial to success: Akshaya project was closely , monitored , supported and controlled from highest office, namely, by the Chief Minister and IT Minister. Close coordination between different departments was possible only because of this high level direction and this crucial to the success of Akshaya.
• Think big, plan well, start small and scale fast is the best model for CSC implementation.
• Sustainability of Akshaya Entrepreneurs was a major factor to success . Akshaya went through lots of ups and downs. The pilot in Malappuram helped us to strike a clear balance on the ratio between Akshaya centers and number of families.
• Innovate with changing needs of Citizens : Sustainability of entrepreneurs was achieved by constantly innovating our programs to the needs of the citizens . So Akshaya has moved from e-literacy to citizen services and now include specialized services.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   AKSHAYA
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   KORATH V.Mathew
Title:   Director  
Telephone/ Fax:   914712324220
Institution's / Project's Website:   914712324219
E-mail:   director@akshaya.net  
Address:   KOCHUMADATHIL BUILDING,TC.25/2251, Manjalikkulam Road, Thampanoor
Postal Code:   695 036
City:   THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
State/Province:   KERALA
Country:   India

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