MSMEs For e-Governance

How do we access key resources to help us to respond to change and to innovate? How do we communicate effectively with resource providers? How to gain and maintain competitive advantage over counterparts? These are few of the many questions that often plague the minds of MSMEs in this era of globalization. One important solution lies in understanding the use of electronic media including internet and online services available thereon. While simplifying the processes on the one hand, it prevents the wastage of a very precious commodity called "Time" which is something not many MSMEs are able to spare.

The present issue on e-governance would enable the readers to gain an insight into its working, modalities, benefits and also some of the shortcomings of the system as it exists today.

IIA's enthusiasm for e-initiatives is well known to our members and we have also tried across the years to get all our members interested in these for their own benefit.

Single Table System(STS) is IIA's major initiative to facilitate e-Governance bringing transparency in the system of approvals, registrations and no-objections for setting up an unit in U.P. or for renuals etc., the Developed for Govt. of U.P. with the support of Udyog Bandhu, U.P., STS is now operational for about 2 years offering extensive online services for entrepreneurs. It is, however, saddening to note that such a useful system is not being paid the due attention at the Government level thus rendering it ineffective to an extent.

Another recent endeavour of IIA has been the e-Tender facility at its web site (www.iiaonline.in/tender/index.php) wherein numerous tenders from almost all the govt departments are available for free download.

Notifications/Circulars link (www.iiaonline.in/notification/) gives you direct access to the relevant section of the respective departments/ministries, also you could post us the queries relating to any department direct through the website (www.iiaonline.in/query/ query_list.php).

I would now like to intimate our members with one more recent initiative by IIA.

In response to a news item published in Dainik Jagaran regarding outsourcing of the maintenance of Govt Websites to Private Webmasters, IIA have submitted the following suggestions to the Govt. of U.P.

1. The Industries Department and Commercial Tax Department related websites maintenance may be outsourced to registered, well established and well equipped user organizations. The minimum eligibility criteria for selecting such organizations could be availability of qualified staff and should have developed & maintained atleast 2 industry related websites.

2. The websites of Udyog Bandhu, Directorate of Industries, UPSIDC, Export Promotion Bureau, Department of Commercial Tax, UPSIC, Department of Industrial Development, Department of Infrastructure Development, UPPCL, and Industrial Development Authorities may be outsourced to State/National Level Industrial Associations.
The Central Govt has several really useful interactive websites which have been mentioned in the following pages. I would recommend you to try these services available right at your desk. Besides, you may also want to go through india.gov.in/howdo/index.php which offers extensive information and useful links/resources to avail various services being provided by the Central & State/UT Governments in India. A recently added service in U.P. section offers online tender information from Public Works Department (PWD). It may be termed as one of the best online resources for citizens and industry alike.

Diverting from the topic of e-governance, I would also like to mention here the "Digital Library of India" (www.new.dli.ernet.in) – a project of the Dptt of Information Technology which can be accessed at www.mit.gov.in/default.aspx?id=325. The beauty lies in the fact that you could read the books/documents online after downloading the relevant software.

Unfortunately, Govt of U.P. has yet to wake up to the significance of keeping their web sites well maintained, for example, the web site of Directorate of Industries, UP(www.dirindustries.up.nic.in/) is non-functional at present time. But there are a couple of very useful sites like:
www.indg.in/e-governance/ict-initiatives-in-states-uts/ict-initiatives-in-uttar-pradesh- a commendable effort from Govt of UP, offering online services and information on E-governance in States/UTs, Centre & Legal sevices, Mobile or M-Governance, E-governance resources/links etc. This is a bi-lingual site thus enhancing its utility. Then Koshvani, UP(koshvani.up.nic.in/dclexp.aspx)- a project of the Finance Dptt, GoUP, is also a useful and updated site.

UPERC's "Bijlidost" is a project of UPERC to bridge the gap between service provider and consumer. One could register here for free and lodge their complaints/queries related to the power sector. However, it needs to be more active yet as far as IIA's experience is concerned.

I hope that our efforts will bear fruit so that IIA would have more opportunities to strengthen the MSMEs of the state in the field of ICT thus enabling them to reap full benefit of e-Governance.