Learner’s Submission: Online Voter Registration – A Public Service of Puducherry Union Territory, India

“Puducherry a union territory of India online voter registration is a public online service provide for the people to view the voter identity card status. It is the public service maintained by government of Puducherry

Eligibility for the purpose of enrolment in electoral rolls is.

In India, Indian citizens above 18 years of age, with sound mind should not be of unsound mind (If he/she is of unsound mind and stands declared by a competent court then not eligible to be register as voter), be ordinarily resident in the area from where application is made, should not have been disqualified from voting under provisions of any law relating to corrupt practices and other offences in connection with election that is, 171E, 171F of IPC & Section 8A(1), 125 135, 136(2)(a) of Representation of People Act, 1951 ,with all necessary documents needed for registering can register online if they are residing in the constituency .They can participate and cast their vote for the contestants.

To register the citizens have to log on to http://www.ceopondicherry.nic.in after logging in the home page which is completely user friendly .it has four options:

a) Addition of users to a specific constituency
b) Deletion of users from a specific constituency
c) Modification of existing users data if it needs any modification
d) Transposition from one constituency to another.

Further for any assistance in any of the process or doubt in this process a toll free number is given for the user convenience.
After registration the details are verified in person the date of verification is intimated to the citizen .after verification is done and if the citizen is verified by the official the EPIC (electoral photo identity card) is given to him who can also be used as an identity card for may purposes within the country

Form 6 is needed to be filled by citizen who has attained 18 years of age.
Form 6a if he /she is an non residing Indian.
Form 7for deletion of existing user names.
Form 8if any correction in the voter card details printed.
Form 8a if shifting your place from one poll booth to another poll both within the same constituency.

Uploading the scanned copy of the birth certificate, and residence proof is optional but at the time of verification by the booth level officer.

The birth certificate also can be obtained from the common service centres another public service which brings government services to the people.

For the residence proof either the ration card, or any other proof of residence like driving licence can be provided.

Another salient feature of this website is its multilingual content which helps the users to fill the forms online in their own native language.

A search option is also given for citizens to verify their name has been updated in the electoral rolls in their constituency or not.

The search can be made by either the person name or residing address which was given during the voter registration or by the EPIC card number which is available in the voter card.

From the 2014 plastic voter identity cards are given to voters who are getting registered .its integrity can be verified by checking those cards under ultra violet lights. This move by the department is highly appreciated and welcomed by the people. These electoral rolls are revised every year.” – Prabhu Djeapragassam – Puducherry, India

Learner’s Submission: Online Public Services in India

“Internet as a social network evoked the world with its vast input database and knowledge sharing system. Today in the modern world, the share of public services information online has become a major important aspect.  The online service is a huge network source which provides a space for information to public, private and other resources activities.

In India, Online public services in term of availability of online data is accessible in various service providing sectors related to public, private, organational, educational, consulting, banking and others. It is important to have identity of information availability relating to the particular activities in each sector. Another important aspect about the online data is the security and worm mail threats. Every online services provider has to provide with domain to login-in to be utilized to be safer side of the site. In India after the 90s a revolution of inter user came to utilize the online resources for the online services providers on various sectors.

In India the web is now established as a mass market media channel for the wealthy. Email has become a mass market media channel for office workers and professional classes. The main changes in internet access have happened in the last five years and the internet has become an essential part of office life, and plays a key role in many homes. The number of people with access continues to rise, but so too does the time they spend online. Broadband access is growing fast, but the number of home connections lags behind comparable markets; however although the number of connections is low, a large number of people in high-end demographics have access. Significant infrastructure problems remain, creating a high cost for access compared to average wage rates.

Social Media has now become part of everyday life for a majority of online Indians, with two-thirds of the country’s web users accessing social media daily, according to new research.

Today social networking, blog and web relating sources are competition the user with fast provision of data relevant to weather, network, locality, features and other possibilities. Online data can provide knowledge sharing and also some kind of misuses the network resources. Scientists describe the internet as a prime example of large scale highly engineered yet highly complex system and is heterogeneous for instance of data transfer and physical characteristics of connections.

If the resources is utilized in a proper manner to develop the aspect, it reflect the achieving the growth of sustainable goals to take forwarding the nation to a developed world.  Security threats has to be resolve for safety and security of the web resources providers.

