CIOIN

Executive summary

Modern computers, which no longer need dust-free and air conditioned cabins, might still turn to junk on the unforgiving stretches of land in rural Andhra Pradesh. But, housed in concrete buildings in district, taluk and mandal centers, they offer a glimmer of hope to lakhs of rural households for whom the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been started.

Andhra Pradesh has become the first state to use a combination of computers and an e-governance software application that promises to reduce, if not eliminate corruption in getting jobs to people who most desperately need it. The Andhra Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (APREG), which is the state's implementation of the project backed by the central government, is using a Webenabled information and communication technology solution developed by IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). "The new system has been adopted to ensure that contractors and vested interests do not hijack the employment scheme - every rupee spent and the status of the work done, or in progress, will be effectively tracked," said K. Raju, a principal secretary to the state government, attached to the department of rural development.

TCS's research, which included talking to everyone resulted in a user-friendly system at the mandals and a Web-based system at district and state headquarters. Computer Maintenance Corporation, a Tata group company, has deployed about 80 staff members to train the operators. The end-to-end ICT solution will help in simplifying tasks such as issue of job cards to rural households, identification of work to be undertaken, generation of work estimates, work execution and wage payment. Using the solution, the time taken to generate work estimates has been reduced from 15-20 days to minutes, says TCS. Because the solution is Web-enabled, irrespective of location, beneficiaries can browse information about their villages, work status and wage payments.

A three-stage architecture has been used, which includes a nodal agency for front-ending all the computer related processes of the employment guarantee scheme (EGS). This is called an MCC, where the APREGS software is installed. With a few villages being serviced by one system in one mandal, effective and faster service will be provided. Wage seeker registration, work estimations, work execution, payments and other related tasks are carried out from here. From the actual execution site (villages/habitations) there will be a physical link using a courier once a week.

For the first time, the computer system will be using templates for each type of work for arriving at the manpower, material requirement estimates and complete engineering calculation for the works. Data from the mandals will be uploaded to a district/state server through a data network, dial-up connection or even physical media. A Web application presents the information on the Internet for public viewing and scrutiny.

At the MCC, attendance is captured from the submitted muster roll. The data is validated and stored in database. Based on the reported progress of work and the number of person-days spent, payment to the workers is computed and a wage list is generated. This list is sent to the village panchayat and the paying agency. If the work is completed, the field assistant reports the same to the executing department, which sends an official who prepares the Work Closure Report and submits the same to the MCC. The village panchayat also endorses their remarks in the work closure report on the quality of work.

In addition to the modules, a 'dash board' provides information that is readily required by the program control officer on a single screen. The software system analyses various aspects of the implementation of the program and updates the dashboard periodically. Finally, local language support is being built into the project that will allow wage seekers to get first-hand information on jobs.