During Feb 11-13, 3rd Bihar Science Conference was organised by Bihar Brain Scholastic Center which was hosted by Magadh University at Gaya College, Gaya. Luckily, I happened to submt my abstract under the Theme: Electronics and Information Technology and was selected. The following abstract was published in the Conference.
Bihar - No More a Follower
The technology advancement in Bihar isn’t very far behind the other states. Today our govt. is working hard on those cheap and simple technologies that are ignored by the giant IT leaders of India. Today Mobile has become an essential part of our life and almost everyone knows how to handle a mobile for making calls along with sending and receiving SMSs. Nobody knew that sending and receiving a text message can be helpful in such a large scale. Govt. of Bihar has always been keen towards the overall growth of the state through the innovative use of low cost technology. Its support and enthusiasm for same is extremely appreciable. The Govt. of Bihar has officially introduced SMS Based Monitoring System to collect Block wise development report through a simple text SMS.
The block level officers of different schemes viz. NREGS, Pension, Dress/Bicycle, scholarship, road/bridges, ICDS, health, food, Indira Awas, and mutation send their daily progress report through a simple text SMS. Every scheme is given a particular code and every report a particular format. The SMSs are sent to a centralized SMS server where it is decoded and different types of reports and Graphs are generated on its basis. “Just because that these SMSs are to be sent everyday, the efficiency of the blocks has been surprisingly increased”, as quoted by a District Magistrate. The reports are published on internet for the public to bring transparency in the system. Thus people can know how much dresses & bicycles were distributed in their blocks and the numbers of schemes currently being carried out by NREGA. Blocks are the smallest unit of Govt. to receive report from them has been very time consuming job in addition to it, the reliability percentage of the reports were ironically very low.
With the advent of this system, the Govt. is receiving quick information the existing system isn’t Stopped but the new technology will be used so an additional support system. Getting reports through SMSs is also eco-friendly as it reduces lots of paper work. This system may be used by other states in future. In simple words of the Chief Minister of Bihar- “what Bihar does today, the entire country follows tomorrow”. What a Splendid idea!
The block level officers of different schemes viz. NREGS, Pension, Dress/Bicycle, scholarship, road/bridges, ICDS, health, food, Indira Awas, and mutation send their daily progress report through a simple text SMS. Every scheme is given a particular code and every report a particular format. The SMSs are sent to a centralized SMS server where it is decoded and different types of reports and Graphs are generated on its basis. “Just because that these SMSs are to be sent everyday, the efficiency of the blocks has been surprisingly increased”, as quoted by a District Magistrate. The reports are published on internet for the public to bring transparency in the system. Thus people can know how much dresses & bicycles were distributed in their blocks and the numbers of schemes currently being carried out by NREGA. Blocks are the smallest unit of Govt. to receive report from them has been very time consuming job in addition to it, the reliability percentage of the reports were ironically very low.
With the advent of this system, the Govt. is receiving quick information the existing system isn’t Stopped but the new technology will be used so an additional support system. Getting reports through SMSs is also eco-friendly as it reduces lots of paper work. This system may be used by other states in future. In simple words of the Chief Minister of Bihar- “what Bihar does today, the entire country follows tomorrow”. What a Splendid idea!