The internet is a gateway to world knowledge as well as a massive platform for national media and documentation. Once people start using the internet their behavior changes permanently and already in India over two thirds of people with access use it several times a week or more. Work audiences account for significant amounts of the online total population.” – Kishore Kumar Neelam – Andhra Pradesh, India

Learner’s Submission: National Portal Framework of Bangladesh

” Portal is an important part of e-government. A government portal allows citizens to access government information easily. Bangladesh government has introduced National web Portal Framework (NPF). The National web Portal Framework (NPF) is the single platform of public information from any government organization to ensure easy accessibility for citizens, easy updating of data by non-technical personnel and sharing of data amongst various organizations. The National web Portal Framework (NPF) is designed and developed by the Access to Information (A2I) Programme of the Prime Minister’s Office .

Including all ministries, all directorates, all semi-government and all autonomous organizations, and all government offices at the division, district, upazila and union levels, there are about 27,000 government offices. Only a few hundred of these offices, mostly in Dhaka, have their own specific websites. NPF ensures that all government organizations have online presence, and the existing officers and staffs of the organizations are able to update the sites without depending on technical personnel. In addition, NPF will allow the government to implement the Right to Information Act through proactive information disclosure. NPF is a joint venture of government stakeholders in different tiers.

The web presence of government organizations in Bangladesh has suffered from a number of problems for a long time – NPF addresses these problems and limitations:

• Only a small fraction of the 27,000 offices have websites. A few hundred offices – mostly in Dhaka and perhaps a few other urban areas of the country – have developed websites for the last 10years.
• Much of the current information on the government websites is not citizen-centric. Most of the information is in English excluding the large majority of the population from benefiting from the information. The information that exists focuses mostly on departmental information (supply-driven) that does not focus on citizens’ needs for information (demand-driven).
• The current websites need significant technical skills to update information. Hence, most government websites suffer from old, sometimes irrelevant and incorrect, information.
• All current websites differ significantly in both structure and design. These differences pose various problems when it comes to accessing, sharing and integration of data across the website.
• The current websites are not RTI-compliant resulting in government’s inability to utilize existing resources to uphold RTI Act for proactive information disclosure.

The web portal framework will focus on the free flow of information from union to ministry level. It creates a gateway for citizens to get access to all government services. At present, this framework contains about 6,00000 contents that are being continuously checked and updated.
This framework will focus on information that are essential to every citizens’ prosperous livelihood- agriculture, health, education, law & human rights, tourism and history, human resources, development & engineering, environment & disaster management etc. It also highlights activities that are in compliance with the RTI Act such as- the name and designation of the information officers, their duties, the laws relating to human rights.

NPF has advanced Bangladesh one step forward to online Bangladesh.” -Khan Md. Hasanuzzaman – Dhaka, Bangladesh

Learner’s Submission: Open Government Data in India

“Area of open government data is new in India. It’s just initiated and needed to be matured enough to be proved effective. The address of the portal is https://data.gov.in/, It’s a National Level portal. India’s open government data initiative has gained momentum with the adoption of an official open data policy and the publication of nearly 5818 data sets so far on the portal data.gov.in, it has still quite some way to go in making its mark globally on this front going by the rankings of an international Open Data Index. 

It published 5818 data sets of 58 Ministry/Departments of Government of India and 4 State Government. Major participants are Ministry of Agriculture Ministry of Agriculture (1795), Department of Agriculture and Co-operation (1739), Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) (1734), Planning Commission (822), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (766), Ministry of Water Resources (644), Ministry of Power (411), Central Electricity Authority (411), Rajya Sabha (244), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (211) (1795), Department of Agriculture and Co-operation (1739), Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) (1734), Planning Commission (822), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (766), Ministry of Water Resources (644), Ministry of Power (411), Central Electricity Authority (411), Rajya Sabha (244), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (211) etc. Those data sets are mainly in excel and csv format and can be analyzed.
It can be used for further analysis and can be used as no prior permission is required for using those data. Definitely those data are useful an analyzing various parameter. However it is required to add more data as 5818 data sets are nothing in respect to the magnitude of the nation like India.
I like about the portal:
• Data Management System (DMS) – Backend Module for users in the standard metadata format.
• Content Management System (CMS) – Module for managing and updating various functionalities and content.
• Visitor Relationship Management (VRM) – Segment for collating and disseminating the feedback or suggestions from the stake holders on datasets and applications. Feedbacks or suggestions could be shared through feedback form, suggest datasets or apps and contact us.
• Communities – Option sharing of opinion among people with same interest, belonging to the same sector or having interest for the same datasets and to create interaction and knowledge sharing.

