SWAN Features A wide area network deployed in a State or UT would have two components viz.
- Vertical Component
- Horizontal Component
The vertical component of SWAN is implemented using multi-tier architecture (typically, three-tier) with the State/UT Headquarter (SHQ ) connected to the each District Head Quarter (DHQ) which in turn gets connected to the each Block Head Quarter (BHQ). Each SHQ, DHQ and BHQ point of connection is called a Point of Presence (PoP), which is a point of bandwidth aggregation for several network links getting connected at this point. The bandwidth provisioning for network connectivity between all the above PoPs is a minimum of 2 Mbps. Presently, the connectivity provisioning between every SHQ and DHQ is for 4 Mbps and DHQ to every BHQ is 2 Mbps. For the horizontal component, the government departments at each tier are connected to the respective PoPs
The SWAN aims to create a dedicated Closed User Group (CUG) network of minimum speed of 2 Mbps by connecting around 7500 pops, providing Data, Voice & Video connectivity to more than 50,000 govt. offices. The networks aim at increasing the efficiency of the government delivery mechanism and optimizes the performance. The backbone thus created would provide reliable, vertical and horizontal connectivity within the State / UT administration and would facilitate electronic transactions between all the government departments.
To ensure desired Quality of Service (QoS) by the Network Operator and the Bandwidth Service Provider, a Third Party Audit mechanism has been created in the SWAN Scheme which would monitor the performance of the SWAN network in each State / UT. The Third Party Audit (TPA) agency shall perform for a period of five years from the date of final acceptance test of the network and primarily monitor the compliance of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) which the State / UT would enter with the Network Operator and also with the Bandwidth Service Provider
SWAN Implementation Model There are two Options for SWAN implementation; the PPP Model and the NIC model. In the PPP model the State / UT identifies a suitable PPP model (e.g. BOOT) and selects an appropriate Network Operator agency through a suitable competitive bid process for outsourcing establishment, operation and maintenance of the Network. In the NIC model the State / UT designates NIC (National Informatics Centre) as the prime implementation agency for SWAN for establishment, operation and maintenance of the Network. NIC in turn would identify a Facility Management Service (FMS) agency for the State / UT concerned, to manage day-to-day management and operation of the network. Majority of the States / UTs have opted for the PPP model for the implementation SWAN. BSNL has been identified as a preferred Bandwidth Service Provider for SWAN Scheme across the country.
Current Status of SWAN Implementation
- Till date individual SWAN proposals have been considered and approved for 33 States/UTs with an total DIT outlay of Rs. 1,964.97 crore and Rs 562.41 have been released so far.
- The SWANs in 19 States/UTs namely, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Delhi, Pondicherry, Tripura, Lakshadweep, West Bengal, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra have been implemented.
- The 4 States SWAN namely, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand are in advanced stage of implementation, Network trials are being conducted at different tiers of SWAN.
- The 4 States / UTs SWAN namely, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya have identified the Network Operator and implementation is underway.
- The 4 States namely, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Nagaland, have initiated the bid process to identify the Network Operator for implementation.
- The 2 States namely Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu are in RFP/BOM finalization stage.
- The State of Goa and UT of Andaman & Nicobar Islands have implemented Wide Area Networks outside SWAN Scheme.
- Special arrangement has been made with BSNL for providing bandwidth on concessional tariff.
India Portal India Portal is a Mission Mode Project in the integrated service category under the NeGP being implemented by NIC. The MMP is to create a Unified portal providing 'single window access' to information and G2C services to be electronically delivered from all state sector institutions and organizations. The First version of Portal is operational now and was released by Hon'ble MCIT on 10th Nov'05 and the portal address is http://india.gov.in. The main sections of Portal include Government corner, Citizen Business, Overseas, Know India, Government services. Content repositories (Forms, Documents, Maps), sectors, Tenders etc. National Portal Coordinators (NPCs) have been identified from 35 States/UT who are responsible for the content development, compilation and maintenance. A web based Content Management System (CMS) interface has been developed to facilitate the contribution of government information & services on to the national Portal by (NPCs). The Hindi version of the India Portal is ready for the launch and other languages would follow subsequently. There has been an attempt by the National Portal to bring together all online services offered by the Central and State Government under a single umbrella for different categories of services like G2G, G2E, G2C and G2B. Around 303 new services offered by different State Governments have been added. About 372 new rules and 767 Acts of different States have been contributed to the National Portal and 1654 forms are published on the portal.
Standards An apex Body under Chairmanship of Secretary, DIT has been constituted with senior representatives from Government, NASSCOM, BIS with a mandate to approve, notify & enforce Standards formulated by Working Groups. Working Groups with members from DIT, Associations, Industry, Academia, Central & State Government have been constituted with the approval of DIT. Working Groups have been constituted in the area of open standards, technical standards, metadata and data standards, conformity assessment framework network and information security and localization and language technology standards.
National Service Delivery Gateway
The National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG), a MMP under the NeGP is a standards-based messaging switch providing seamless interoperability and exchange of data. It aims to achieve a high order of interoperability among autonomous and heterogeneous entities of the Government (in the Centre, State or Local bodies), based on a framework of e-Governance Standards.
NSDG as a messaging middleware acts as an intelligent hub and routes services requests from a Service Seeker (Service Access Provider) to a Service Provider (typically a backend Government department that puts up its service for electronic delivery) and in return sends the response back to the Service Seeker through the Gateway.
The gateway achieves integration amongst diverse set of applications built on varying platforms through compliance with a set of e-Governance Specifications interoperability Interface Protocol and interoperability Interface Specifications (IIP/IIS) that are based on open standards such as the W3C, XML and SOAP specifications.
UID for Residents The Planning Commission requested the DIT to provide Unique ID to BPL population to monitor Poverty Alleviation Programmes & EGS. A pilot Scheme for Rs 46.7 crores was approved by DIT in January 2006. The objective of the scheme was to create a Central Database & generate UID for residents primarily for effective reach of social sector benefits. Currently, a central database of 68.77 crore records has been created and work is going on for a Proof of Concept to look at integrating the National Population Register and the UID. An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) was also constituted to go into the modalities of collating the two Schemes, which had a number of commonalities, namely the UID Scheme of DIT and the MNIC Project of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The EGOM in its last meeting approved the proposed strategy for collation of the UID and NPR and also approved the creation of a UID Authority under the aegis of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is currently working on obtaining financial approvals for the creation of the UID Authority.
Assessment
As part of its mandate under the NeGP, the DIT is also undertaking independent assessment of e-Governance Projects in the country. During the first phase of assessment of 3 Projects under the State MMp category and 3 Projects under the Central MMp category were taken up for the assessment. The Projects undertaken for assessment in the State category were Land Records, Registration and Transport. The assessment of these projects was done in 13 States. The Central Projects assessed were MCA21, Income Tax and Passport. The assessment was done by 11 empanelled agencies on defined parameters through in person survey methodology.
The highlights of the findings of the State MMP assessment are given below :
- Number of trips to office reduced significantly
- Waiting Time reduced significantly in Property Registration and marginally in Transport and Land Records.
- Reduction in corruption seen in Computerization of Land Records.
- Property Registration shows marginal impact on corruption across all States.
- In Transport, corruption reduction is negligible except in one state where it has been virtually eliminated. Citizens show overwhelming preference for computerized systems in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand and Tamil Nadu.