LOKMITRA ()

      Web-enabled Government-Citizen Interface of
      Himachal Pradesh Government

The Government of Himachal Pradesh is committed to provide the general public, especially living in distant rural areas of the State, with the benefits of "Using Information Technology (IT) in Governance (E-Governance)" at their doorstep. The Web-enabled Government-Citizen Interface, named as LOKMITRA, is one such step of the State Government in that direction. The following objectives are envisaged, to start with, in the project:

Easy access to Government Information at the remotest corners of the State;
Redressal of complaints without physically visiting the Government offices;
Transparency in the working of the Government;
Responsive and responsible Administration etc.

Hamirpur district has been chosen for introducing the project on a pilot basis by setting-up a district-wide INTRANET. The project will result in various direct/indirect social as well as economic benefits to the rural masses, as indicated below:

Better dissemination of government information, resulting in better awareness among rural masses about various Govt. Schemes and bringing in transparency.

Saving in time & cost of people visiting District headquarters time and again for getting information, lodging complaints & inquiring their status etc.

Reduction in response time by the concerned departments and increase in their accountability to people.

Virtual Extension Counters for the Government, by way of using these Centres for getting the departmental Data entered and transmitted from time to time.

A common platform for the people to interact with each other on mutual interests e.g. matrimonial, sale/purchases,

Additional income opportunities from these Centres by using them for General Training, Word Processing and Data Entry jobs, and extending Internet Access also in case the Centres procures dial-up Internet connection from any of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) available in H.P.

Employment generation by way of allowing opening up of more such Citizen Information Centres in the private sector.

The LOKMITRA Interface is proposed to be later expanded to all the Districts in the State by making it available through Internet, thereby, increasing the employment generation and facilitating the growth of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) also throughout the State.

Questions/General Grievances: The citizen can ask any relevant question from the given departments, seek counseling and advice, or narrate their grievances, not listed under Classified Complaints sub-head, and they shall receive a reply within a reasonable period of time, say 30 days, from the concerned department. General grievances not specifically covered can also be sent through this module.

Downloadable Forms: All types of forms which the citizens need for various purposes, have been put on the LokMitra Interface and these can be obtained directly from the Citizen Information Centres. There will be no scarcity of any form and the time spent on visiting the concerned office for obtaining the form will also be saved. The driving license form, medical form, forms for getting various subsidies, ration card form etc. will all be available through these Centres.

Vacancies: All vacancies being publicized by the H.P. Subordinate Staff Selection Board Hamirpur are being put on the LokMitra. The public can search the vacancies through the Centres and obtain application forms also. In addition, all types of vacancies being created in different departments at Hamirpur are also being included. A search facility has been included through which a prospective candidate can search a particular type of job also.

Tenders: The small tenders being floated locally by the Public Works department, Municipal Committee, Irrigation & Public Health, DRDA/Planning departments etc. are also being put under this option. The conditions, details of job to be done, date of publishing, last date of submission, earnest money to be deposited, total cost of the work and other conditions are being included. In addition, the public can also find out the status of the tender as to whether it has been awarded, cancelled and re-tendered with reasons thereof and in case of awarding of the tender, the name of the person being given the tender can also be found out.

Promotional Schemes: The various Promotional Schemes for general public from all Departments have been included. One can also find out as how to take benefit under a particular scheme, which forms to be filled, how to obtain those forms and other formalities to be completed without actually going to any of the offices.

Contacts: All departments have been asked to provide the Name, Addresses and Telephone Numbers of their officers/offices on the LokMitra. Therefore, the list of all subordinate offices will be available to the public and it will be classified according to the District/ Division/ Block/ Panchayat/ Tehsil and it will be possible to get a listing of all Government offices in a particular Panchayat or Block along with their names and phone numbers. Subsequently, after setting up of the Government network in the State, the public can send/receive Email also from all the subordinate Government offices at various levels.