People are participating through the Blogs, Discussions forum however the level of participation are very low. 2,730 liked its facebook page and its participation is decreasing. 5,179 people are following at twitter, which is very low. It’s needed to be popularizing by increasing utility.
Data set related to Map, Land ownership, Government spending, Company register, Legislation, Public transport, Crime statistics, opinion poll on various issues is to be incorporated. Those data should from ground level up to the central level and recent updated data.” – Rupak Ghosh – West Bengal, India

Learner’s Submission: Online Public Services in India

“I have used several online Services like Passport Seva Portal (www. passportindia.gov.in), MCA 21(http://www.mca.gov.in/MCA21/), RTI Online (http://rtionline.gov.in/), Income Tax E-Filing (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/), Employment Bank (http://employmentbankwb.gov.in/), National Employment Service (http://www.employmentservice.nic.in/), etc.

In India e- Governance was initiated by National e-Governance Plan of Indian Government which was take on May 18, 2006. Several Central Government/ State Governments have/ had installed online public services. Those services are categorized as Citizens Services, Business Services and Government Services
The e-Governance Standards have been divided into categories like – Policy or Frameworks, Standards, Guidelines. Various Expert Committees have been setup in priority areas, like Metadata and Data Standards (MDDS), Biometrics, Localization, Security, Mobile Governance, Interoperability Framework for e-Governance in India (IFEG), Digital Signature, etc. to formulate standards.
This e-Governance Standards portal provides a platform for sharing of ideas, knowledge, and draft documents among the members of various committees involved in standards formulation process. It also has a provision for web publication of draft documents for review comments by the Closed User Group and the Public. The duly approved standards by Government’s Apex body consisting of Senior Strategic members from: Deity, NIC, NASSCOM, BIS, CDAC, Planning Commission etc. would be released on this portal for free download and usage.
Key projects and enterprises of public welfare and governance get stalled due to lack of consensus among the stakeholders and later results into implementation interruptions and over budgeting.

In spite of such challenges, India has seen some of the biggest e-Governance initiatives in recent times including the establishment of common and support IT infrastructure such as State Wide Area Networks (SWANs), State Data Centers (SDCs), Common Services Centers (CSCs) and Electronic Service Delivery Gateways.
This initiative has provided a solid framework across the nation to figure and roll out, a wide range of e-Governance programs by numerous government bodies and ministries. For instance, the passport seva kendras, digitization of postal department, online income and sales tax collections, implementation of a single core banking platform across all 14 nationalized banks, voter identity cards (IDs) and permanent account number (PAN) cards for income tax are some of the nationwide e-Governance initiatives. In various public support sites like MCA21, Income Tax site, Passport Portal, Identity can be verified by PAN Number is automatically when filing documents.
Among the most determined and politically debated e-Governance initiative of India is the Unique Identification Authentication (UID) or the Aadhaar card project. Its objective is to empower residents of India with a unique identity and a digital platform to authenticate. Various services are getting authenticated by it like, Passport Application, Getting Government Subsidies in gas; it will also authenticate bank accounts.” – Rupak Ghosh – West Bengal, India

Learner’s Submission: e-Governance initiative of the Ministry of Company Affairs of India – MCA21

“I have used several online Services like Passport Seva Portal (www. passportindia.gov.in), MCA 21(http://www.mca.gov.in/MCA21/), RTI Online (http://rtionline.gov.in/), Income Tax E-Filing (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/) etc. In India e- Governance was initiated by National e-Governance Plan of Indian Government which was take on May 18, 2006. Several Central Government/ State Governments have/ had installed online public services. Those services are categorized as Citizens Services, Business Services and Government Services

Here I am explaining how MCA21 works.

