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e-Governance

“UNLESS benefits percolate down the line and ultimately improve the quality of life of the people at the grass root level, Information Technology has no meaning. To ensure that and to speed up the process to ensure that the state has initiated moves to form an integrated e-governance structure,” said Dr G.D.Gautama, Principal Secretary to the Department of Information and Technology while giving an updated account of the state IT scenario. Under West Bengal State Wide Area Network (WBSWAN) programme, a connectivity project involving all the 425 blocs in the state is being implemented and to take it further down to the lowest rung of the Indian democratic set-up, gram panchayats, a pilot project in the district of Burdwan has been taken up, he said.  

WBSWAN was launched in 2001 to provide a computer networking backbone across the state for implementation of various e governance applications. The network was implemented to simultaneously carry Voice, Video & Data over Internet Protocol. Initially all the 18 district headquarters were connected to the State capital, Kolkata via 2 MBPS Leased Lines rented from BSNL. Subsequently the network has been extended in April 2003 to cover eight commercially important subdivisions. The connectivity till date has been through terrestrial   Leased Lines rented from the BSNL. 

The availability of a backbone network would have a tremendous potential to revolutionize the way information would be accessed by the state administration machinery and the citizens – particularly those in rural areas. Needless to say, the infrastructure would also provide ready Internet access. The readily available secured Government network would attract the attention of business houses. The Infrastructure would support value added services through Community Information Centers (CIC). These endeavors would help in revenue inflow.  

In last two and a half years, the state IT dept. had 48 road shows, the target segments being the existing companies, companies which are in the growth mode, the industry associations and the media. A 16-member IT delegation led by the state IT minister visited European countries and interacted with IT leaders, industry associations like National Outsourcing Association and Confederation of British Industry and many prominent personalities. “Our aim was to address the most important issue of perception. We tried to drive home the fact that there is perceptible difference between the old perception about West Bengal and the reality. We tell every one: do not believe us, come and see for yourself. Do not go by perception, go by reality. ” 

The reality, Dr Gautama claims, is that the state has a reservoir of talent, the cost of operation in cheaper, very low attrition rate and a stable and quality telecommunication connectivity. In infrastructure, the state is trying to catch up with the growing requirement and standard. In last one year considerable progress was there in this sector but much more needs to be done and at a much faster rate. “But the most important ingredient that is fuelling the growth is aggressive IT policy the state has framed,” he said. “Having said so we must say still we have some distance to travel. We have been able to pitch Kolkata as an IT destination and I am sure it will fructify into investment very soon,” Dr Gautama said. 

People have right to know facts. The fact is that at the end of all people would and should invest when it makes business sense. But people did not have this data, about talent, about cost advantage etc. The big players whether it is TCS, Wipro, Cognizant or IBM historically have been recruiting huge number of professionals from Kolkata for their facilities outside Kolkata. So about talent they are quite comfortable. This was an issue that we addressed very very successfully.   

At the end of 2004-05 West Bengal had 5.1 percent share in the national revenue IT revenues against 3.2 percent in 2003-04. By 2010 we aim to take the share to 15 percent in IT  services and 20 percent in IT Enables Services. “We are very very confident we shall be able to achieve this though on the face of it looks very very stiff,” he asserted. 

“Two important issues that we addressing are infrastructure and connectivity. One of the important challenges is to keep pace with the requisite infrastructure. We have taken two initiatives- built up space and land. We have seven IT parks under implementation. Five million square feet of space would be created in next 18-22 months. We are also in need of land as good number of companies are looking for land to build up their own facilities- both big and small. We have identified 200 acres of land at Rajarhat New Town. Salt Lake complex is already saturated. We are also developing lands in the Sunrise city near EM Bypass. 

Second important is the connectivity. Both air connectivity and telecommunication connectivity. So far as air connectivity is concerned, the need for direct flights from Kolkata to countries like US or major destinations in Germany is strongly felt. Otherwise to reach Kolkata one has to take hopping flights and “in that case by default Kolkata becomes the second-tier city which is not the case at all.” In the first week of June, Air India will start direct flights to London thrice a week. Very soon Air France would start direct flight to Paris. Talks are on for some more direct flights to US and Frankfurt. 

So far as telecommunication is concerned earlier two players –BSNL and VSNL- were there. In last one year the state had two major private players in the field--Reliance and Bharti. Their entry has brought in competition. It is benefiting users two ways: it has brought down the cost and improved the quality of service. So the connectivity issue is very well addressed. BSNL is signing the SLAs guaranteeing an uptime of 99.5 percent. About much talked out Submarine Cable Landing Station is concerned, the central government has decided to ask BSNL to prepare a feasibility report. Besides east and northeastern states, the facility would benefit neighbouring zones of Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. 

Another important issue is talent. The state government is taking measures to cope with the growing need along with the expansion of the industry. By 2010, it is estimated that the IT industry here would require 1.75 lakh IT professionals for IT services and 2.35 lakh for ITES. “Not only the number, you need people with requisite skills. Gaps have been identified. We have an academic council headed by renowned Professor of ISI and we are continuously interacting with the industry as well. We are also on the verge of freezing an initiative whereby there will be continuous interaction with industry and the syllabi will be modified depending  on the requirement of the industry. Besides, training classes are being set up particularly for the BPO and Call centers. Five of them are working and three of them are in pipeline. 

When asked about the state’s ranking among others states, Dr Gautama said “We are not competing against states, we are not to compete with Bangalore or Hyderabad or Chennai. Despite country’s huge potential, India’s share in global economy is miniscule- it is 3 percent. If at all to compete, we will be competing with Shanghai, we will compete with Singapore, we will be competing with the best in the world. Kolkata is going to be a very premier IT hub in Asia, if not in the world and that is going to happen very soon.” 

All said and done, IT has no meaning unless the benefits percolate down to the grass root levels, he said adding that “IT is a tool to improve productivity and efficiency of the system to improve the quality of life of the people.” Recently the central government has sanctioned two important projects. One is path-breaking scheme. Burdwan has been hosen as the pilot district for WBSWAN and would be first of its kind in the country. It has been also decided to spread the network availability up to each of the 278 Gram Panchayats in the district of Burdwan. The project will cost Rs 4.5 crore.  By December 2005, this connectivity project would be completed. Host of services would be provided to the people at the grass root level. Along with this, the capacity building programme would also be there. 

In order to serve the rural community and in an effort to bridge the digital divide it is decided to extend connectivity up to Gram Panchayats as a part of this Pilot Project. The GPs would be connected on the WBSWAN via Dial up. RAS (Remote Access Server) would be provided in the DSC. Internet feed with appropriate bandwidth would be provided at the DSC along with proper security and access control. Each of the Panchayats would be provided with a set of 1 PC powered by a suitable UPS and fitted with 1 Printer and 1 Dial up modem. The P & RD Department, GoWB would have major role to play in this endeavour. Webel Technology Limited (A company of Webel) has been designated as the implementing agency for the project. 

The government of India has also sanctioned a Rs 76-cr connectivity project for the whole of the state and this connectivity would be up to the bloc level. There are 425 blocs in the state. “Time has come to address the issues of services to the citizens. The connectivity facility would take care of host of issues such as birth and death certificates, weather forecast for fishermen, various taxes, exam results, payment of duties and taxes, agricultural related issues. Unless the benefits goes down the line and reach the grass root level Information Technology has no meaning,” Dr Gautama said.

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