SRINAGAR, MONDAY, 25 RABI-AL-THANI 1433 AH ; 19 MARCH 2012 CE - Greater Kashmir
*Valley-based technocrat qualifies as technical committee chairman *Local consortium of IT firms delivers record results
M HYDERI
Srinagar, Mar 18: Till now Kashmir was only being compared with Silicon Valley in the US given its climatic conditions being viewed as ideal for development of Information and Communication Technology, but now it has begun to live up to the comparison.
For the first time a Valley-based technocrat has been taken as chairman of NPR’s Technical Committee, while a local company has taken lead in the digitization of records under the National Population Register (NPR).
Initially, a prominent Kashmir-based technocrat and expert on ICT, A H Moon, who heads the state chapter of NIELIT (formerly DOEACC) qualified as the Chairman of NPR’s Technical Committee for the entire country apart from emerging as the nodal head for the project execution in the state.
And, in a subsequent development, a local consortium Digital Logic, bagged the state contract for the digitization, largest ever for the state and for now is giving record results.
The Digital Logic consortium is implementing the project though it twin subsidiaries: Chinar Constructions and iLocus, a globally reputed IT firm.
* Local emergence
The Digital Logic qualified the bid at the national level to be the Managed Service Provider (MSP) to digitize 30 lakh odd records of the urban population of the state. The work is to be completed within six months.
As for now the company’s Srinagar office at Rangreth is giving a record turnover of over 11,000 records per day, believed to be highest in the country.
“Around two lakh records have already been digitized,” said Irfan Mushtaq the firm’s Project Manager.
And this figure is no hype because a specialized software developed by Government of India is keeping track of records, said Fayaz Ahmed Malik, Regional Coordinator NIELIT who is monitoring the NPR project.
Interestingly, the project has opened, though temporality, a job opportunity for around 100 people in the state.
Elated local entrepreneurs
Jahangir Raina, the CEO of iLocus, is elated to have bagged the digitization project, till now largest for the state that too at the national level bidding.
“We didn’t only bag the contract but aspire to be the winners in the successful completion of the work,” Raina told Greater Kashmir, adding that the Valley has talent. “All that is required is opportunity,” he added.
Sources said the tech-savvy Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah and IT Minister, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, in the past few years have been trying their best to come up with policies which could boost the ICT business in the state, particularly Kashmir often compared with the Silicon Valley for its climatic conditions.
* The NPR
Officials said the NPR is a comprehensive identity database to be maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (ORG&CCI), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
The objective of creation of the NPR, according to officials, is to help better utilization and implementation of the benefits and services under the government schemes, improve planning, improve security and prevent identity fraud.
They said the government of India has initiated the creation of NPR by collecting specific information of all residents in the country during the House listing and Housing Census phase of Census 2011 during April 2010 to September 2010.
They said in the process of creation of NPR, the data collected during the Census is now being scanned and digitized using the data entry software prepared for the purpose of creation of NPR.
After the digitization of demographic information, the second phase which is biometrics enrolment is to be carried out.
All information digitized in the two phases, as per the officials, is to collected and subsequently be sent to UIDAI for de-duplication and the final de-duplicated data along with UID numbers would be sent back to the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India (ORG&CCI) and would form the (NPR).
* JK development
Officials said the GoI asked the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) to get the NPR project work related to 17 states (including J&K) and two union territories digitized.
The DoIT in turn has assigned the project to NIELIT to act as the nodal agency for the NPR.
For JK too, the NIELIT through its state Director AH Moon is taking care for the NPR digitization.
Top sources said selection of a chairman for the NPR’s Technical Committee was a big task as a big number of IT technocrats from across the country were eligible for the chair. And amongst all, AH Moon qualified.
When contacted Moon acknowledged that the Kashmir-based firm was giving a record output in the digitization work.
“The digitization is being done in two languages: English and regional language,” he said.
For the first time a Valley-based technocrat has been taken as chairman of NPR’s Technical Committee, while a local company has taken lead in the digitization of records under the National Population Register (NPR).
Initially, a prominent Kashmir-based technocrat and expert on ICT, A H Moon, who heads the state chapter of NIELIT (formerly DOEACC) qualified as the Chairman of NPR’s Technical Committee for the entire country apart from emerging as the nodal head for the project execution in the state.
And, in a subsequent development, a local consortium Digital Logic, bagged the state contract for the digitization, largest ever for the state and for now is giving record results.
The Digital Logic consortium is implementing the project though it twin subsidiaries: Chinar Constructions and iLocus, a globally reputed IT firm.
* Local emergence
The Digital Logic qualified the bid at the national level to be the Managed Service Provider (MSP) to digitize 30 lakh odd records of the urban population of the state. The work is to be completed within six months.
As for now the company’s Srinagar office at Rangreth is giving a record turnover of over 11,000 records per day, believed to be highest in the country.
“Around two lakh records have already been digitized,” said Irfan Mushtaq the firm’s Project Manager.
And this figure is no hype because a specialized software developed by Government of India is keeping track of records, said Fayaz Ahmed Malik, Regional Coordinator NIELIT who is monitoring the NPR project.
Interestingly, the project has opened, though temporality, a job opportunity for around 100 people in the state.
Elated local entrepreneurs
Jahangir Raina, the CEO of iLocus, is elated to have bagged the digitization project, till now largest for the state that too at the national level bidding.
“We didn’t only bag the contract but aspire to be the winners in the successful completion of the work,” Raina told Greater Kashmir, adding that the Valley has talent. “All that is required is opportunity,” he added.
Sources said the tech-savvy Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah and IT Minister, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, in the past few years have been trying their best to come up with policies which could boost the ICT business in the state, particularly Kashmir often compared with the Silicon Valley for its climatic conditions.
* The NPR
Officials said the NPR is a comprehensive identity database to be maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (ORG&CCI), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
The objective of creation of the NPR, according to officials, is to help better utilization and implementation of the benefits and services under the government schemes, improve planning, improve security and prevent identity fraud.
They said the government of India has initiated the creation of NPR by collecting specific information of all residents in the country during the House listing and Housing Census phase of Census 2011 during April 2010 to September 2010.
They said in the process of creation of NPR, the data collected during the Census is now being scanned and digitized using the data entry software prepared for the purpose of creation of NPR.
After the digitization of demographic information, the second phase which is biometrics enrolment is to be carried out.
All information digitized in the two phases, as per the officials, is to collected and subsequently be sent to UIDAI for de-duplication and the final de-duplicated data along with UID numbers would be sent back to the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India (ORG&CCI) and would form the (NPR).
* JK development
Officials said the GoI asked the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) to get the NPR project work related to 17 states (including J&K) and two union territories digitized.
The DoIT in turn has assigned the project to NIELIT to act as the nodal agency for the NPR.
For JK too, the NIELIT through its state Director AH Moon is taking care for the NPR digitization.
Top sources said selection of a chairman for the NPR’s Technical Committee was a big task as a big number of IT technocrats from across the country were eligible for the chair. And amongst all, AH Moon qualified.
When contacted Moon acknowledged that the Kashmir-based firm was giving a record output in the digitization work.
“The digitization is being done in two languages: English and regional language,” he said.
