Presentation to the Hon’ble Members of Jury, eMaharashtra 2013 S.B.Singh, Dy. Director General, NIC-UP Social Empowerment through Education Government of Uttar Pradesh & National Informatics Centre, UP

eMaharashra 2013 Overview Problem FacedInnovation Scholarship not distributed to students in time Electronic transfer of scholarship directly to bank a/c of students/ institutes/ panchayat Huge undistributed funds with Institutes No system to verify eligibility of studentsCreation of central databases available on NET with unique-id for all students. Auto generation of scholarship. Discrepancy between demand made & actual requirement Lack of transparency, duplicate & fraudulent cases, misappropriation of funds etc. All information available online. District- wise, school-wise student details on NET No data sharing with multiple departments involved in scholarship process. A common platform for all departments to share data and information No MIS to effectively monitoring the progressComprehensive MIS to measure the impact of scholarship and for planning Students to fill forms every year and run around for scholarships No need to fill forms every year. Auto tracking for attendance, dropout etc. Difficult to implement schemes for higher professional education Disbursement not a constraint for students aspiring for higher education

eMaharashra A huge task – serving more than 4.2 crore beneficiaries More than the total population of 24 states of the countryMore than the total population of 24 states of the country More than combined population of 9 states. (Census 2011)More than combined population of 9 states. (Census 2011) 2.Covering a geographical area of around 2.4 lakh sq kms A state with 75 District, 820 Blocks,314 Tehsils, GPs, 705 Towns, 4300 Institutions, 160 Banks & BranchesA state with 75 District, 820 Blocks,314 Tehsils, GPs, 705 Towns, 4300 Institutions, 160 Banks & Branches Spreading across 1 lakh villagesSpreading across 1 lakh villages Encompassing 2.5 lakh schools (urban & rural)Encompassing 2.5 lakh schools (urban & rural) 3.Annual budget of approx. Rs crore with involvement of multiple departments (Social Welfare, Minority Welfare, Planning, Education etc.) 4.Reach right & deserving candidates within time and without leakages 5.Eliminate middlemen and remove bogus and fraudulent cases 6.Identify, adopt, assist & track students till he passes out. Eventually creation of employable talents through scholarships. 7.Build a comprehensive MIS for the government for monitoring, control and planning. Problems Faced

eMaharashra 2013 Innovation – ICT Led Initiative Concept  Initiated as ‘Project of Hope’ for students of weaker section of society and to uphold their ‘Right to Education’.  The web based solution designed on latest centralised processing architecture. It ensures 24x7 availability of information. (  Financial Inclusion – Banks opened zero balance accounts for students for direct transfer of scholarship to their accounts.  A fully transparent system - all information pertaining to student, school etc is now available on Web  Extensive GPR done to simplify the processes and change archaic rules for scholarship. Auto generation of scholarship demand.  Tracking of students from primary stage till the time he /she attains professional qualification. Implementation process  A massive exercise done for collecting & compiling data of more than 4 crore beneficiaries from 2.5 lakh schools. Data regularly updated by district officials.  G.O. from Chief Secretary, GoUP making e-Scholarship operational from academic year issued on 22nd June  Auto generation of scholarship demand by the system half yearly.

eMaharashra 2013 Benefits – Impact on Stakeholders Students & Parents Assured of timely transfer of funds into their bank accounts. Not required to fill a new form for Scholarship every year No need to run around different offices for scholarship. Not required to attach multiple certificates (caste, domicile, income etc.) at different stages. Only birth certificate and BPL family ID needed Schools, Institutes & Gram Panchayat Schools & Gram Panchayats finds it much easier to distribute funds, as it is directly credited to their bank account before specified dates. Sponsoring Deptts Social Welfare, Minority Welfare & Backward Class Welfare & State Government Have more time and statistics to assess the impact of scholarships Improved verification processes to confirm eligibility criteria Reduction in fraudulent transactions. There are no cases of funds lying unutilized Less strenuous work, higher productivity of staff and reduced errors in computation & calculations. Automatic generation of scholarship demands and faster financial transactions Education& Planning Deptt. The online availability of information helps the department in monitoring enrollment, attendance and dropout rates.

eMaharashra 2013 Impact on Children Before the InnovationAfter the Innovation Had to fill forms every year for scholarship Not required to fill forms every year A unique-id is given to every student Attach multiple certificates with the scholarship application form Only Birth certificate & BPL Id is required Run around different offices for scholarship disbursement Details of scholarship is available online as soon as it is transferred to bank a/c In spite of different scholarship programmes the dropout rate was not coming down due to large gap between allotment and actual benefit reaching the beneficiary  Children get the scholarship on time and directly in their bank account.  Improved enrollment and better attendance No tracking mechanism of students and the progress Proper tracking is done till higher education. No. of children impacted363 lakh children every year e-Scholarship - a comprehensive tool towards Education Reforms in the state

eMaharashra 2013 Cost & Revenue Model Costs (Rs. lacs) One time costs : 396 lakh (towards one time Data Entry) Recurring costs: 100 lakh (Annual Expenditure towards up dation Total : 696 lakh Since launch in The State Government was able to save a lot of revenue by deleting duplicate and bogus beneficiaries. The amount was utilised to increase the number of beneficiaries as scholarship is a budgetted activty  Scholarship is a Government funded project  A total sum exceeding 2021 crore disbursed electronically through the system every year  One time cost of 3.96 cr was incurred in Data Entry of all the beneficiaries before the launch of Project in  The recurring cost of 1 cr annual is for updation of the available data. All other expenses are met from the departmental budget.  NIC developed the portal free-of-cost and all technical support is provided by NIC at the State Centre and Districts.

eMaharashra 2013 Sustainability & Scalability Sustainability factors  Scholarships are distributed by the Government annually in two installments. eScholarship portal was launched in 2008 and is running successfully from last 5 academic sessions.  The concept of electronic transfer of funds to beneficiary bank a/c has been very successful in preventing leakage of government funds and is adopted for other projects as well  Many state governments (AP, MP Uttarakhand etc.) have shown willingness to adopt this model for the distribution of scholarship in their respective states.  The project has paid rich dividends both to the government and citizens and that is a critical sustaining factor. Scalability & Replicability factors  The scholarship web portal is already functional and hosted at SDC after security audit. The same can be used by other states after some customisation  Component based approach has been used for developing the portal  eScholarship is an IT based system and can be easily replicated in other states.  The system has already been demonstrated to Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI where senior officials of various states were present to se how the same cam be replicated across the country.

eMaharashra 2013  eScholarship, UP is the first of its kind project to have used IT based initiative for electronic transfer of scholarship directly to bank a/c of beneficiary  It manages the scholarship system right from the primary stage till the student attains professional qualifications and becomes an asset for the society and the country  Nearly 3 lakhs persons working day & night to accomplish the task in a record time of three months  The project also facilitates abut 20 lakh students belonging to the BPL families to pursue higher education and professional courses such as B.Tech, M.Tech, MBBS, MBA every year  Scholarship programme ensures that money is not a constraint for students aspiring for higher studies & professional courses. Scholarship amount of Rs lakh and Fee Amount of Rs Lakh reimbursed in to students. Other Relevant Information YearNo. of Students getting State Scholarship Engineering & EquivalentMedical & Para Medical

10 S.B. Singh Deputy Director General & State Informatics Officer National Informatics Centre, U.P. State Unit, Lucknow SAKSHAM is a Journey … not an end Thank you