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Project Nemmadi: the bytes and bites of ICT adoption and implementation in India

  • Teaching case
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Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases

Abstract

This case documents the challenges involved in the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) by the government in a democratic system, especially in the context of a developing country. Nemmadi was an e-governance project initiated in 2004 by the government of the state of Karnataka located in the southern part of India. Since the beginning of the new millennium, the policy and the political environment in Karnataka had turned quite favourable for such ICT initiatives. Aimed at improving the transparency, accountability and efficiency of the government administration at the village level, Nemmadi was an ambitious project conceived to offer digital services to rural citizens across 800 hoblis (cluster of villages) in the state. The services included issue of certificates of several kinds, which entitled the citizens belonging to economically and socially backward sections of the society to avail of benefits and concessions under various government schemes conceived as part of affirmative action by the state. Project Nemmadi was conceived as a ‘sequel’ to a celebrated e-governance initiative called Bhoomi, which involved digitization of seven million agricultural land records, and was a landmark in e-governance in India. Bhoomi was championed and closely led by Shekhar Puri, the then Principal Secretary of e-governance who also led the Nemmadi project during its roll-out phase. The roll-out of Project Nemmadi faced many challenges. The village functionaries and their interface with Nemmadi impacted project implementation, and hence adoption. It had received its share of bouquets and brickbats and had won several awards. Naveen Iyer took charge as the Principal Secretary of this department. Naveen's recommendations to the political leadership and the decisions that follow could transform the project to a truly village-level Citizen Service Center, thus paving the way for an e-governance revolution directly touching the lives of the people in the villages, where 70% of India lives. This could restore Karnataka to its original position on e-governance leadership and serve as a key accomplishment for Naveen in his new role.

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Notes

  1. As reported in the daily newspaper Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 30 August 2009.

  2. Details of the e-governance strategy for Karnataka can be accessed at http://www.bangaloreit.com/, accessed 15 December 2009.

  3. See note 2.

  4. Public–Private Partnerships today – The draft infrastructure policy of Karnataka for public–private partnership; http://www.iitk.ac.in/3inetwork/html/reports/IIR-2004/Chap%205%202003.pdf.

  5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India.

  6. Article 16(4) of the Constitution of India (website: lawmin.nic.in/legislative/Art1-242%20(1-88).doc, accessed 4 April 2012.

  7. International Records Management Trust, India Karnataka Case Study, June 2007 – Fostering Trust and Transparency in Governance, Investigating and Addressing the Requirements for Building Integrity in Public Sector Information Systems in the ICT Environment.

  8. Based on reports on the website of the daily newspaper The Times of India, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/keyword/village-accountant, last accessed 23 March 2012.

  9. Grouped by authors for ease of understanding.

  10. Bhatnagar and Chawla (2007).

  11. Winner of United Nations Public Service Award 2005–2006.

  12. The National Informatics Centre was a Government of India organization under the Ministry of IT, and was entrusted with the task of supporting the government – both central and state – with services related to consultancy, development and deployment of ICT software and hardware. It was also involved in Bhoomi.

  13. Firm or permanent roofing, as against roofs of straw and leaves found on huts in villages.

  14. A colloquial expression for ‘penalty amounts were increasing’.

  15. STPI was a society set up by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of India in 1991, with the objective of encouraging, promoting and boosting the Software Exports from India. KEONICS was in existence since 1976 with the main objective of promoting electronics industries in Karnataka.

  16. National Silver Award for e-governance, 2007–2008; Microsoft Award for e-governance, 2007; Government Technology Award for e-governance 2007; Microsoft e-governance Award-IT for Rural Development, 2007.

  17. See note 1.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Senior Editor, Dr. Julia Kotlarsky, and an anonymous reviewer for their very helpful comments and suggestions on drafts of this work. We would also like to thank the concerned agencies of the Government of Karnataka, India (e-Governance Department, National Informatics Centre, Centre for E-governance) and the private partner organization for their support on this case.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India

    Madhuchhanda Das Aundhe

  2. SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Bangalore, India

    Ramesh Narasimhan

Authors
  1. Madhuchhanda Das Aundhe
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  2. Ramesh Narasimhan
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Correspondence to Madhuchhanda Das Aundhe.

Appendices

Appendix A

Figure A1

Figure A1
figure 1

Hierarchical structure and functionaries of revenue administration in India.

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Appendix B

Table B1

Table B1 Services provided in Nemmadi telecentre
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Appendix C

Figure C1

Figure C1
figure 2

A telecentre.

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Appendix D

Figure D1

Figure D1
figure 3

IT architecture of Nemmadi.

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Appendix E

Figure E1

Figure E1
figure 4

Process flow of Nemmadi.

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Appendix F

Figure F1

Figure F1
figure 5

Sample of a certificate with digital signature.

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Appendix G

The stated vision, mission and objectives of the Nemmadi project

Vision: The Government of Karnataka's vision for the Nemmadi (telecentre) project is that IT-enabled government services should be accessible to the common citizen in his village, through efficient, transparent, reliable and affordable means.

Mission: The mission of the Nemmadi project is to deliver efficient government services at the citizen's doorstep.

Objectives of the project:

  • To create efficient and smart virtual offices of state government in all the villages.

  • Initially, to provide copies of land records and 38 other citizen-centric services of the Revenue Department in a convenient and efficient manner through 800 village telecentres across rural Karnataka.

  • To scale up the operations to cover all other G2C services of all the departments.

  • To enhance accountability, transparency and responsiveness of the government to citizens’ needs.

  • To provide government departments and agencies with efficient and cost-effective methods of service delivery to citizens.

  • To manage the delivery of services through the PPP model.

  • To enable government departments and agencies to focus on their core functions and responsibilities by freeing them from routine operations like issuing of certificates, maintaining land records and collecting utility bills from citizens, thereby enhancing the overall productivity of the administrative machinery.

Appendix H

Figure H1

Figure H1
figure 6

Trend in transactions at Nemmadi telecentres.Source: Naik et al. (2010).

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Das Aundhe, M., Narasimhan, R. Project Nemmadi: the bytes and bites of ICT adoption and implementation in India. J Info Technol Teach Cases 2, 29–45 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/jittc.2012.4

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