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CHENNAI, Nov. 10

THE Tamil Nadu Government plans to implement the e-Seva project providing single window Government information and services online to public.

The project would also enable payment of public utilities bills including water tax and electricity, the State IT Secretary, Mr Vivek Harinarain, has said.

Speaking at a meeting organised by the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Saturday, Mr Harinarain said that a framework for the e-Seva project would be ready by the year-end. Since it would be a `huge' project, a lot of back-end work from the Government would need to be done, he said. "We are also debating on outsourcing some of the back-end work," he added.

The IT Secretary said that as an example of e-governance in the State, public can apply online for encumbrance certificate with the registration department.

The department couriers the certificate and the receiver pays Rs 25-Rs 15 as courier charges and Rs 10 for the department, he said.

In his remarks, Mr Terry Thomas, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Information Technology, MCCI, said there were certain `gaps' in the IT policies of various State governments and also the Centre.

For instance, every other State had taken short-term view and wanted to do back office, call centre and software development. "We need to learn lessons from the Internet bubble. The IT policies should deal on Intellectual Property (IP) creation."

According to Mr Thomas, every State was imitating the other and competes in the same sector, say back office or call centre. This could be a short-term view, but would hurt in the long run. As companies formed cartels to safeguard themselves from competition, States should also form cartels to reduce competition. The IT policy should also focus on the quality of education, he added.

Mr Harinarain, in his response, said that more than the State Government it was the industry that should debate on R&D (research and development) investment and IP creation. In India, the R&D spending has been mostly by the Government, while in developed countries it was by the industry, he added.

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