MCA 21(http://www.mca.gov.in/MCA21/): MCA21 Project, the e-Governance initiative of the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA). MCA21 is an innovative eGovernance initiative that aims at continuously repositioning Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) as an organization proficient of fulfilling the aspirations of its stakeholders in the 21st century. For any program to be outcome-based, a paradigm shift in the service delivery is inevitable. A Service Centric Approach by the Government is the principal driving factor to the transformation.
The bottom line of this unique initiative is the improved speed and certainty in the delivery of MCA services. This improvement is primarily enabled through the mechanism of electronic Filing (e-Filing) for the services and back office automation by harnessing the right technology enablers.
The MCA conceptualized the MCA 21 initiative, which included the following:

Digitizing about 45 million paper documents in MCA’s archives
Setting up a data center
Building the computing infrastructure
Setting up 52 facilitation centers
Designing the application software
Setting up secure electronic payment gateways

In order to carry out e-filing on MCA21 we have facility to download the eform and fill it in an offline mode. Every form has the facility to pre-fill the data available in MCA21 system.

We have to first get the paper attachments scanned and saved as a soft copy in PDF format. Then attach the same in the attachment section of the eForm by clicking the appropriate ‘Attach’ button. An e-form can be signed by the authorized signatory/ representative using the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). Signature box in the e-form to affix the digital signature. To avoid increase in size of the e-form beyond permissible limit of 2.5 MB, always affix the DSC using the ‘Sign and Save As’ option.

Once the e-form is filled we would need to validate the e-form using Pre-scrutiny button. We would then have to affix the relevant digital signatures and save the form. We would need to be connected to the internet to carry out the pre-fill and pre-scrutiny functions. The filled up e-form as per relevant instruction kit have to be uploaded on the MCA21 portal. On successful upload, the Service request number would be generated and we would be directed to make payment of the statutory fees. The step by step process is given below. Once the payment has been made the status of my payment and filing status can be tracked on the MCA21 portal by using the ‘Track Your Payment Status’ and ‘Track Your Transaction Status’ link respectively.

The MCA-21 project rolled out the nearly paperless system across the country; it makes the process faster and smoother.” – Rupak Ghosh – West Bengal, India

Learner’s Submission: Potential User of RBM in My Organisation

“I am working in Emmanuel Hospital Organisation in a Project funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We have developed the Result Framework together with the doner agency. This project is for 10 years and we have designed the expected result for the project for 10 years. The result framework is used by the doner, by the central government, by the state government and by the non-governmental agencies who are implementing the project. There are 30 non-governmental agencies who are using the result based management. There are three result frameworks for the project, i.e. one at project level, one at state level and the third one at NGO level. We measure their achievement on the basis of their expected result which are pre-defined by the. During the 1st 5 year of the project we don’t had a RBM system, but in the next 5year we established the system. This is the 2nd phase of the project the project is doing very well. The work is appreciated by the doner as well as the government agencies. I have trained many people and non-governmental agencies on redesigning the RBM system in India. RBM is really much better than the conventional M&E system.

The accountability increased when we use the RBM. The doner is very clear what they want from the implementing agencies. The expected objectives are very clear. The non-governmental agencies are very clear what they are going to achieve and what are their objectives. Earlier the implementing agencies used to report whatever the result is, but now when they are using RBM they are reporting against the expected result and they measure their success or failure again the target. This has made them more and more accountable. Doner wants that every single penny is spent properly by using the RBM. The implementing agencies try to achieve what they have planned. The government agencies what to see their success o failure in achieving their goals. RBM has become the language of the most of the funding agencies now a days and hope this will replace the conventional monitoring and evaluation system completely. The World Bank and The Global Fund for fighting against AIDS, Tuber colossi and Malaria is implementing RBM and using the performance based funding. The fund is directly relate to their performance, if they perform they get fund otherwise the funding is stopped. This is a nice mechanism to make the implementing agencies more accountable. Now a day’s most of the government agencies also trying to follow the RBM to make their departments more accountable. The focus is very clear when RBM is followed. The funding agencies are very clear where the money is being spent and what is the result out of it. This is some kind of pre-cost benefit analysis. The implementing agencies become more and more conscious to achieve their targets which are explicitly defined in the RBM system. The overall accountability has really increased among all the partner agencies. Hope this will be the buzz work in the development sector as well as in the government agencies in near future.” – Ritu Kumar Mishra – Assam, India

Learner’s Submission: National e-Governance Plan in India

“On May 18, 2006, Central Government approved the National e-Governance Plan, comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects and 10 components. The National e-Governance Plan was designed by the DEITY (Department of Electronics and Information Technology) and DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances).

