IT IN TRIPURA

In order to give impetus to the development of Information Technology sector, the State Government decided to form a separate Directorate of Information Technology (IT) under the Department of Industries and Commerce. The Directorate of IT started functioning in the month of April, 1999 with the posting of a Director.

The following have been the major developments in the IT sector as initiated by Directorate of IT:

(a)      The Directorate of IT with the assistance of NIC Tripura Unit launched the official website of Government of Tripura at the following address – www.tripura.nic.in. The Directorate has also facilitated launching websites of some other organizations, namely, TIDC, TTDC and Purbasha. The website of “Purbasha” has been well appreciated and is expected to give a great boost to the handicraft, handloom products of our State.

(b)      An Information Technology (IT) Policy for the State was formulated by the IT Directorate and was approved by the Council of Ministers in its meeting held on 3rd June, 2000. The IT Policy, 2000 was released to the Press on 13th June, 2000 by Minister, Industries and Commerce. Tripura is one of the first States in the North-east, after Assam, to announce an IT Policy.

(c)      The Directorate of IT submitted a proposal to Central Government in the Ministry of Information Technology (MIT) for setting up of a Software Technology Park (STP) in Agartala. The Ministry of IT has agreed to set up a Hub centre at Agartala. The work on this centre is expected to start very shortly in ITI Building, Indranagar. If this centre becomes functional, it will provide opportunities to the small entrepreneurs to start their own IT-related units in the STP Hub centre.

(d)      The Central Government has announced setting up of “Community Information Centres (CICs)” in all Blocks of the North-east as per PM’s package for the North-east. Three such CICs have been already set up in the three Blocks of West District, namely, Mandai, Khowai and Bishalgarh. In the next phase, these CICs will be set up in all Blocks of the State. With the setting up of these centres, the IT revolution is expected to trickle down to the Block level in the State.

(e)      An Information cum Facilitation Centre (IFC) was opened in the State Secretariat in May, 1999 for providing information on government activities to the common public.

(f)        The Directorate of IT has also taken initiative for starting software development in some form in Agartala, so that boys and girls of Tripura can get suitably employed in the IT sector. The Chief Secretary has already taken series of meetings with IT entrepreneurs of Tripura in this direction. It is also proposed to organize a Workshop for “IT Entreprenurs” of the State where experts will be invited from outside.

(g)      The Directorate of IT is also preparing a proposal for starting Computer education in selected schools of the State, through the participation of reputed training institutions, like NIIT, APTECH, etc. This proposal envisages providing computer education to school students in addition to their normal school curriculum.

Initiatives in the area of e-Governance

1. Many departments in the Government of Tripura have taken initiative to computerise governmental activities, especially in areas of public interface, within their organisations. These departments have also initiated measures to train their staff in computers. The following are the major computerisation projects in progress, namely,

(a)   Motor Vehicle Registration – In the first phase, the system of ‘collection of Road Tax’ has been already computerized. The computerised ‘registration of vehicles’ is proposed to start shortly in the Office of Deputy Transport Commissioner, Agartala. In the next phase, this is being extended to District offices.

(b)  Computerisation of Sales Tax Organisation – The software has been installed and the computerized system is expected to be made functional shortly.

(c)  Computerisation of Treasuries – In one of the Treasuries in Agartala, computerized ‘bill passing’ and ‘Compilation of accounts’ has been started. In another Treasury in South District, computerized ‘compilation of accounts’ is already functional.

(d)  Intranet in the State Secretariat – All important Government Orders, Memorandum, Circulars have been hosted on the INTRANET on the Secretariat LAN. In addition, the Annual Plan for 2001-02 and the BUDGET 2001-02 have also been provided on the Intranet.

(e)   Computerisation in Agartala Municipality – The depositing of various Municipal taxes has been computerized in the first phase.

2. The state government has also opened Information–Cum– Facilitation Centre (IFC) in the State Secretariat and the Districts (DM office). This centre provides information on major activities of the State Government to any member of the general public. This centre also acts as a Public Grievance Cell and re-dressal of public grievances is monitored by this Centre (with the help of a Computer database).

3.  A model Personnel Information System has also been developed and started in some Departments. A Project for computerization of the Passport is also under implementation in which the issue of “Indo-Bangladesh Passports” will be computerized. Various other Projects are in the system design stage, notably, Land Records computerization and computerization of Assembly Secretariat.