Market Rates: The rates of vegetables, which are grown in Hamirpur district will be collected from six nearby Markets and put on LokMitra. The vegetable growers can compare the rates and find out the best place where to sell their produce. The rates will be available on daily basis and the Growers will have the facility to compare rates in different Mandis of the same items and/or for different dates.

Sale/Purchase: This option facilitates creating a Networked Rural-Bazaar. Any person can give an advertisement for selling goods, which are pre-classified. Further, the public can search this database for buying the goods which are displayed for sale. The goods advertised are available for a period of 2 months from the date of display.

Matrimonial Services: The public can use the LokMitra for match making also by putting up advertisements on the Network. A matrimonial advertisement will be available for a period of two months from the date of submission. However it can be renewed for subsequent 2 month intervals by payment of additional fee. Facility to upload the photograph of the prospective bride or bridegroom, directly from the Centres to the Server, has also been incorporated.

Notice Board: The Administration will put up all important notification and events being organized or to be organized on the Notice Board and the public can simply refer to this Notice Board for notifications/events of any department. Special notifications being issued by the District Administration during the fairs/festivals will also be made available during the period of their enforcement.

Hamirpur News: The current news items of Hamirpur district are viewable through the session. These news items are made available immediately and are flashed on the top of all screens till their expiry date. Since the language used is Hindi and the news are local to Hamirpur, this feature will be an interesting one and is available free with other paid services.

Children Corner: This facility is available for the school going children, in the form of subject matters, jokes, stories etc. They may also send questions and raise queries relating any subject.

Village Email: The villagers can send & receive mails to & from other Centres and Government functionaries. The Panchayats may use this service for sending/receiving information from the Block/District offices. After the LokMitra Interface is made available on the Internet, this Email will become Internet Mail.

Technical Details:

The LokMitra INTRANET in the district Hamirpur consists of two Pentium-III-based Servers (Under WindowsNT), with 4 Pentium-III-based Client systems and a Router, set up in a LAN using HUB, in a separate room at the Deputy Commissioner office, Hamirpur, named as LokMitra Soochnalaya, as shown in the following diagram:

The Client Systems are used by the officials from concerned departments, for answering the complaints and queries received, updating the static and dynamic information from time to time etc.

The district administration in consultation with the Zila Parishad and Panchayats, has identified 25 panchayats for setting up the Citizen Information Centres. One unemployed youth each has been sponsored for these Centres by the concerned Panchayat, who is required to deposit a security bond and fixed annual Registration charges with the district administration. The district administration has provided a Computer system, a Printer, a Modem and a UPS, to these youths for the Centres. These Centres connect the District Server on dial-up telephone lines through the Router. 8 nos. of telephone lines have been provided at the Server end for this purpose, enabling 8 Centres to connect the District Server at a given point of time.

The LokMitra Software Interface is web-enabled and runs through the Internet browser only installed on the user machines. The software is very user friendly and has two different modules, one for the Citizen Information Centres and the other for the Control Room. Both the modules are allowed access with specific user identities and related passwords.

The Control Room module is used on the local LAN for data entry into various databases, taking print outs of the complaints/queries received on daily basis and to generate other reports. There is provision to monitor all the complaints/queries received from the public and to check whether action is being taken with the stipulated time frame. The officials from the concerned departments will use this module.

The Citizen Information Centre module is used for extending services and providing information to general public. This interface has been shown in the following screens:

Implementation Details:

This project has been initiated by the Department of Information Technology, Government of Himachal Pradesh. The Gyandoot Project implemented in the district Dhar of Madhya Pradesh has been the role model for this project. The funds for the project have been provided by NABARD making LokMitra the first IT based project funded by NABARD in the country. The software has been developed by National Informatics Centres (NIC), Himachal Pradesh State Unit, Shimla.

A society under the Deputy Commissioner is responsible for running and implementing the Project in the Hamirpur district. The services are available to the general public on payment basis. The Society has fixed rates of all the services ranging from Rs.5 to Rs.30 per service. The Hamirpur News service is available free along with any of the other service.