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Through its e-governance initiative, Rural Digital Services, the Karnataka Government seeks to bridge the gap between the administration and the common man.

FOR Siddaiah, a 45-year-old farm labourer of Sathanur in Mandya district, getting an income certificate from the authorities had never been an easy task. But it was something he couldn't do without — for Siddaiah, and many others like him living below the poverty line, the income certificate is mandatory to avail of government concessions, including education and medical facilities. This year, there was a pleasant surprise in store. Siddaiah got his certificate without much hassle, without moving out of his village, and without incurring much expense, thanks to the computer centre at Sathanur, which has come up as part of the Karnataka Government's e-governance drive. Sathanur is one of 10 villages in Mandya selected by the Government to test-pilot its e-governance initiative — Rural Digital Services (RDS).

Through RDS, the Government aims to provide various citizen services through a single window system at the village level itself and bridge the gap between the administration and the common man. "RDS was the next logical step for Karnataka, which has implemented the Bhoomi initiative successfully, wherein rural land records have been digitised. We have matured beyond Bhoomi," says Rajeev Chawla, Secretary, e-governance. About 42-odd services, including issuance of certificates such as death and birth, caste, income, residence and the like, issuance of orders in respect of social security schemes such as old age pension, widow pension, freedom fighter pension and benefits from socio-economic schemes, will be offered through RDS. One can also find information about various schemes and procedures and the status of one's application, through the Web-interface available through the computer centres or kiosks in the villages, he says.

"The services offered through RDS have been selected carefully. These are services essential for the common man in day-to-day life. Citizens can avail of these services at a nominal cost and without bribing anyone," says Chawla.

The initial response has been encouraging, he says. RDS would also be offered through the 175 kiosks that the Government had set up in taluks across the State as part of Bhoomi to distribute digitised land records. The State Government believes that private participation holds the key to the success of this initiative. Hence, it has decided to rope in educated youth to set up the tele-centres or kiosks from where the citizens can apply for the necessary documents and collect them the next day at a nominal cost fixed by the Government. For each record/certificate distributed, the kiosk owner earns a service charge of about Rs 10.

Additionally, these kiosk owners will also be allowed to have their own revenue stream, which could be in the form of providing computer training or having a cyber café. About 200 people have lined up to set up the kiosks or computer/tele-centres, says Chawla. The Government's idea behind enrolling the youth to set up these centres was to stay away from running these centres on a daily basis, he says. Moreover, the privately-run kiosks will also create competition for the government-run centres.

While these centres will have access to the software and the network, they will have to set up their own infrastructure. The State-owned National Informatics Centre has developed the necessary software on the Microsoft .Net architecture. The basic infrastructure for a kiosk will consist of a personal computer, a printer and an antenna for connectivity. The Government will facilitate loans for these entrepreneurs, he says.

The village centres will be connected through wireless technology (Wireless in Local Loop — WLL) basically to overcome the wire-line barriers. The connectivity technology has been developed by the Chennai-based N-Logue Communications.

The Karnataka Government has been working on RDS for the last six months. Apart from Mandya, the Government plans to start another pilot in the northern district of Dharwad. "The WLL infrastructure is being created there," says Chawla.

Suman Kumar, the owner of a tele-centre at Sathanur, says he expects to recover the investment of over Rs 60,000 in a year's time. Besides offering RDS and vending land records, Suman Kumar also offers basic computer courses to rural children at a nominal fee. He expects to offer telemedicine soon, as his connectivity provider has signed up with a couple of hospitals in Bangalore. "People are curious about the services," he says. Also, connectivity at his centre is being used by the villagers to keep a tab on the weather.

Chawla feels that RDS, once it is fully implemented across the State, will help in creating a citizen database incrementally as the data collected by the tele-centres will be classified and stored at the district and State headquarters.

"This incrementally-created citizen registry will be part of the e-governance infrastructure that can be used by those offering various services to the citizen. The registry will contain alphanumeric data elements such as digital photographs, fingerprints of the thumb and index fingers. The Government plans to come out with a unique 12-digit number called citizen ID which will identify each registered citizen," he says.

vishwa@thehindu.co.in

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