CIC RAJOURI

Community Information Centre (CIC)

Community Information Centre (CIC)

Profile

A project of connecting the blocks of the District through ICT was launched in 2000 and accordingly a Community Information Centre (CIC) were also setup in Rajouri  District. Under Phase-1 project,  Mipi-Anini-Aliney Block was selected setup. Under various natural stress and strain, the project was completed in 2004 and have been operational since then. The main salient feature of the CIC has been the internet and email services provided in such mountainous and terrain geography where telephone service is a far off dream for a common man. The rural youths can now get connected with the rest of the world in a click of button and get any information needed. For example, when the JKBOSE/CBSE results were declared, the students got their results sitting in their schools or Block Hqr within no time. Prior to setting up of CIC, they had to face the hardship of making long journeys to know about it in Rajouri District and then stand on long queues to know their results or they had to wait for more than a month for the results to arrive at their school. Another benefit has been confirming train reservation status. So, the list goes on ……………….

In Phase-II, all Blocks were subsequently chosen for the sites.

Vision

To use IT as medium for bringing transformational change in government processes with the aim to making governance more effective, efficient and citizen centric. Also to harness the power of IT as an engine for socially inclusive and economically sustainable growth.

Objectives

The project aims to achieve the following objectives:

o    ICT Infrastructure at Block level

o    Web Access and Internet Services such as E-mail

o    Market Access and E-commerce

o    Access to Socio-Economic Databases

o    E-learning (Computer Aided Learning Processes) and E-education

o    E-medicine, E-consulting

o    E-governance applications, Government to Citizen (Citizen Centric) services

o    Weather Information

o    IT awareness among local people

o    Computer Training Programmes

o    Tender Notification

o    E-employment Notification

Infrastructure and Management

The Centre is well-equipped with infrastructure including one server machine, five client systems, one each of a VSAT, Laser Printer, Dot Matrix Printer, modem, LAN hub, TV, Webcam and two UPS (1KVA, 2 KVA). The CIC is looked after by CIC Operators (CICOs) for managing the centres and providing services to the public.

The project is a joint effort by Department of Information Technology (DIT) under Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT, now Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology-MEITY), National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the State Governments of the North-Eastern states.

DIT  funded the project and had the responsibility of overall monitoring and management. NIC was the Implementation agency. Application Software development and Training of CIC Operators were a part of NIC’s responsibilities. The State Governments were entrusted with the mandate of site selection, preparation and maintenance, manpower recruitment and identification and creation of content for various services/applications to be delivered through the CIC.

Project Sustenance

The CIC, already operational, charge nominal amounts from users for services which helps them to meet day-to-day running expenses such as consumables, stationery, fuel for the Gen set etc.

As per MOU signed with DIT/NIC had to provide manpower support to the CICs for five years and NIC would provide technical and maintenance support for these periods. DIT/NIC provided satellite connectivity even after five years. The Community Information Centres have been handed over to the respective state governments. The state governments are required to evolve a viable business model to make the CIC self-sustaining during these five years. The private sector may collaborate with government for effective service delivery.

Future Plans

It is proposed to use the Community Information Centres for e-Entertainment in the future. A select bouquet of channels could be telecast through the VSAT based network as TVs with other associated infrastructure is already available at the CIC. Other future prospects are the provision of connectivity to Schools and Block Offices.

CIC Personal

There are two Operators in Block Rajouri who are working in the CIC Block Rajouri namely Pritam Kumar Handa and Aftab Ahmed.