National e-Governance Plan have the following vision:
“Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man.”

Application of e-Governance is a complex process requiring facility of hardware & software, networking, process re-engineering and change management. National e-Governance Plan have following elements:
a) Common Support Infrastructure: – Common IT infrastructures like, State Wide Area Networks, State Data Centres, Electronic Service Delivery Gateways, Common Services Centres etc
b) Governance: Department of Electronics and Information Technology do the work of coordinating and monitoring. Institutions like NIC, STQC, CDAC, NISG helps the department in this work.
c) Centralised Initiative, Decentralised Implementation: Its required to develop citizen-centric models
d) Public-Private Partnerships: PPP is used for better and faster implementation
e) Integrative Elements: Adoption of unique identification codes for citizens, businesses and property like Permanent Account Number (PAN), Aadhaar Number of The Unique Identification Authority of India has been initiated.
f) Involvement of the National and State levels: Various Government Departments of Union Government and State Governments are involve for better and effective implementations in a holistic manner.
g) Facilitator role of Department of Electronics and Information Technology: various Ministries and State Governments and also provides technical assistance and DEITY taken the role of facilitator to coordinate all efforts.

Services provided by e-Governance can be categorized by following manners:
i. Services for Citizens
ii. Services for Business
iii. Services for Government

Services for Citizens:
We can access various citizen services such as agriculture services, registration of documents, learner’s licence, vehicle life tax collection, birth certificate, etc. Information about service name, category, degree of enablement, outreach, etc. is available. Some important Services are:

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, Online Passenger Reservation System: Indian Railway is an Indian state-owned enterprise providing Railways Transport system which is a major transport system in India. Through IRCTC Portal (https://www.irctc.co.in/) citizen can book railways Tickets, check availability of Tickets, Trains to their destinations. It’s a major initiative and helps us to get those services online.

Passport Seva Portal (www. passportindia.gov.in): Through it Passport Services become easy. Users can apply for fresh passport. Information on reissue of passport is obtainable. Information on passport requirements and suitability is available. Users can locate passport cell, Passport Seva Kendra, and also calculate fee. Applications status can also be tracked online. Through Downloadable e-forms passport application are made, checking status of it become easily available.

Birth and Death Registration and Issue of Certificate: Those Services are provided by various Municipalities (Local Governments). That is a major example of centralized initiative and decentralized implementation of e-Governance Project. Municipalities are providing online registrations of birth and death and are issue of certificate. Application Download, Online Application, Online Payment of fee/charges are the major features of it. According to Census 2011 lists there are 7,935 towns in India and 31.16% of the total populations are staying there. Cities and Major Municipalities are providing those services through their own website.

Online Employment Service: Both Central Government as well as the State Governments are providing Online Employment Service through their respective portal. Where Job seekers can register their details, those are available to the registered Employers. Physical verifications and validations of information’s are made by the District Employment Exchanges. http://www.employmentservice.nic.in/ is the portal of National Employment Service; it’s the portal of Central Government. Employment bank (http://employmentbankwb.gov.in/) is the portal of Government of West Bengal that is of a State Government.

Services for Business
E-governance services for business are important aspect such as online Registration, VAT/TOT Collection, Tax Payments etc

MCA 21(http://www.mca.gov.in/MCA21/): MCA21 Project, the e-Governance initiative of the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA). MCA21 is an innovative eGovernance initiative that aims at continuously repositioning Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) as an organization proficient of fulfilling the aspirations of its stakeholders in the 21st century. For any program to be outcome-based, a paradigm shift in the service delivery is inevitable. A Service Centric Approach by the Government is the principal driving factor to the transformation.

Income Tax E-Filing (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/): Income Tax e-filing can be done online through the Income Tax Website.

