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SANWAD
Sanwad Society,Sivasagar
India

The Problem

Before the initiation of the e-governance project the public service delivery system was found to be non-performing in perspective of increased public awareness and expectations. People did not have an easy access to the information related to govt. programme, policies, schemes and their implementation. Inordinate delay, corruption, unaccountability and red tapism were serious problems in the system. Employees were de-motivated, insensitive and non-responsive to the people. Complex processes and lengthy procedures had limited the effectiveness, speed and quality of the service delivery. Effective monitoring mechanism was not in place. People had to come to district H.Q. from remote places for redressal of their grievances and get the certificates etc. As a result people used to face a lot of inconvenience and harassment.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Services are provided through single unified interface of district web portal. Presently 53 Nos. of Kiosks (44 Sanwad Kendra & 9 Community Information Centers) located in different parts of the district are offering following services to the citizens on a nominal charge of Rs. 5 to 20 for each request.

Following services are being offered through Sanwad Kendra :
A) Online Services – delivery of certificates.
B) Directory of Govt. Scheme—GP wise list of schemes and beneficiaries can be accessed online.
C) Online Public Grievances Redressal system—Grievances can be lodge online in text forms or in form of voice mail.
D) Internet services- Web access. Online railway ticket booking, Insurance Premium paying, PAN Application etc.
E) District Repositions --District profile, guidelines, application forms etc can be accessed through internet.
F) Offline Services : DTP, Photography, Computer Training, Scanning & CD burning, phone, Fax etc.

About 100 nos. of youths have got direct employment & they are earning Rs. 5000/- to 15,000/- per month. During last one year approx. 75,000 requests have been processed and certificates etc. have been delivered through Kiosks.

New services like online ticket registration licences as well as e-trade facilities are on the unveil. The aim is to have at least one kiosk in every village with expanded & value added services. This effort of introducing e-governance by the district administration will definitely turn out to be an effective system of governance for the people of Sivasagar.

Some portion of the site is restricted to the registered user only and can be view by Kiosks, departments, Site Administrator after entering valid user name and password. It is done so that Kiosk and earn some revinue by offering services available under this section and also to restrict unauthorised user from entering data into the databases

Web portal may be accessed at http://sanwad.nic.in

username :guest password guest123

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
It has completely been conceptualized by the officers working in field and designed by the district Unit of NIC under the valuable guidance of Dr. K.K. Dwivedi, the then D.C. Sivasagar .

Project Sanwad is the 1st of its kind in the entire North East India, designed by District Administration to provide e-govt services in the District. Sanwad is a good example of PPP modeling by including Gas Authority of India Ltd. & State Bank of India in the project. The project is successfully implemented in the district Without any direct financial support of the Govt.

(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.
Once dusty, gloomy & highly bureaucratic office of the D.C. has been evolved into a centre of excellence. Modern cubicles & partition boards have been installed and office ambiance has been given a corporate look. All the branches of the D. C's office have been computerized & 40 Nos. of new computers have been installed and connected through LAN.

Project Sanwad has evolved from below rather than designed by IT firms who are generally not best placed to design suitable solutions for local needs. It has completely been conceptualized by the officers working in field and designed by the district Unit of NIC. All the dealing assistants & officers have been imparted training on computer application, e-governance processes & procedures, team work, motivation etc. A strong team of dedicated officials has been built up to ensure reliable support & back up services under the project.

Services are provided through single unified interface of district web portal. Presently 53 Nos. of Kiosks (44 Sanwad Kendra & 9 Community Information Centers) located in different parts of the district are offering following services to the citizens on a nominal charge of Rs. 5 to 20 for each request

Following services are being offered through Sanwad Kendra :
A)Online Services – delivery of certificates.
B)Directory of Govt. Scheme—GP wise list of schemes and beneficiaries can be accessed online.
C)Online Public Grievances Redressal system—Grievances can be lodge online in text forms or in form of voice mail.
DInternet services- Web access. Online railway ticket booking, Insurance Premium paying, PAN Application etc.
E)District Repositions --District profile, guidelines, application forms etc can be accessed through internet.
F)Offline Services : DTP, Photography, Computer Training, Scanning & CD burning, phone, Fax etc.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
1. Study the problems of the existing system

2. Design of various computer databases
3. Organise training to the officers and staff
4. setting up LAN in the entire office
5. Design & develop the SANWAD Web portal
6. Setting up of Kioks for service delivery
7. Setting up Sanwad faciliation centre at D.C as well as at SDO offices.
8. Liasion with various departments.
9. Formation of Sanwad society
10. Maintaining the site
11. 3rd party(IIT Guwahati) evaluation of the site on this impect and sustainability.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
1.Administrative Reform Required, Presently the certificate etc. can not be issued online to the citizen.
2.Poor Internet Service in the district.
3.Lack of Computer Savvy attitude of staff in the DC & SDO’s office.
4.Infrastructural Limitations.
5.Resistance against the change.

By now most of these obstacles are overcome by liaision with various lined departments and orgainsing extensive training and motivation sessions for the users.

(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
To set up a Kiosk (Sanwad Kenra) approx. cost calculated is Rs.75,000/-. The funding pattern will be as follows:
33%: Stakeholder,33%: Bank as loan,33%: GAIL, in the form of subsidy given through banks The entire asset will be hypothecated to the bank.
1% : District Administration in form of training, back up processing.

the web portal is design & develop by local NIC centre and also hosted in the NIC's main Domin. So, No financial expentidure is required for that part.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The project has sustained for more than a year & hundreds of requests for opening of new Kiosks are under consideration. KIOSK Operators are computer professionals, well motivated, trained and committed. A team of dedicated officials are providing reliable back up & support. Political support, govt. backing, involvement of PRIs, increasing income of KIOSK operators, varieties of services being offered, facility of registration of grievances in local language, e-commerce services etc. are vital factors which make the project sustainable. Large part of website is already available in local language & remaining part is under construction. Facility of e-commerce to SHGs, NGOs and public at large is already being provided. Every KIOSK is being developed as a ‘Knowledge Centre’ & ‘Business Point’ in the village. IIT Guwahati has evaluated the project and has found it sustainable.

Very recently Govt of Assam adopted the project as a model and proposed to replicate it in all other districts of the state.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
IIT Guwahati has studied, assessed & evaluated the project on its relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact & sustainability. Findings reveal that the Sanwad is a unique & pioneer e-governance initiative in the state & it addresses the needs of the community. Further it states that the project has achieved the desired outputs & the results it was set out with. Project has successfully used IT to provide alternative model of service delivery. Public Service Delivery System has immensely improved. Now community has better access to information. Corruption, red tapism, harassment & inconvenience to the people have reduced considerably. Procedural rigidities have been simplified & new standard & benchmark have been set up. Study further says that the digital infrastructure, processes & structures created under the project will sustain. The study by IIT, Guwahati was conducted about year back. After that the project has evolved and improved significantly.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Sanwad Society,Sivasagar
Institution Type:   Public-Private Partnership  
Contact Person:   Krishna Kant Dwivedi
Title:   Deputy Commissioner  
Telephone/ Fax:  
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   tinsukia@nic.in  
Address:   D.C Office
Postal Code:  
City:   Tinsukia
State/Province:   Assam
Country:   India

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