By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In what can be termed as a major boost for the state Information Technology sector, altogether two hundred eighteen common service centers (CSCs) out of two hundred twenty five have been commissioned in the state.
As per the documents available with The Shillong Times, the Government has appointed BASIX as the implementing agency based on competitive bidding process to implement the project. The objective of the programme is “to develop a platform that can enable government, private and social sector organizations to align their social and commercial goals for the benefit of the rural population in the remotest corners of the country through a combination of IT-based as well as non-IT-based services”.
It may be mentioned that the Central Government in the year 2006 approved an outlay of Rs five thousand seven hundred forty two crore for the common service Centers over a period of four years. Citizens can visit these centers and avail a number of Governments to Citizen Services made available through the state portal, adding the system ensures efficient and quick delivery of services to the rural poor is enhanced through the State Portal and the Common Service Centers (CSCs).
In its bid to ease the problem of connectivity in rural areas, the Central Government has provided one hundred forty seven Very Small Aperture Terminal to these CSCs. According to documents, village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE) who are running these CSCs are also being engaged for spreading computer education, Business correspondents for financial inclusion and running various courses by IGNOU, so as to supplement their income from these ventures.On similar lines, the Meghalaya State Wide Area Network (MSWAN) has been designed to establish a reliable horizontal and vertical communication corridor.
The network will act as a single point services delivery system across Meghalaya for voice, data, email messaging and video conferencing services across various departments of the state.
A total of 55 Headquarters (State, District/Sub District and Block HQs) along with their departmental offices have been interconnected using high speed leased lines from BSNL.
Built on a BOOT model by TCS, MSWAN has been contracted for approx Rs 25.4 Crores, over a period of five years, adding over 300 horizontal offices of the state have already been connected on SWAN and more are being connected soon.
It may be mentioned that MSWAN was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and Meghalaya along with fifteen other states have been able to successfully start the operation of SWAN.