Services for Government:

E-Governance is helping the governments for better governance. It is enhancing internal communications. Like e-Governance in Police departments enable them to exchange crime record in faster and smarter way. Those are important for prevention of Crime.” – Rupak Ghosh – West Bengal, India

Learner’s Submission: Indian Government in Social Media

“Whether it is Nirbhaya’s (Delhi gang-rape) case or Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption social media played a huge role in awakening the people. The social media has proven the power of reach, with millions of hits for Kolaveri Di or Hello Honey Bunny in Youtube.  As a coin has two sides, the social media also has both good and bad. Provoking youth against particular religion, region or a cause are one among those activities that pull the social media towards an evil side. No matter good or bad, many MNCs like Nike have recognized social media, as a good platform to promote or advertise their products. Now it is the time for Indian government, which has found most of the young India have accounts in social media and are active. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Indian state Gujarat and BJP’s Chairman of Central Election Campaign Committee, is the first-politician to be active in social media. He has an account in Twitter, a Facebook page and a Youtube channel, updating his daily speeches, campaigns, etc. The Central Government is also active in social media.

Indian government in different social media:

–          Twitter

–          Facebook

–          Youtube

–          Google+ Hangout

Ministry of Finance and Ministry of External Affairs of India are the most active users of social media, among different Ministries. P. Chidambaram, the Finance minister of India and Narendra Modi are once in a while active on Google+ Hangout, to interact with the public. Even some Government officials like Sam Pitroda, Planning commission deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahulwalia are active in updating the government schemes and day-to-day happenings. Even though the number of netizens in India are less in percentage but the impact that is created in social media is huge. Indian Government has found this fact and thought that social media is the right place to interact with the public and publicize their schemes and campaigning for their respective parties. Let us wish that the social media brings a positive change, in better understanding the needs of public or the society.” – Avinash Inuganti – Tamil Nadu, India

Learner’s Submission: Case Study of Decentralization in Maharashtra, India

“Decentralization is the most revolutionary development in India because behind it are all the forces when released will change the structure of the country – Jawaharlal Nehru, Former Indian Prime Minister. This was the quote said my Indian Prime Minister while he introduced the Indian Parliament with the 73^rd and 74^th amendment of Indian Constitution in 1960 which marked as a pioneer stage of decentralization in India. Today has over 2.5 lakhs Panchayats in which there are over 32 lakhs of Grass-root leaders elected by the people of that village and out of it 12 lakhs are women. It is a mile stone of India and an excellent vehicle to drive decentralization at a very basic level. The main reason of decentralization is to give chance to people to govern themselves because consistent progress is what matters. Power to rule should not lie upwards with central officer but downwards with local authorities. Quantity of GDP generated is less important that quality of GDP.

Decentralization in Maharashtra started in 1961 and today there are 28,000 Gram panchayats, 350 Panchayat Samitis and 33 Zilla Parishads. But instead of this there were quarrels continuously going on in Maharashtra which we resulting in social tensions and hence the police complaints were increasing at a rapid pace ultimately creating a huge pile of court cases; Considering the huge pendency of cases in various Courts and the inevitable delays in delivering judgments, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is the need of the hour. In fact this was the reason for the formation of Loknyayalas and Fast Track Courts. Maharashtra Government made a plan called as Dispute-free village scheme also called as (Tanta Mukti Gaon Mohim).According to this Plan, a village with most number of points gained after solving the cases at village level were awarded with cash prizes hence disputes taking place within families or due to small reasons were not introduced in court and golden mean was found out by the Gram Panchayat (Village Authorities) only. It reduced the Police work to a great extent. The Maharashtra model is likely to be replicated in other developing countries, where logistics and infrastructure of the judicial machinery were weak, Mr. Dighavkar said. He will also spend time with social scientists, reformers and peace makers in various universities and share the model and his experiences with them. Speaking of the achievements of the scheme, he cited figures in Pune district where 790 out of 1,134 villages have become ‘dispute-free’ in the last two and a half years and hence the district received Rs. 19,31,000,00 ($4.4 million), as the prize money from the State government. Since October 2009, 36,294 conflicts at the village-level were resolved and now, 28,084 cases were awaiting resolution, he said.

The salient features of this mission are:

1. Formation of Tanta Mukt Samities at each and every village in the state.
2. Identification of existing disputes, classifying them into criminal, civil, revenue and noting

3. Them down in a register maintained by the Samitis.
4. Preventive schemes and measures to ensure that disputes do not occur.
5. Resolution of existing and new disputes in a democratic, fair and participative manner.

Decentralization is the backbone of democracy because it really proves the meaning of democracy- For the people; by the people.” – Ameya S. Kulkarni – Maharashtra, India