for new leap forward they set out to map every indian village

ANUBHUTI VISHNOI

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 12

THE Indian village is all set to be decoded. The National Informatics Centre NQ plans to obtain a clear picture of all villages across the country - right from basics such as lat­itude and longitude to details such as availability ofwater, proneness to epidemics and disaster, PIN and STD code, and even the number of liquor outlets.

NIC refers to this giant leap as extending the "informatics blueprint" to each and every village. In the first step NIC will start by collating general informa­tion about each village: But even this will go beyond mere basics. The information that will be sought out includes de­tails of water bodies, occupa­tion of inhabitants, proximity to international borders, de­tails of foreigners living there, missionary work and so on.

Not only that, the availability of public utilities will be as­sessed on 127 counts, including post offices, playgrounds, In­ternet cafes, nursery schools, noon-meal schools, mahila mandals, fair price shops, elec­tricity consumption, milk booths, distance from national and state highways.

Details of government presence, administration, and the village's links to the official hierarchy will also be collected.         

Under its dedicated District Information Programme (DIP), meant to take the IT revolution to the grassroots, NIC has invited expressions of interest (EOI) to start building the database for all 6.5 lakh vil­lages in the country by mid­2008.

"It's the first step towards a larger, imposing goal. To start with, we want to build the basic level of the database with a General Village Information System," said Samina Mukhija, project director for the DIE "We have specified in the EoIs that the work must be completed within six months of the contract being awarded. So by mid-2008 the basic village data will be at hand."

NIC undertakes giant exercise to take `informatics blueprint' to a116.5 lakh villages in the country, pilot project already on in 28 districts

The objective is grand: "to build village-level databases (spatial and non-spatial), Deci­sion Support Systems and Communication Systems to fa­cilitate rural socio-economic development, delivery of government services, information, services working of stakeholders and integration of various isolated and related systems within and  outside the government framework work."

Mukhija said a o is being planned fv hensive detailing i in various states. E are out as well anc has begun in some Haryana, Orissa, l and Goa. The data will be posted on the NIC bringing all village the administratioi and to each other.