Kuppam to be e-connected soon

HYDERABAD: If this one picks up, then erstwhile nodding Kuppam, Chandrababu Naidu’s constituency, is all set to take a giant step into the generation of IT. The chief minister is planing to network all the 107 gram panchayats in his assembly segment. Come September, the electorates of Kuppam will have all the access of online projects like e-seva that the government is vying to push in for the masses in the state.

International Development ID 21, a UK-based organization would start its activities for the connectivity project. ID 21 is a World Bank funded body and has already cleared Rs 3.3 crore grant for e-connectivity within the region. Once Kuppam is It-enabled, all the gram panchayats will have kiosks with computers. These in turn will be linked to a central server and a Telugu portal on Kuppam, which will be launched soon. Information on the development work undertaken in the area and other useful data will be up on the portal.

The data generated by the government departments and the goals of the government’s vision 2020, with reference to Kuppam will be up on the net as well. "Once the network is in place, crucial data on land records, registration certificates and details of healthcare programs will be available a mouse click away. The government is already aware that the villagers in these areas are illiterate and hence it has decided to send out trained personnel to these villages to operate the machines," said, J Satyanarayana, IT secretary for the state of AP. A team from the funding agency is likely to visit the area this month and the system will be up and running by the end of September.

ID-21 is a fast-track research reporting service funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). It aims to bring UK-based development research findings and policy recommendations to policymakers and development practitioners worldwide. The organization aims to be part of the process of putting policy into practice.

It may be recalled that in the month of February 2002, Hewlett-Packard, USA had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of Kuppam HP e-inclusion community project (Kuppam i-Community Project). According to the conditions in the MoU, government of AP (GOAP) is working closely with HP to implement ICT technologies that helps in providing affordable access to the Internet in the rural areas and address the digital divide adopting a Public-Private-Partnership model.

Apart from this, the GOAP is also undertaking Multi-purpose Household Survey (MPHS) one of the largest IT Projects undertaken by the Government. "This huge database, which covers 1,125 mandals of 23 Districts of Andhra Pradesh, contains a whopping total of 76.5 million records. Each record gives a graphic detail of the personal, social and economic details of every citizen. This is an excellent launch pad for effective e-governance. At the cutting edge level, i.e. the mandal, this database is already put to use for instant issue of caste certificates, birth certificates and nativity certificates," Satyanarayana added.

The data is validated through sample verification by independent agencies in all the 1,125 mandals. Data accuracy of 92% to 99% has been reported across the mandals. Work on Data Warehousing is currently on. The data would be available on a central server located in the office of Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, as well as servers located at all 1,125 mandals. These services are currently being provided from all the 1,125 mandal offices across the state. A centralized server is located at the office of Chief Commissioner of Land Administration and it is planned to web-enable the entire project in future.